Witness to History

When the Cherokee paused here, a tree like this one stood in their winter camp as one weary Cherokee man sat against it while his family tried to make a simple, warm resting place for a family elder, keeping him comfortable as they waited two weeks for the river to thaw before continuing their journey. During that time, many aged Indians suffered extremely from the fatigue of the journey and the ill health that followed it; several were quite ill, and one aged man was reported to be in the last struggles of death, according to the New York Observer on January 26, 1839.

Kentucky · United States