Gen. Winfield Scott's
Address to the Cherokee Nation
(May 10, 1838)
From the Cherokee Agency, Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott delivered an ultimatum to the
Cherokees remaining in northern Georgia -- they had to go west, and they had to
go now:
"Cherokees! The President of the United States has sent me with a
powerful army, to cause you, in obedience to the treaty of 1835 [the Treaty of
New Echota], to join that part of your people who have already established in
prosperity on the other side of the Mississippi. Unhappily, the two years which
were allowed for the purpose, you have suffered to pass away without following,
and without making any preparation to follow; and now, or by the time that this
solemn address shall reach your distant settlements, the emigration must be
commenced in haste, but I hope without disorder. I have no power, by granting a
farther delay, to correct the error that you have committed. The full moon of
May is already on the wane; and before another shall have passed away, every
Cherokee man, woman and child in those states must be in motion to join their
brethren in the far West.
My friends! This is no sudden determination on the part of the President,
whom you and I must now obey. By the treaty, the emigration was to have been
completed on or before the 23rd of this month; and the President has constantly
kept you warned, during the two years allowed, through all his officers and
agents in this country, that the treaty would be enforced.
I am come to carry out that determination. My troops already occupy many
positions in the country that you are to abandon, and thousands and thousands
are approaching from every quarter, to render resistance and escape alike
hopeless. All those troops, regular and militia, are your friends. Receive them
and confide in them as such. Obey them when they tell you that your can remain
no longer in this country. Soldiers are as kind-hearted as brave, and the desire
of every one of us is to execute our painful duty in mercy. We are commanded by
the President to act towards you in that spirit, and much is also the wish of
the whole people of America.
Chiefs, head-men and warriors! Will you then, by resistance, compel us to
resort to arms? God forbid! Or will you, by flight, seek to hid yourselves in
mountains and forests, and thus oblige us to hunt you down? Remember that, in
pursuit, it may be impossible to avoid conflicts. The blood of the white man or
the blood of the red man may be spilt, and, if spilt, however accidentally, it
may be impossible for the discreet and humane among you, or among us, to prevent
a general war and carnage. Think of this, my Cherokee brethren! I am an old
warrior, and have been present at many a scene of slaughter, but spare me, I
beseech you, the horror of witnessing the destruction of the Cherokees.
Do not, I invite you, even wait for the close approach of the troops; but
make such preparations for emigration as you can and hasten to this place, to
Ross's Landing or to Gunter's Landing, where you all will be received in
kindness by officers selected for the purpose. You will find food for all and
clothing for the destitute at either of those places, and thence at your ease
and in comfort be transported to your new homes, according to the terms of the
treaty.
This is the address of a warrior to warriors. May his entreaties by
kindly received and may the God of both prosper the Americans and Cherokees and
preserve them long in peace and friendship with each other!
Source: Edward J. Cashin (ed.), A Wilderness Still The Cradle of Nature:
Frontier Georgia (Savannah: Beehive Press, 1994), pp. 137-38.
