Dave Nuttall
http://davenuttall.yolasite.com/
HIST 1700 12:00pm
Critical Analysis Paper
America’s insatiable appetite for land and new opportunities during the 19th century resulted in the westward expansion to the Rocky Mountains and finally on to the West Coast which ultimately forged the Country we know today. However, this came at a heavy cost to the indigenous peoples across the continent as treaties were agreed upon by both camps and then broken countless times by the Americans. The natives were continuously pushed further and further from their historical homelands and familiar hunting grounds into distant lands wanted by no white man, barren and unyielding, leaving them hungry, weak and destitute.
Our assignment is to select three primary source documents for critical analysis and the ones I have chosen support the views of the Native American in their plight as portrayed above. Presented chronologically, the first one is an excerpt from General Winfield Scott addressed to the Cherokee Nation in 1838. Scott was a US Army General who was put in charge of the removal of the Cherokee Indians from their homes in Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama. This campaign which primarily relocated them to the Oklahoma Territory was very difficult for the Cherokee Natives and later became known as the Trail of Tears.
In this first document, General Scott is imploring to the Cherokee people stating that treaties had been signed and agreed upon two years prior and contrary to the agreement, the Cherokees had so far refused to even begin moving from the areas described in the treaty. Because the two year period was coming to an end, President Andrew Jackson commissioned General Scott to push them west to Indian Territory. Scott addresses the Cherokee people saying that adequate time had been given per the agreement and that he hoped that they would move west without any further trouble. This address was an appeal to them that all Cherokees must move immediately and if they would do this, the army’s which had traveled to the region and counted in the thousands would have mercy if they would simply go without resisting. He cautions them from making plans to hide in the mountains or taking up arms and fighting because his troops were ready to quell any such rebellion although Scott was quick to remind them that the soldiers did not wish to fight them. Scott tells them that he has seen many battles and he does not want to have any battles with the Cherokee.
As Scott continues his address, he promises them that if all of the Cherokee people will hurry to the river crossings at Ross’s Landing and Gunter’s Landing, they will be supplied with the provisions they will need including food and clothing and then they will be taken to their new homes. This address was given on May 10, 1838 but when the Cherokees still failed to comply with the presidential order, Scott began to force their movement and led them, very brutally, away from their homes and lands they loved. Thousands died in the march.
The second document chronicles the efforts in 1879 of Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce tribe as he and his people were being driven from their lands. He speaks of General Miles making an agreement with Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce but the government then breaks his agreement by not allowing them to return to their lands in Idaho. Chief Joseph met with President Hayes as well as many other prominent political figures and was frustrated by the fact that he was getting countless affirmations but nothing was actually being done. He speaks of “good words” and “broken promises” and suggests that as long as all men are treated fairly by the same laws, they can then live in peace. Chief Joseph goes on to question who has the right to say that Indians should live in a certain place while white men are free to move around as they please. He says, “We only ask for an even chance to live as other men live”. In hopes of moving to a more hospitable location, Chief Joseph asks to move his people to the Bitterroot Valley where they may live in peace. This was never allowed.
The third document comes from 1890 after the Wounded Knee Massacre with the Lakota Sioux. Turning Hawk and others are responding to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, offering their perspective on the events surrounding the massacre at Wounded Knee. Similar to the Nez Perce, the Lakota were being followed by troops and at one point it appears that an Indian shot a round causing the soldiers to react by firing into the group killing approximately 200 including women and children. Turning Hawk acknowledges that the killing of the men was one thing but the killing of the women and children was something very painful to his people and he did not understand why that had happened. They had been standing under a flag of truce at the time and when the shooting began, the flag did not seem to make any difference. Mothers were killed with babies in their arms and at one point the soldiers called for all the little boys to come out of hiding and they would be safe. Once the boys came out, the soldiers surrounded them and killed them too. The brutality was of epic proportions and blood and bodies were everywhere. Remarkably, Turning Hawk speaks of his allegiance to the government responsible for this act saying that peace prevailed in the end. He and the others willingly gave up their rifles, shotguns, etc., even though some of these were needed for hunting.
Native Americans have long been viewed as a hostile and savage force, responsible for slowing the American expansion which was also our destiny and God-given right. Little regard was given for the history and culture of these bands but moving them to despicable locations and even killing them was seen as acceptable and something which needed to be done. So many people gave their lives on both sides as our country grew. In these days where we strive to embrace diversity and equality of all people, we must be aware and always remember the sacrifices made by so many that we may live in peace today.
[Source: Winfield Scott, "Address to the Cherokee Nation" (1838). Microfilm M1475. (NARA, National Archives and Records Administration) "Correspondence of the Eastern Division Pertaining to Cherokee Removal, April 1838-December 1838. M1475. 2 rolls. Reprinted at TNGenWeb Project (http://www.tngenweb.org/cessions/18380510.html)]
[Source: Chester Anders Fee, Chief Joseph: The Biography of a Great Indian, Wilson-Erickson, 1936. Reprinted at PBS: The West (http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/six/jospeak.htm)]
[Source: From the Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1891, volume 1, pages 179-181. Extracts from verbatim stenographic report of council held by delegations of Sioux with Commissioner of Indian Affairs, at Washington, February 11, 1891. Reprinted at PBS: The West (http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/eight/wklakota.htm)]
