A Somber Day-Shiloh and the Trail of Tears

Monday, October 3, 2011,we drove directly to Shiloh National Military park so we wouldn't get sidetracked, as we had on Sunday.

Shiloh National Cemetery:

There were 23,746 casualties of this two day battle.  Ironically the battle is named after a place of peace-Shiloh Meeting House, a log Methodist Church that just happened to be on the field of battle.

The Corinth Contraband Camp is part of this park.  Slaves who escaped and made their way to areas occupied by federal forces were called "contraband of war" until the Emancipation Proclamation took effect. Shiloh Indian Mounds National Historic Landmark is also part of this site.

After Shiloh Battlefield, we drove back to Savannah, Tennessee, and visited the Tennessee River Museum.  Savannah's main street is part of the Trail of Tears. The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail was only established in 1987.  It is not a single road we can follow that benefited from the Works Progress Administration in the 30's.  There is no Civilian Conservation Corps to build roadways, guardrails, and lodges.  Many significant sites are on private land or are under the jurisdiction of state or local government entities.

In 1830 the US Congress passed the Indian Removal Act to force all Indians to move west of the Mississippi to free land for white settlers and create a buffer zone between US territory and the western lands held by England and Spain.  Between 1830 and 1850, about 100,000 American Indians living between Michigan, Louisiana, and Florida moved west after coerced treaties or by force.  "In May, 1838, Federal troops ...began the roundup of the Cherokees into stockades....Families were separated...people given only moments to collect cherished possessions.  White looters followed, ransacking homesteads as the Cherokees were led away."  (National Park Service brochure)  It is estimated that over 4,000 died-almost a fifth of the Cherokee population.   The Trail of Tears is the Cherokee story, but many tribes share this history.

We drove another section of the Natchez Trace, including the ferry landing where Andrew Jackson was charged $75,000.00 to move his army across,  and crossed part of the Tennessee River that we traveled by boat a short time ago.