It may have been the greatest injustice of all.
A nation was uprooted.
A nation was ripped apart from its ancestral lands with its peoples' feet pointed west. So many died along the way.
The Five Civilized Tribes – the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, Cherokee, and Seminole – rose to power on the land of their fathers, atop great smoky mountains, deep within vast timbered forests, lost among the mangroves, palmettos, and rivers of grass.
They were strong and proud – hunters who had become farmers. Many fine plantations were firmly planted on the land they called home, and slaves picked their cotton in the fields. They had achieved self-government and prospered.
But civilization rolled selfishly into their nation.
Treaties were passed, signed, and ignored.
Promises were made and broken, sometimes just forgotten.
The removal of the tribes from their homeland in the Southeast to Indian Territory takes on a new dimension as author Caleb Pirtle relates to a culture that existed before the Europeans set foot on American soil.
The people suffered greatly from this exodus – driven like cattle herds across frozen ground and icy rivers, families separated, children and the old ones dying – as they struggled down a path that would forever be known as "The Trail Where They Cried."
They were victimized by America's "Indian Policy."
It was a grave mistake.
Trail of Broken Promises was written for the casual historian searching for an emotional overview of a dark era in America's past. Developed for the traveler, the book contains numerous photographs depicting the heritage and culture of the Five Civilized Tribes, as well as historical traces – homes, council houses, prisons, and forts – of their early days in Oklahoma.
