Her husband was coming home from a hunt in the mountains and suddenly found himself amongst a midst of rattlesnakes.

"What is wrong?" he asked the snakes and they responded, "Your wife killed our chief today. The Black Rattlesnake is on the way now to take revenge."

The husband took responsibility and was ready to make satisfaction with the snakes. The snakes demanded the life of his wife in sacrifice for that of their chief.

The snakes told him that the Black Rattlesnake would follow him home and coil up outside his door. He was to ask his wife to get him some fresh water. He did as the snakes asked.

His wife went out to get some water and he immediatly heard her cry out. The snake had struck her and she was already dying.

The Black Rattlesnake then crawled out of the grass and said, "My tribe is satisfied now. When you meet any of us hereafter, sing a prayer song and you won't get hurt. But if by accident one of us should bite you, sing this song over the wounded person and they will be healed."

The Cherokee have kept this song to this day.

This story shows the strong Cherokee belief that life is a system of balance. When anything throws the system out of balance an event must accure that will justify and calm the balance. Therefore, if someone is killed, the killer or a clan member of the killer must be put to death.

This is how the judiciary and moral system of the Cherokee has worked for hundreds of years.

Once an ally of the Cherokees, President Andrew Jackson authorized the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Even Thomas Jefferson, who often cited the The Great Law of Peace of the Iroquois Confederacy as the model for the U.S. Constitution, supported Indian Removal as early as 1802. Only Senators Daniel Webster and Henry Clay and Reverend Samuel Worcester, missionary to the Cherokees, spoke out against indian removal.

About 100 Cherokee, known as the Treaty Party, signed the Treaty of New Echota in 1835 to relinquish all lands east of the Mississippi River in exchange for land in Indian Territory and the promise of money, livestock, and various provisions and tools; not knowing at the same time they were also signing their own death warrents.

Under orders from President Jackson, the U.S. Army began enforcement of the Removal Act. In the winter of 1838-39, 14,000 Cherokees were marched 1,200 miles through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas into rugged Indian Territory. An estimated 4,000 died from hunger, exposure and disease; the journey became eternally know as the "trail where they cried" or the "Trail of Tears".

The descendants of the survivors of the Trail of Tears comprise today's Cherokee Nation with membership of more than 165,000. I am one of these descendants, and this is the tragic story of my ancestors' removal from the land and home they loved.

When the Trail of Tears started in 1838 the mothers of the Cherokee were grieving and crying so much, they were unable to help their children survive the journey. The elders prayed for a sign that would lift the mother’s spirits to give them strength. The next day a beautiful rose began to grow where each of the mother’s tears fell. The rose is white for their tears; a gold center represents the gold taken from Cherokee lands, and seven leaves on each stem for the seven Cherokee clans. The wild Cherokee Rose grows along the route of the Trail of Tears into eastern Oklahoma today.

"The Legend of the Dream Catcher"

 

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