This is the Padua podcast network. These weren’t Wild West Indians like you see in the movies, right? These were living among the white folks of Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi, and they had taken on their ways and even married into the southern white society. Many of them had no shoes, ragged clothing. You’re traveling a thousand miles.

You started the trip in a concentration camp, basically. So if you didn’t start out with no shoes, good chance you wound up with no shoes. They passed this way. Home to thousands of men, women, and children, the Cherokee Nation once spread across parts of Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama.

The 1830 Indian Removal Act required that the Cherokee Nation surrender ancestral lands and move west. In 1838, more than 16,000 Cherokee Nation citizens began their trek west from their traditional eastern homeland to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) along the Trail of Tears. They traveled by existing roads and rivers. Many groups left in the fall, hoping to avoid the disease and heat of summer travel, only to face treacherous winter weather.

Thousands died during the ordeal. Here’s a recollection of a survivor of the Trail of Tears. Long time we travel on way to new land. Women’s cry, children cry, and men cry.

But they say nothing and just put their heads down and keep on going towards the west. Many days passed, and many died. Many people died very much. And here’s a statement by a missionary, Daniel S.

Buttrick, March 18, 1838. The next day, Buttrick commented that the boy survived. Just before arriving at the encampment, a little boy was run over by a large wagon, the wheel passing over his neck and the back part of his head. The physicians were called, but supposing he would certainly die, did nothing for him.

The group camped near Elkhorn Tavern, and Ruddick’s Field is a later stop on your tour. 1830s Indian Removal Policy Federal Indian Removal Policy aroused fierce and bitter debate. Supporters claimed it was a benevolent action to save the tribes east of the Mississippi River from being overwhelmed and lost in the onslaught of an expanding American population. Opponents decried its inhumanity and the tragic consequences it would have for American Indians.

One thing was certain: millions of acres of Indian lands were given to white settlers. The U.S. government forcibly removed more than 16,000 Cherokee, 21,000 Muskogee or Creek, 9,000 Choctaw, 6,000 Chickasaw, and 4,000 Seminole. Today, despite the hardships of the journey, members of the five removed tribes establish new lives in the West. Tribes stand as successful sovereign nations proudly preserving cultural traditions while adapting to the challenges of the 21st century. Cherokee Nation citizens who survived the Trail of Tears joined those who had been removed earlier to form a new government for their sovereign nation in present-day Oklahoma.

Some Cherokee remained in North Carolina and formed the Eastern Band of Cherokee Nations. The story of the forced removal of the Cherokee Nation and other American Indian tribes is commemorated along the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail. And I will just show you this thing. It doesn’t look much like a trail to me, but there it is.

Trail of Tears National Historic Trail. Now I’m on the right road, and it’s actually paved, at least this part of it is, with concrete. And I’m heading to Elkhorn Tavern. Elkhorn Tavern.

And this is an important spot for the Civil War, so I don’t know how far we’re going to walk today. We’re going to go. It looks like it turns into gravel here, maybe. And there is Elkhorn Tavern.

Howdy, and there doesn’t seem to be any information about it, but it does have what I assume are elk horns on top of it. Anyway, let’s head further down the Trail of Tears. The northern route had to be pretty hazardous.

I mean, just because of the fact that it’s probably a lot colder on the northern route. We’re not here for Civil War history, but that’s what this park is about. So the Butterfield Overland Mail Route. Okay, this isn’t about the Civil War.

Now it is through a future Civil War battlefield. Talks about John Butterfield. There’s a town called Butterfield, and then there’s a coach line, and there is a Street today called the Butterfield coach Road Yeah 1858 The first Butterfield overland mail coach so that was 30 years At least 20 years after 20-something years after the Detachments of indians came through here on their way to Oklahoma indian territory so there was no butterfield coach that they could you know take probably would have been very welcome now after hard hours of hard fighting up the telegraph road now telegraph road is where the tail tears go through that’s what i’m on right

now This is actually a real trail. When I looked at the map, I wasn’t sure. She kind of said, Well, if you walk up this way, but I think there are trails here, and it says hiking with an arrow. It’s got a hiking symbol on there.

So we’re going along pretty well. I don’t know how far I’m going to go. I know my watch did not get charged last night because I was charging the camera. By the way, http://youtube.com/@runningafever you’re listening and want to see something a mile and a half now that have gone But it’s not a mile and a half back to the parking area.

So I may go in here for a good way before I turn around to come back, but that’s how much I’ve walked today. Lots of leaves on the trail. I mean, it’s a much better experience than yesterday, just kind of walking through the apartment complexes and something on the Salegui Trail. Salegui Trail. I’m sure you can hear me kicking through the leaves here.

They’re pretty thick on the ground. Sticks and all kinds of stuff. But it’s a trail for sure. You could probably drive a car through here.

If you wanted to. A stubborn fighting retreat. So far, no information about the Trail of Tears here. Union was pretty good at recruiting, I guess, all the way out west, and then convinced them to come all the way down here to Arkansas to fight at Elkhorn Tavern.

Where Thousands of Native American people had walked by, not knowing that there would be a future war here fought between white people. It’s a nice trail just to walk, you know. They do have the driving trail because I think the park is so big. You know, and there are people walking and biking and so forth along that trail, but it’s six miles long, so it’s kind of long for probably most people at most times just to see the sights.

And there are, I think, nine stops. Stop number one is specifically about the Trail of Tears. Fashion department, short-sleeved t-shirt today, in my hiking jeans.

In some places I go, it doesn’t seem appropriate to wear workout gear. And this, I believe, is one of them. I don’t know. This has probably been a road for a couple of hundred years, I would think.

That’s why the soldiers took the Indians along this route and why there was a tavern on it, at least in the 1850s. Why put a tavern out in the middle of the forest? Not only am I walking on in the footsteps of the Indians who were forced to march through torturous conditions along the Trail of Tears, I am walking in the footsteps of soldiers. Union and Confederate soldiers, I believe.

West Point was founded in 1808. So you probably had some West Point graduates. pointing guns at the Indians, shooing them along, and making them pay for ferry rides along the way at five times the normal price. And they had money.

These weren’t Wild West Indians like you see in the movies, right? These were living among the white folks of Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, and probably the Carolinas. and they had taken on, you know, their ways and even married into the society of the Southern whites, non-Indian, presumably Anglo-Saxon, or, you know, people of European descent. like myself.

So they had money. They would have had some money. It’s not like they were out there, you know, trading beads for a ferry crossing. They actually would have had some money, probably not much.

There were supposedly many of them who had no shoes, which I can’t imagine walking this terrain without. ragged clothing. I mean, one reason was that this process took years. And, you know, you’re traveling a thousand miles.

You started the trip in a concentration camp, basically. I mean, I wouldn’t have any shoes left, even if I had some really nice ones. Pretty sure no runner puts 1,000 miles on his shoes. And even if they were top-of-the-line leather boots, they would be pretty worn down after 1,000 miles if they were still together.

So if you didn’t start out with no shoes, there’s a good chance you wound up with no shoes. Well, there’s nothing of note here except a beautiful forest. Falling trees, falling leaves everywhere. Kind of being blown gently, drifting to the ground.

Some fallen trees, plenty of those. Which is what happens, you know, naturally. Trees fall down, and they die. New ones spring up in their place.

And I’m getting kind of tired. I’ve only gone 1.61 miles all day. But it’s not like the paved walkway that I have in the trails in town, in my town, that I walk on a lot. Dean’s Trail and Lake Fayetteville Trail.

Lake Atalanta Trail. I haven’t been up to Lake Atalanta in quite a while. I’ve got a fly just in case you see my hand going in front because this fly is just really all over me. Go away.

I should go back up there, and I should go back up to Hobbs again. I’ve been to Hobbs twice already. The guy I went with to Yellow Rock last week wants to do some more hiking. Flying insects just keep coming back, so he might want to go out there and do some hiking.

Nobody else out here but me, but you know what? I am determined to walk the Trail of Tears as much as I can, and that’s why I’m here. Almost an hour of walking, so I guess I’m gonna turn back. Again, it’s this beautiful forest here.

Can’t see any roads. It’s amazing. You know, how many places can you go these days? and be completely isolated.

There’s no person in sight. There are no vehicles or even houses in sight. Just trees and hills and leaves. And this one trail, the only sign of domestication whatsoever.

Except for the occasional tree that was obviously chainsawed. In order to keep the trail clear. Got an untied shoe here. Didn’t complete the fashion department.

The shoes I’m wearing are the same shoes I wore in the last episode because I still have the injuries that I mentioned. Although the left foot is not hurting at all. Found a pretty good Band-Aid to put on it. And the right one is.

I don’t know why. But wearing my Stan Smith Adidas, which I would not normally wear in this terrain, because I like to keep them nice and white. It’s time to clean them anyway. And I just couldn’t wear the other shoes that I have, certainly not the Doc Martens.

And the Aveo walking shoes actually kind of curve around your heel, and so that was not good either. So that’s pretty much the fashion report. So it’s probably the last episode in the Trail of Tears series, at least for now, until I can get any new information or more information for my sake, new to me, or find another trail. I might come back to this trail and walk it a little farther out.

As I said, I went a mile in the wrong direction this morning, or this afternoon. I don’t know what time it is. Should have gotten here about 11, so. I haven’t had my noontime protein drink yet.

Ow! Problems with leaves. I’ve done this before. Sometimes there’s a hole.

The leaves are in the hole, but they don’t really fill it up because they’re leaves. And so you step into the hole without seeing it. That’s what just happened there. Yeah, that was a chainsaw right there.

Feeling kind of tired and feeling fatigued in my legs right now, which would be unusual for me. This is mostly flat terrain, but I did walk for a couple of miles yesterday. I don’t necessarily usually do this back-to-back. I’m not planning to walk tomorrow. Tomorrow will be Sunday.

that wind yeah pretty uh pretty good shape these cannons i bet they weren’t the original ones here i don’t know maybe should have worn a helmet lots and lots of leaves yeah so i’m glad i accomplished this i’m glad i did this series and finally I’m not wondering as much when I drive around town and see these signs for the Trail of Tears. I think there’s not, you know, established walking trails on a lot of that, obviously. But, like, there are several miles here and a couple of miles, or maybe one mile, in Fayetteville.

I think we’re going to expand that, as I said yesterday, or in the last episode. But probably a lot of areas that they know were on the route. But, you know, as I said, there’s no developed walking trail or anything like that. So it’s just along the road.

And it makes sense that places like this became roads that remain roads to the present day. This one just happens to have survived two miles, two miles today. And we’re at an elevation of 1,400 feet if you were wondering. So now I know a little more about the Trail of Tears, and I’ve actually set foot on several miles of it.

So, feels good to have accomplished that. You know, you ever had something you just keep putting off and putting off and putting off? When you finally do it, it’s such a relief. Not a lot of people on here.

Bikes, walkers, and runners. I suppose I prefer the paved tour road, which is fine with me. All right, I see Elkhorn Tavern up here. I think there may be restrooms up here.

Parking area. It’s the biggest parking area. What they have around here is on the tour road; they have these stops, and each stop has turnouts of various sizes. Some of them are just a wide spot in the road where you can park.

Some of them are bigger. And you can park there, look at the scenery, and read the plaques. I’m walking pretty slowly. Anyway, it’s taking me over an hour to do two miles an hour and seven minutes 2.16 miles going really slow, but I’m gonna feel good when I get out of the shower tonight, and we’re on concrete and a little bit of grass there now we’re on concrete, okay, leaving the Trail of Tears, probably near the end of it. The end of this portion of it, anyway. Not the end. The end was in Oklahoma Indian Territory.

Called Indian Territory at the time. And Stillwell is where a lot of them settled and stopped, as I mentioned two episodes ago, I guess that was where the new capital of the Cherokee Nation was established, Stilwell Oklahoma, may still be the capital, I don’t know. I think I’m the only guy parked up here. Well, folks, that’s it. That’s the old wire segment of the Trail of Tears. Not the entire thing.

Honestly, it’s not even marked. It’s just that the park ranger knew where it was. So there’s absolutely no plaque or anything here. But I think it goes on.

Obviously, it goes on. The Trail of Tears goes on all the way back to Tennessee, East Tennessee. It goes on this way to Oklahoma. So anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed this and found it enlightening.

And remember, if you’ve got the fever, keep it burning. And if you don’t, catch the fever. And I will talk to you next time on Running: A FEVER.