About Those Poinsettia Plants-- Part 2

A life-size bronze statue of Poinsett still stands in his honor in downtown Greenville, South Carolina.

However, he was cast out of Mexico within a year of his discovery, having earned a local reputation for intrusive political maneuvering that extended to a network of secretive Masonic lodges and schemes to contain British influence.

But as more people learn of its namesake's complicated history, the name "poinsettia" has become less Attractive in the United States.

Unvarnished published accounts reveal Poinsett as a disruptive advocate for business interests abroad, a slaveholder on a rice plantation in the U.S., and a secretary of war who helped oversee the forced removal of Native Americans, including the westward relocation of Cherokee populations to Oklahoma known as the "Trail of Tears."

--DaCoot

A Native American Timeline-- Part 5: Indian Removal Act, Cherokees, Reservations, Cochise and the Sand Creek Massacre

**  1836:  The last of the Creek Indians leave their land for Oklahoma as part of the Indian Removal process.  Of the 15,00 who leave for Oklahoma, more than 3,500 don't survive.

**  1838:  With just 2,000 Cherokees having left their land in Georgia to cross the Mississippi River, President Martin Van Buren gets General Winfield Scott and 7,000 troops to speed up the process by holding them at gunpoint and marching them  1,200 miles.

More than 5,000 Cherokees die in this and this became known as the Trail of Tears.

**  1851:  Congress passes the Indian Appropriations Act, creating the Indian Reservation System.  Indians can not leave these reservations without permission.

**  OCTOBER 1860:  A group of Apache Indians attack and kidnap a white American, resulting in the U.S. military falsely accusing the leader  of the Chiricahua Apache tribe, Cochise.  Cochise and the Apaches increase raids on white Americans for a decade afterwards.

**  NOVERMBER 29, 1864:  A 650 Colorado volunteer force attacks Cheyenne and Arapaho encampments along Sand Creek in Colorado, killing and mutilating  more than 150 Indians in what has become known as the Sand Creek Massacre.

--Cooter

Ten Facts About President Andrew Jackson-- Part 2: Duels and a Giant Block of Cheese

6.  Fought Indians but adopted two of them  As president, he signed the Indian Removal Act which led to the Trail of Tears tragedy.

7.  Was a friend of Aaron Burr.

8.  Had a long history of dueling, being in at least a dozen and killed a man in one of them.

9.  Beat up a man who attempted to assassinate him in 1806.

10.  He really did have a giant block of cheese in the White House in 1835.  It was a 1,400 pound block of cheese which kept for two years.

Reckon I'll have a Slice o' That Cheese.  --DaCheese

Trail of Tears Expansion

It is good to see even without the current financial problems facing the US, that we have not forgotten our past. The US House has approved a bill to increase the current Trail of Tears by 1,500 miles. The bill now goes to the Senate.

This is the route taken by the Cherokee Indians during their forced removal east of the Mississippi back in the 1800s.

One new area includes Fort Payne, Alabama, and goes through Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. Another starts in Charleston, Tenn., and went through Arkansas.

I'm Glad to See the Event Remembered. --Old Coot

Illinois' Trail of Tears

"Efforts to preserve Trail of Tears fitting, proper" editorial in the Voice of the Southern, Jan. 15, 2008.

Illinois Highway 146 between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers is one of the most beautiful stretches anywhere in the state, and it has one of the oldest communities, Golconda. The 60 mile route goes through flood plains into rolling hills and forests. Often, it is in the Shawnee National Forest and through the towns of Vienna, Anna and Jonesboro.

Most folks agree that the spring and fall shows are something special, but it is also the route the hapless Indians traversed on their way to what became Oklahoma on what is now called the Trail of Tears for all the suffering they endured.

This route needs to be preserved, just as those of Marquette and Joliet and Lewis and Clark and their related sites in the state are.

Recently, the National Park Service has dedicated a site along Il-146 as part of the Trail of Tears National Historical Trail.

More interpretive signs are badly needed along the way.

This, like the internment camps, is not one of our prouder moments, but it happened and should be observed. --Cooter

Trail of Tears Went Through Illinois-- Part 2

The Illinois Trail of Tears Association meets three times a year to share information on the 1838-1839 Trail of Tears through southern Illinois. Their goal is to encourage the development and preservation of the trail.

On Tuesday, January 8, 2008, they will be meeting for a celebration and ceremony of certification at the Joe and Ethel Crabb-Abbott Farm as an official ToT site. Since it is January, it might be cold, but organizers say that will make everyone appreciate the hardships faced by the Cherokees nearly 170 years ago. The group were able to ford a creek at this farm.

This year's first regular meeting will be March 28 in Harrisburg. It will be a continuation of the oral history project and area residents are welcome to attend to share their ToT stories.

The monument committee is working on raising funds for a memorial or statue on the courthouse grounds in Golconda.

The association continues to work with IDOT to improve interpretive and directional signage along the Auto trail Route (which mostly runs along Ill. Route 146). Also, joint projects with other ToT chapters are underway. Research is being made to certify other sites along the Trail.

For more information: www.sueglasco.tripod.com/trailoftears.

Sad Story, But Finally Being Commemorated. --Cooter

Trail of Tears Went Through Illinois

I wasn't aware of it, but the infamous Trail of Tears marking the forced removal of the Cherokee Indians to west of the Mississippi, also went through the very southern part of Illinois. I always thought it went through southern states. This was truly one of the low-water marks of American history.

According to Jon's Southern Illinois History Page, by Jon Musgrove, nearly 9,000 Cherokees passed through southern Illinois during the winter between Nov. 1838 and January 1839. Very little remains of that event.

According to the Illinois Chapter of the Trail of Tears Association, the Cherokees crossed the Ohio River into Illinois at Golconda and mostly followed what is today's Illinois Route 146.

Today, the route enters Illinois at the Cave-in-Rock ferry and continues on Illinois Route 146 until it crosses the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau.

www.illinoishistory.com/trailoftears.html

A Truly Sad Chapter in US History. --Cooter