George Colbert was an important historical figure in Native American history. He was a Chickasaw chief and leader during the nineteenth century. Chief Colbert was instrumental in helping to protect the Chickasaw people during a time of great turmoil and…
Stand Watie became the last major Confederate field commander to surrender to the Union, on June 23, 1865, which took place at Doaksville, in the Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory. Watie, a Cherokee, was the only Native American on either side…
At the beginning of the 1830s, nearly 125,000 Native Americans lived on millions of acres of land in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and Florida–land their ancestors had occupied and cultivated for generations. By the end of the decade, very few natives remained anywhere in the southeastern United States.
Working on behalf of white settlers who wanted to grow cotton on the Indians’ land, the federal government forced them to leave their homelands and walk hundreds or even thousands of miles to a specially designated “Indian territory” across the Mississippi River (where Oklahoma is today). This difficult and sometimes deadly journey is known as the Trail of Tears.
More than 175 years ago, gold was discovered in the mountains of North Carolina and Georgia and as thousands of new settlers invaded the area, it spawned tensions with the American Indian tribes.
As a result, President Andrew Jackson established the Indian Removal Policy in 1830, which forced theCherokee Nation to give up its lands east of the Mississippi River and migrate to Indian Territory (now present day Oklahoma.) This is the legend of why the wild Cherokee Rose can be found all along the Trail of Tears from North Carolilna to Oklahoma.
The Echota Cherokee Tribe of Alabama are the descendants of those Indian people who escaped the infamous “Trail of Tears” by hiding out in the mountainous backwoods and lowlands of the Southeast. Others fled from the march after it began and others simply walked away and came home after reaching Indian Territory. They are state recognized by the State of Alabama.
The MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians are a state-recognized American Indian tribe located in southern Alabama, primarily in Washington and Mobile counties. The MOWA Choctaw Reservation is located along the banks of the Mobile and Tombigbee rivers, on 300 acres near the small southwestern Alabama communities of McIntosh, Mount Vernon and Citronelle, and north of Mobile.