My New Blog

Cherokee Removal Began In Murphy North Carolina

Murphy- Cherokee County was ground zero for the Cherokee Indian removal. This is the hub of the Cherokee removal.People were brought to Fort Butler ans a week was the longest most stayed.

Fort Butler was on the hill on Hitchcock Syreet. Not at the park on Fort Butler Street. Down the hill, the route of the former Unicoi Turnpike, over which Cherokee were marched to Fort Cass,Tenn.and on to Lndian Territory in Oklahoma.

Fort Butler was U.S. Army headquarters in North Carolina for the removal. More than 3,000 Cherokee were arrested and brought to Fort Butler in june and July of 1838,although there were more than 1,500 Cherokee at the fort at a time. The prisoner camps at Fort Butler spread north and east of the fort.

The Baptist church ministered to the Cherokee at Fort Butler. Armed soldiers escorted Cherokee who wanted to be baptized down the hill to the Hiwassee river.

There wasn't a strong military presence at Fort Butler until just before thr removal began. Then, about 1,100 federal troops fresh from the Seminloe Indian wars in Florida were debarked at Charleston, S.C.,and marched through Clarkville Ga., to Fort Butler to help with the removal.

The U.S. government deported more than 16,000 Cherokee from their homelands in Tennessee,Alabama,North Caroilna and Georgia.

Many Native Americans suffered from exposure,disease and starvation during the march to what is now Oklahoma. Of the approximate 15,000 relocated Cherokee,4,000 died.

www.MountainWineAndHomes.com