Sign for the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail.

The Trail of Tears is a name given to the forced relocation and movement of Native American nations from southeastern parts of the United States following the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The removal included many members of the Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek), Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations, among others in the United States, from their homelands to Indian Territory (eastern sections of the present-day state of Oklahoma). The phrase originated from a description of the removal of the Choctaw Nation in 1831.^[1] Many Native Americans suffered from exposure, disease and starvation en route to their destinations. Many died, including 4,000 of the 15,000 relocated Cherokee.^[2]

In 1831, the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee-Creek, and Seminole (sometimes collectively referred to as the Five Civilized Tribes) were living as autonomous nations in what would be called the American Deep South. The process of cultural transformation (proposed by George Washington and Henry Knox) was gaining momentum, especially among the Cherokee and Choctaw.^[3] Andrew Jackson continued and renewed the political and military effort for the removal of the Native Americans from these lands with the passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830.

In 1831 the Choctaw were the first to be removed, and they became the model for all other removals. After the Choctaw, the Seminole were removed in 1832, the Creek in 1834, then the Chickasaw in 1837, and finally the Cherokee in 1838.^[4] After removal, some Native Americans remained in their ancient homelands - the Choctaw are found in Mississippi, the Seminole in Florida, the Creek in Alabama, and the Cherokee in North Carolina. A limited number of non-native Americans (including African-Americans - usually as slaves) also accompanied the Native American nations on the trek westward.^[4] By 1837, 46,000 Native Americans from these southeastern states had been removed from their homelands thereby opening 25 million acres (100,000 km²) for predominantly white settlement.^[4]

The fixed boundaries of these autonomous tribal nations, comprising large areas of the United States, were subject to continual cession and annexation prior to 1830, in part due to pressure from squatters and the threat of military force in the newly declared U.S. territories -- federally administered regions whose boundaries supervened upon the Native treaty claims. As these territories became U.S. states, state governments sought to dissolve the boundaries of the Indian nations within their borders, which were independent of state jurisdiction, and to expropriate the land therein. These pressures were magnified by U.S. population growth and the expansion of slavery in the South.^[5]

Legal background[link]

The territorial boundaries claimed as sovereign and controlled by the Native American nations living in what was then known as the Indian Territories—the portion of the early United States east of the Mississippi River not yet claimed or allotted to become Oklahoma -- were fixed and determined by national treaties with the United States Federal government under terms recognizing these entities as dependent but internally sovereign, or autonomous nations under the sole jurisdiction of the Federal government.^[5]

While retaining their tribal governance, which included a constitution or official council in tribes such as the Iroquois and Cherokee, many portions of the southeastern Native American nations had become partially or completely economically integrated into the economy of the region. This included the plantation economy in states such as Georgia, and the possession of slaves. These slaves were also forcibly relocated during the process of removal.^[5] A similar process had occurred earlier in the territories controlled by the Confederacy of the Six Nations in what is now upstate New York prior to the British invasion and subsequent U.S. annexation of the Iroquois nation.

Under the history of U.S. treaty law, the territorial boundaries claimed by Federally recognized tribes received the same status under which the Southeastern tribal claims were recognized; until the following establishment of reservations of land, determined by the Federal government, which were ceded to the remaining tribes by de jure treaty, in a process that often entailed forced relocation. The establishment of the Indian Territory and the dissolution of Indian territories east of the Mississippi anticipated the establishment of the U.S. Indian reservation system, which was subsequently imposed on remaining Indian lands.

The statutory argument for Native American sovereignty persisted until the Supreme Court ruled in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831), that (e.g.) the Cherokees were not a sovereign and independent nation, and therefore not entitled to a hearing before the court. However, in Worcester v. Georgia (1832), the court re-established limited internal sovereignty under the sole jurisdiction of the Federal government, in a ruling that both opposed the subsequent forced relocation and set the basis for modern U.S. case law.

While the latter ruling was famously defied by Jackson,^[6] the actions of the Jackson administration were not isolated because state and federal officials had violated treaties without consequence, often attributed to military exigency, as the members of individual Native American nations were not automatically United States citizens and were rarely given standing in any U.S. court.

Compounding this was the fact that while citizenship tests existed for Native Americans living in newly annexed areas before and after forced relocation, individual U.S. states did not recognize tribal land claims, only individual title under State law, and distinguished between the rights of white and non-white citizens, who often had limited standing in court; and Indian removal was carried out under U.S. military jurisdiction, often by state militias. As a result, individual Native Americans who could prove U.S. citizenship were nevertheless displaced from newly annexed areas.^[5] The military actions and subsequent treaties enacted by the Jackson and Van Buren administrations pursuant to the 1830 law are widely considered to have directly caused the expulsion or death of a substantial part of the Native Americans then living in the southeastern United States.

Choctaw voluntary removal[link]

In 1832 a young 22-year-old Harkins wrote the Farewell Letter to the American People.

The Choctaw nation was in what are now the U.S. states of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. After a series of treaties starting in 1801, the Choctaw nation was reduced to 11,000,000 acres (45,000 km²). The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek ceded the remaining country to the United States and was ratified in early 1831. The removals were only agreed to after a provision in the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek allowed some Choctaw to remain. George W. Harkins would write to the citizens of the United States before the removals were to commence:

Map of United States Indian Removal, 1830-1835. Oklahoma is depicted in light yellow-green.

Secretary of War Lewis Cass appointed George Gaines to manage the removals. Gaines decided to remove Choctaws in three phases starting in 1831 and ending in 1833. The first was to begin on November 1, 1831 with groups meeting at Memphis and Vicksburg. A harsh winter would batter the emigrants with flash floods, sleet, and snow. Initially the Choctaws were to be transported by wagon but floods halted them. With food running out, the residents of Vicksburg and Memphis were concerned. Five steamboats (the Walter Scott, the Brandywine, the Reindeer, the Talma, and the Cleopatra) would ferry Choctaws to their river-based destinations. The Memphis group traveled up the Arkansas for about 60 miles (97 km) to Arkansas Post. There the temperature stayed below freezing for almost a week with the rivers clogged with ice, so there would be no travel for weeks. Food rationing consisted of a handful of boiled corn, one turnip, and two cups of heated water per day. Forty government wagons were sent to Arkansas Post to transport them to Little Rock. When they reached Little Rock, a Choctaw chief (thought to be Thomas Harkins or Nitikechi) quoted to the Arkansas Gazette that the removal was a "trail of tears and death."^[8] The Vicksburg group was led by an incompetent guide and was lost in the Lake Providence swamps.

Alexis de Tocqueville, French political thinker and historian.

Alexis de Tocqueville, the French philosopher, witnessed the Choctaw removals while in Memphis, Tennessee in 1831,

Nearly 17,000 Choctaws made the move to what would be called Indian Territory and then later Oklahoma.^[10] About 2,500–6,000 died along the trail of tears. Approximately 5,000–6,000 Choctaws remained in Mississippi in 1831 after the initial removal efforts.^[11][12] The Choctaws who chose to remain in newly formed Mississippi were subject to legal conflict, harassment, and intimidation. The Choctaws "have had our habitations torn down and burned, our fences destroyed, cattle turned into our fields and we ourselves have been scourged, manacled, fettered and otherwise personally abused, until by such treatment some of our best men have died."^[12] The Choctaws in Mississippi were later reformed as the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and the removed Choctaws became the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

Seminole resistance[link]

The U.S. acquired Florida from Spain via the Adams-Onís Treaty and took possession in 1821. In 1832 the Seminoles were called to a meeting at Payne's Landing on the Ocklawaha River. The treaty negotiated called for the Seminoles to move west, if the land were found to be suitable. They were to be settled on the Creek reservation and become part of the Creek tribe, who considered them deserters; some of the Seminoles had been derived from Creek bands but also from other tribes. Those among the tribe who once were members of Creek bands did not wish to move west to where they were certain that they would meet death for leaving the main band of Creek Indians. The delegation of seven chiefs who were to inspect the new reservation did not leave Florida until October 1832. After touring the area for several months and conferring with the Creeks who had already settled there, the seven chiefs signed a statement on March 28, 1833 that the new land was acceptable. Upon their return to Florida, however, most of the chiefs renounced the statement, claiming that they had not signed it, or that they had been forced to sign it, and in any case, that they did not have the power to decide for all the tribes and bands that resided on the reservation. The villages in the area of the Apalachicola River were more easily persuaded, however, and went west in 1834.^[13] On December 28, 1835 a group of Seminoles and blacks ambushed a U.S. Army company marching from Fort Brooke in Tampa to Fort King in Ocala. Out of 110 army troops only 3 survived, this came to be known as the Dade Massacre.

As the realization that the Seminoles would resist relocation sank in, Florida began preparing for war. The St. Augustine Militia asked the War Department for the loan of 500 muskets. Five hundred volunteers were mobilized under Brig. Gen. Richard K. Call. Indian war parties raided farms and settlements, and families fled to forts, large towns, or out of the territory altogether. A war party led by Osceola captured a Florida militia supply train, killing eight of its guards and wounding six others. Most of the goods taken were recovered by the militia in another fight a few days later. Sugar plantations along the Atlantic coast south of St. Augustine were destroyed, with many of the slaves on the plantations joining the Seminoles.^[14]

Other warchiefs such as Halleck Tustenuggee, Jumper, and Black Seminoles Abraham and John Horse continued the Seminole resistance against the army. The war ended, after a full decade of fighting, in 1842. The U.S. government is estimated to have spent about $20,000,000 on the war, at the time an astronomical sum, and equal to $481,655,172 today. Many Indians were forcibly exiled to Creek lands west of the Mississippi; others retreated into the Everglades. In the end, the government gave up trying to subjugate the Seminole in their Everglades redoubts and left fewer than 100 Seminoles in peace. However, other scholars state that at least several hundred Seminoles remained in the Everglades after the Seminole Wars.^[15][16][17]

As a result of the Seminole Wars, the surviving Seminole band of the Everglades claims to be the only Federally recognized tribe which never relinquished sovereignty or signed a peace treaty with the United States.

Creek dissolution[link]

After the War of 1812, some Muscogee leaders such as William McIntosh signed treaties that ceded more land to Georgia. The 1814 signing of the Treaty of Fort Jackson signaled the end for the Creek Nation and for all Indians in the South.^[18] Friendly Creek leaders, like Selocta and Big Warrior, addressed Sharp Knife (the Indian nickname for Andrew Jackson) and reminded him that they keep the peace. Nevertheless, Jackson retorted that they did not "cut (Tecumseh's) throat" when they had the chance, so they must now cede Creek lands. Jackson also ignored Article 9 of the Treaty of Ghent that restored sovereignty to Indians and their nations.

Eventually, the Creek Confederacy enacted a law that made further land cessions a capital offense. Nevertheless, on February 12, 1825, McIntosh and other chiefs signed the Treaty of Indian Springs, which gave up most of the remaining Creek lands in Georgia.^[21] After the U.S. Senate ratified the treaty, McIntosh was assassinated on May 13, 1825, by Creeks led by Menawa.

The Creek National Council, led by Opothle Yohola, protested to the United States that the Treaty of Indian Springs was fraudulent. President John Quincy Adams was sympathetic, and eventually the treaty was nullified in a new agreement, the Treaty of Washington (1826).^[22] Writes historian R. Douglas Hurt: "The Creeks had accomplished what no Indian nation had ever done or would do again — achieve the annulment of a ratified treaty."^[23] However, Governor Troup of Georgia ignored the new treaty and began to forcibly remove the Indians under the terms of the earlier treaty. At first, President Adams attempted to intervene with federal troops, but Troup called out the militia, and Adams, fearful of a civil war, conceded. As he explained to his intimates, "The Indians are not worth going to war over."

Although the Creeks had been forced from Georgia, with many Lower Creeks moving to the Indian Territory, there were still about 20,000 Upper Creeks living in Alabama. However, the state moved to abolish tribal governments and extend state laws over the Creeks. Opothle Yohola appealed to the administration of President Andrew Jackson for protection from Alabama; when none was forthcoming, the Treaty of Cusseta was signed on March 24, 1832, which divided up Creek lands into individual allotments.^[24] Creeks could either sell their allotments and received funds to remove to the west, or stay in Alabama and submit to state laws. Land speculators and squatters began to defraud Creeks out of their allotments, and violence broke out, leading to the so-called "Creek War of 1836". Secretary of War Lewis Cass dispatched General Winfield Scott to end the violence by forcibly removing the Creeks to the Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River.

Chickasaw monetary removal[link]

Fragment of the Trail of Tears still intact at Village Creek State Park, Arkansas (2010)

Historic Marker in Marion Arkansas for the Trail of Tears

Unlike other tribes who exchanged land grants, the Chickasaw received financial compensation from the United States for their lands east of the Mississippi River. In 1836, the Chickasaws had reached an agreement that purchased land from the previously removed Choctaws after a bitter five-year debate. They paid the Choctaws $530,000 (equal to $11,216,727 today) for the western most part Choctaw land. The first group of Chickasaws moved in 1837 was led by John M. Millard. The Chickasaws gathered at Memphis on July 4, 1837, with all of their assets—belongings, livestock, and slaves. Once across the Mississippi River, they followed routes previously established by Choctaws and Creeks. Once in Indian Territory, the Chickasaws merged with the Choctaw nation. After several decades of mistrust, they regained nationhood^{[citation needed]}.

Cherokee forced relocation[link]

Cherokee Principal Chief John Ross. Image capture in the late 1800s.

In 1838, the Cherokee people were forcibly removed from their lands in the Southeastern United States to the Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma) in the Western United States, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 4,000 Cherokees.^[25] In the Cherokee language, the event is called Nu na da ul tsun yi—“the Place Where They Cried”. The Cherokee Trail of Tears resulted from the enforcement of the Treaty of New Echota, an agreement signed under the provisions of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which exchanged Native American land in the East for lands west of the Mississippi River, but which was never accepted by the elected tribal leadership or a majority of the Cherokee people.

Tensions between Georgia and the Cherokee Nation were brought to a crisis by the discovery of gold near Dahlonega, Georgia, in 1829, resulting in the Georgia Gold Rush, the first gold rush in U.S. history. Hopeful gold speculators began trespassing on Cherokee lands, and pressure began to mount on the Georgia government to fulfill the promises of the Compact of 1802.

When Georgia moved to extend state laws over the Cherokee lands in 1830, the matter went to the U.S. Supreme Court. In Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831), the Marshall court ruled that the Cherokee Nation was not a sovereign and independent nation, and therefore refused to hear the case. However, in Worcester v. Georgia (1832), the Court ruled that Georgia could not impose laws in Cherokee territory, since only the national government — not state governments — had authority in Indian affairs.

Elizabeth "Betsy" Brown Stephens, a Cherokee Indian who walked the Trail of Tears. (1903)

Jackson had no desire to use the power of the national government to protect the Cherokees from Georgia, since he was already entangled with states’ rights issues in what became known as the nullification crisis. With the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the U.S. Congress had given Jackson authority to negotiate removal treaties, exchanging Indian land in the East for land west of the Mississippi River. Jackson used the dispute with Georgia to put pressure on the Cherokees to sign a removal treaty.^[26]

Nevertheless, the treaty, passed by Congress by a single vote, and signed into law by President Andrew Jackson, was imposed by his successor President Martin Van Buren who allowed Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Alabama an armed force of 7,000 made up of militia, regular army, and volunteers under General Winfield Scott to round up about 13,000 Cherokees into concentration camps at the U.S. Indian Agency near Cleveland, Tennessee before being sent to the West. Most of the deaths occurred from disease, starvation and cold in these camps. Their homes were burned and their property destroyed and plundered. Farms belonging to the Cherokees for generations were won by white settlers in a lottery. After the initial roundup, the U.S. military still oversaw the emigration until they met the forced destination.^[27] Private John G. Burnett later wrote, "Future generations will read and condemn the act and I do hope posterity will remember that private soldiers like myself, and like the four Cherokees who were forced by General Scott to shoot an Indian Chief and his children, had to execute the orders of our superiors. We had no choice in the matter."^[28]

Portrait of Marcia Pascal, a young Cherokee woman. (1880)

In the winter of 1838 the Cherokee began the thousand-mile march with scant clothing and most on foot without shoes or moccasins. The march began in Red Clay, Tennessee, the location of the last Eastern capital of the Cherokee Nation. The Cherokee were given used blankets from a hospital in Tennessee where an epidemic of small pox had broken out. Because of the diseases, the Indians were not allowed to go into any towns or villages along the way; many times this meant traveling much farther to go around them.^[30] After crossing Tennessee and Kentucky, they arrived in Southern Illinois at Golconda about the 3rd of December 1838. Here the starving Indians were charged a dollar a head (equal to $21.83 today) to cross the river on "Berry's Ferry" which typically charged twelve cents, equal to $2.62 today. They were not allowed passage until the ferry had serviced all others wishing to cross and were forced to take shelter under "Mantle Rock," a shelter bluff on the Kentucky side, until "Berry had nothing better to do". Many died huddled together at Mantle Rock waiting to cross. Several Cherokee were murdered by locals. The killers filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Government through the courthouse in Vienna, suing the government for $35 a head (equal to $763.88 today) to bury the murdered Cherokee.^[30]

On December 26, Martin Davis, Commissary Agent for Moses Daniel's detachment, wrote: "There is the coldest weather in Illinois I ever experienced anywhere. The streams are all frozen over something like 8 inches (20 cm) or 12 inches (30 cm) inches thick. We are compelled to cut through the ice to get water for ourselves and animals. It snows here every two or three days at the fartherest. We are now camped in Mississippi swamp 4 miles (6.4 km) from the river, and there is no possible chance of crossing the river for the numerous quantity of ice that comes floating down the river every day. We have only traveled 65 miles (105 km) on the last month, including the time spent at this place, which has been about three weeks. It is unknown when we shall cross the river...."^[31]

Lillian Gross, a young multiracial Cherokee. (1906)

Removed Cherokees initially settled near Tahlequah, Oklahoma. When signing the Treaty of New Echota in 1835 Major Ridge said "I have signed my death warrant." The resulting political turmoil led to the killings of Major Ridge, John Ridge, and Elias Boudinot; of the leaders of the Treaty Party, only Stand Watie escaped death.^[32][33][34] The population of the Cherokee Nation eventually rebounded, and today the Cherokees are the largest American Indian group in the United States.^[35]

There were some exceptions to removal. Perhaps 100 Cherokees evaded the U.S. soldiers and lived off the land in Georgia and other states. Those Cherokees who lived on private, individually owned lands (rather than communally owned tribal land) were not subject to removal. In North Carolina, about 400 Cherokees, known as the Oconaluftee Cherokee, lived on land in the Great Smoky Mountains owned by a white man named William Holland Thomas (who had been adopted by Cherokees as a boy), and were thus not subject to removal. Added to this were some 200 Cherokee from the Nantahala area allowed to stay in the Qualla Boundary after assisting the U.S. Army in hunting down and capturing the family of the old prophet, Tsali. (Tsali faced a firing squad.) These North Carolina Cherokees became the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation.

Trail of Tears National Historic Trail[link]

In 1987, about 2,200 miles (3,500 km) of trails were authorized by Federal law to mark the removal of seventeen detachments of the Cherokee people.^[36] Called the "Trail of Tears National Historic Trail," it traverses portions of nine states and includes land and water routes.^[37]

Terminology of forced relocation[link]

The latter forced relocations have sometimes been referred to as a "death march", in particular with reference to the Cherokee march across the Midwest in 1838, which occurred on a predominantly land route.^[5] However the use of this term is heavily disputed, because a death march is typically defined as a forced march in which the captors show either depraved indifference to the lives of the persons during the course of the march, or actively attempt to reduce their numbers, e.g., by the execution of stragglers or those who attempt to leave the march. However, missionaries traveled along with the march as humanitarian observers, and documented the resulting conditions, as did the native leaders themselves. It was latterly described as an act of genocide by Alfred Cave in 2003.^[38]

Tribesmen who had means initially conducted their own removal. Contingents that were led by conductors from the U.S. Army included those led by Edward Deas, who was claimed to be a sympathizer for the Cherokee plight.^{[citation needed]} The largest death toll from the Cherokee forced relocation comes from the period after the May 23, 1838 deadline. This was at the point when the remaining Cherokee were rounded into camps and pressed into oversized detachments, often over 700 in size (larger than Little Rock or Memphis at that time). Communicable diseases spread quickly through these closely quartered groups, killing many. These contingents were among the last to move, but following the same routes the others had taken; the areas they were going through had been depleted of supplies due to the vast numbers that had gone before them. The marchers were subject to extortion and violence along the route. In addition, these final contingents were forced to set out during the hottest and coldest months of the year, killing many. Exposure to the elements, disease and starvation, harassment by local frontiersmen, and insufficient rations similarly killed up to one-third of the Choctaw and other nations on the march.^[11]

It has also been claimed by descendants of the survivors^{[by whom?]} that the term "Trail of Tears" referred to the tears of those who witnessed the suffering of the marchers, and that the Native Americans themselves marched in silence.

There exists some debate among historians and the affected tribes as to whether the term "Trail of Tears" should be used to refer to the entire history of forced relocations from the United States east of the Mississippi into Indian Territory (as was the stated U.S. policy), or to the Five Tribes described above, to the route of the land march specifically, or to specific marches in which the remaining holdouts from each area were rounded up.

See also[link]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Anderson, William, ed. (1991). Cherokee Removal: Before and After. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press. ISBN 978-0-8203-1482-2. 
• Bealer, Alex W. (1972, 1996). Only the Names Remain: The Cherokees and The Trail of Tears. Boston, Massachusetts: Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-08519-9. 
• Carter, Samuel (1976). Cherokee Sunset: A Nation Betrayed. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-06735-6. 
• Ehle, John (1989) [1988]. Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation. New York: Anchor Books. ISBN 0-385-23954-8. 
• Fitzgerald, David; King, Duane (2008). The Cherokee Trail of Tears. Graphic Arts Books. ISBN 978-0-88240-752-4. 
• Foreman, Grant (1989) [1932]. Indian Removal: The Emigration of the Five Civilized Tribes of Indians (11 ed.). Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-1172-0. 
• Jahoda, Gloria (1995) [1975]. Trail of Tears: The Story of the American Indian Removal 1813-1855. Henry Holt & Co. ISBN 978-0-517-14677-4. 
• Mooney, James (2007) [1888]. King, Duane. ed. Myths of the Cherokee. New York: Barnes & Noble. ISBN 978-0-7607-8340-5. 
• Perdue, Theda; Green, Michael (2008) [2007]. The Cherokee Nation and the Trail of Tears. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-311367-6. 
• Prucha, Francis (1984). The Great Father: The United States Government and the American Indians. Lincoln, Nebraska: Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-3668-9. 
• Remini, Robert (2001). Andrew Jackson and his Indian Wars. New York: Viking. ISBN 0-670-91025-2. 
• Wallace, Anthony (1993). The Long, Bitter Trail: Andrew Jackson and the Indians (Hardback ed.). New York: Hill and Wang. ISBN 0-8090-6631-9. 
• Wilson, James (1998). The Earth Shall Weep: A History of Native America. New York: Grove Press. ISBN 978-0-8021-3680-0. 

Documents[link]

• Cherokee Indian Removal Debate U.S. Senate, April 15-17, 1830
• Winfield Scott's Address to the Cherokee Nation, May 10, 1838
• Gen. Winfield Scott's Order to U.S. Troops

Documentary[link]

• The Trail of Tears: Cherokee Legacy (2006) - directed by Chip Richie; narrated by James Earl Jones

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Trail of Tears

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Appeal of the Cherokee Nation

• Remote Sensing Technology to Understanding the Choctaw Removals
• Trail of Tears National Historic Trail (U.S. National Park Service)
• The North Little Rock Site: Interpretive Contexts Chickasaw
• Seminole Tribe of Florida History: Indian Resistance and Removal
• Muscogee (Creek) Removal
• Cherokee Heritage Documentation Center
• Cherokee Nation Cultural Resource Center
• Trail of Tears - The Dream We Dreamed
• Cherokee Indian Removal, Encyclopedia of Alabama
• The Trail of Tears and the Forced Relocation of the Cherokee Nation, a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan

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Eric Johnson
Background information
Also known as	"EJ"
Born	(1954-08-17) August 17, 1954 (age 57) Austin, Texas, United States
Genres	Rock
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, producer
Instruments	Guitar. vocals, piano
Years active	1969–present
Labels	Ark21, Warner Bros., Capitol, Favored Nations
Associated acts	G3, Joe Satriani, Alien Love Child, John Petrucci, Electromagnets, Mariani
Website	http://www.ericjohnson.com
Notable instruments
Fender Eric Johnson Signature Stratocaster

Eric Johnson (born August 17, 1954) is an American musician, songwriter, and vocalist from Austin, Texas. Best known for his electric guitar skills, Johnson is also a highly proficient acoustic, lap steel, resonator, and bass guitarist as well as an accomplished pianist and vocalist.

Johnson has mastered a wide array of musical genres evidenced by the many different styles incorporated in both his studio and live performances including rock, blues, jazz, fusion, soul, folk, New Age, classical, and country and western.^[1]

Guitar Player magazine has called Johnson "one of the most respected guitarists on the planet".^[2] Johnson's stylistic diversity and technical proficiency with the guitar have been praised by Bill Hicks.^[3] His 1990 platinum-selling, full-length album, Ah Via Musicom, produced the single, "Cliffs Of Dover", for which Johnson won the 1991 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.^[4]

Life and career[link]

Born into a musically-inclined family, Johnson and his three sisters studied piano and his father was a whistling enthusiast. Johnson started learning the guitar at age 11 and rapidly began progressing through the music that would heavily influence his future style, including Eric Clapton, Mike Bloomfield, Chet Atkins, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Wes Montgomery, Jerry Reed, Bob Dylan and Django Reinhardt, among others. At the age of 15, he joined his first professional band—Mariani, a psychedelic rock group. In 1968, Johnson and the group recorded a demo, which saw extremely limited release; years later the recording became a prized collector's item.^{[1][5][6][7][8]}

After graduating from high school, Johnson briefly attended the University of Texas at Austin and traveled with his family to Africa. He eventually returned to Austin, and in 1974 joined a local fusion group called Electromagnets. The group toured and recorded regionally, but did not attract attention from major record labels and as a result disbanded in 1977. However, the strength of Johnson's playing attracted a small cult following to the group's early recordings, and decades later their two albums were given wide release on compact disc.^[9][10]

The Electromagnets with Eric Johnson performing at N.C. State University, Raleigh, N.C., on April 11, 1976

Following the Electromagnets' demise, Johnson formed a touring trio, the Eric Johnson Group, with drummer Bill Maddox and bassist Kyle Brock. They played to audiences around Austin and in 1978 recorded a full length album entitled Seven Worlds. Although the album showcased the band's sound, contract disputes held up the album's release for several years. Seven Worlds was eventually released in 1998 on Ark21 Records.^[11][12] Unable to secure a new management contract, Johnson began working as a session guitarist for some well-known acts, including Cat Stevens,^[13] Carole King, and Christopher Cross, among others.^[14] While a session musician, Johnson continued to perform locally, developing a flashy but tasteful electric guitar sound. His career rebounded in 1984 when he was signed to Warner Bros. Records. There is some disagreement about exactly how Johnson caught Warner Brothers' attention, with some reports suggesting that pop superstar Prince recommended him after hearing him perform on the public television program Austin City Limits. Others suggest that it was singer Christopher Cross and producer David Tickle who recommended Johnson to the label.^[15] In any case, Johnson's major-label debut, Tones, was unveiled in 1986 with Tickle as co-producer.

Success[link]

In May 1986, Guitar Player magazine ran a cover story about Johnson. The article helped promote the release of Tones and brought Johnson critical praise as well as elevating his profile in the guitar and music community.^[16] The album's track "Zap" was nominated for the 1987 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, but as a whole the album didn't sell well and Warner Brothers let Johnson's contract expire. He signed on with indie label Cinema Records, distributed by Capitol Records.^[17]

By the time Johnson released his 1990 Capitol Records debut album, Ah Via Musicom, he was regularly winning awards for his musicianship in the guitar press. During this period, Johnson also drew recognition for the rich, violin-like tone he coaxed from his vintage Fender Stratocaster. The album's second track, "Cliffs Of Dover", exemplified his unique sound and won Johnson a 1991 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Ah Via Musicom was a crossover hit, and was certified platinum.

Fellow Texan, the late comedian^[18] Bill Hicks, opened for Eric Johnson on at least one occasion in the Eighties. The highly intoxicated Hicks made light of Eric's lack of hit singles, as well as his vegetarian and teetotal lifestyle, by suggesting that if Eric were to eat a Hamburger and drink a beer he would be able to write more popular songs. After this incident Bill Hicks was not asked to open for Johnson ever again.^[19]

Johnson is an admitted perfectionist, and those traits seemed to work against Ah Via Musicom's follow-up release. Unhappy with his recordings, Johnson mastered, then later scrapped, several completed tracks for the new album and delayed its release for three years, on top of the three years he had spent touring in support of Ah Via Musicom. He also had setbacks involving musical growth and personal issues while recording his next album Venus Isle.^[20][21]

Venus Isle was finally released on September 3, 1996. It was a unique album with world influences that demonstrated Johnson's growth as a guitarist, songwriter, producer, musical arranger and vocalist. But the album received mixed reviews and did not match the success of its predecessor. As a result Johnson was dropped from Capitol Records. He rebounded with a successful tour from October to November 1996 with fellow guitarists Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. Named the 'G3' tour, it resulted in a successful platinum-selling compact disc and DVD titled G3: Live In concert. ]] In 1998, Eric Johnson was among the judges in Musician magazine's "Best Unsigned Bands" competition, along with Ani DiFranco, Moby, Art Alexakis of Everclear, Keb' Mo' and Joe Perry of Aerosmith.^[22]

In 1994, Johnson formed a side project called Alien Love Child and played shows sporadically while recording Venus Isle. The positive fan feedback from the shows made Alien Love Child a permanent gig. A live performance recording, Live And Beyond, was finally released in 2000 on Steve Vai's Favored Nations label, showcasing their new songs. The Alien Love Child project helped Johnson move away from his perfectionistic tendencies and loosen up enough to embrace and release a live album.^[23][24][25]

Johnson eventually returned to the recording studio, releasing Souvenir in January 2002 on his own Vortexan Records. The album, released on the Internet, received nearly 65,000 plays in the first seven weeks after it was made available on mp3.com.^[26] Johnson promoted Souvenir with an electric tour in 2003 and an acoustic tour in 2004.^[27][28]

In 2004, Eric Clapton invited Johnson to perform at his first successful Crossroads Guitar Festival. According to Johnson, he was scheduled to perform onstage with Clapton, but it fell.^[29]

Johnson's next studio album Bloom was released in June 2005, again on Vai's Favored Nations label. The album was divided into three sections with different musical styles, intended to showcase Johnson's versatility.^[30] His December 1988 Austin City Limits performance was released on both DVD and compact disc on New West Records in November 2005. His instructional guitar DVD, The Art of Guitar (Hal Leonard Corporation), was also released at the end of 2005.

In January 2006, a man named Brian Sparks was arrested for posing as Johnson and in the process defrauding businesses out of about $18,000 worth of guitars and equipment.^[31] Also in 2006, some of Johnson's guitars that had been stolen 24 years before were recovered.^[32]

In September 2006, Johnson took part in a theatrical production titled "Primal Twang: The Legacy of the Guitar" – the first definitive theatrical journey through the guitar’s colorful and controversial 3,500-year history. In September 2007, Johnson participated in a second theatrical production by the same company titled "Love In: A Musical Celebration" in which he performed a Jimi Hendrix set, a tribute to the year 1967, often called "The Summer of Love".^[33] Also in late 2006 Johnson participated in a second G3 tour in South America, with Joe Satriani and John Petrucci.

Johnson had been working on an all-acoustic project^[34] and a live video from his 2006 Tour with Satriani.^[35] However these were shelved in 2007 in favor of cutting a new studio album.^[36]

His hit single "Cliffs Of Dover" appears in the game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. Johnson has also signed up with "Operation Immortality", a project to create a digital time capsule of their DNA and humanity's achievements in the event of a global calamity.^[37]

Guitar and equipment[link]

Guitars[link]

Johnson is best known for playing stock Fender Stratocasters and Gibson ES-335 electric guitars through a triple amp setup that consists of Fender, Dumble Amplifiers and Marshall amplification amplifiers. Johnson has also played other guitar brands such as Robin, Rickenbacker, Jackson and a Charvel, which appears on the cover of the Ah Via Musicom album. In 2001, Johnson added a Gibson Custom Shop '59 Les Paul Reissue to his guitars of choice.

Johnson has had several models built to his specifications for sale in the mass market. In 2003, C. F. Martin & Company released a limited-edition Eric Johnson Signature MC-40 guitar built to his specifications. Johnson donated 5 percent of the profits of the guitar's sales to his father's alma mater, Jefferson Medical College^[38] In 2005, Fender released an Eric Johnson Signature Fender Stratocaster also built to his specifications. Johnson has also released other signature gear such as GHS Eric Johnson Nickel Rockers Electric Guitar Strings, DiMarzio DP211 Eric Johnson Signature Custom Pickups, and a Fullton-Webb amplifier. Jim Dunlop also has released an Eric Johnson signature Jazz III plectrum. In early 2009, Fender released the Eric Johnson Signature Stratocaster Rosewood model, featuring the same specifications as the Eric Johnson Maple Neck guitar, with the addition of an unusual 3-ply, 8-hole white pick guard, hotter treble pickup and a bound rosewood laminate fingerboard with pearloid dot position markers.

Effects[link]

He uses effect pedals such as the Ibanez Tube Screamer,^[39][40] Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face, BK Butler Tube Driver, TC Electronic Stereo Chorus, Vox CryBaby wah-wah ^[41], ToadWorks Barracuda flanger ^[42], Prescription Electronics Experience octave fuzz ^[43], Xotic AC Booster, MXR Flanger/Doubler, Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man delay, Boss Corporation DD-2 Digital Delay ^[44], MXR 1500 Digital Delay, Line 6 Echo Pro Studio Modeler, and up to two Maestro Echoplex tape delays.^[45][46] All of these are connected to multiple A/B boxes to create sounds and tones that are both clean and distorted. Although the majority of Johnson's setup is vintage, he has recently started using more modern equipment, including a stereo chorus made by Analog Man and a Fractal Audio Systems Axe-Fx. ^[47]

Recording[link]

In late 2006, Johnson switched from recording in analog^[48] to digital format.^[49]

Popular culture[link]

Guitarist Alex Lifeson of Rush gave a thank you to Johnson in the liner notes of Counterparts for being the inspiration for the guitar solo in the song "Cut To The Chase".

Guitarist Steve Morse recorded a song titled "TruthOla", which is a tribute to Jeff Beck, Alex Lifeson, and Eric Johnson. The song is on Morse's album "Major Impacts".

Solo albums[link]

• Seven Worlds (1978, reissued in 1998)
• Tones (1986)
• Ah Via Musicom (1990)
• Venus Isle (1996)
• Souvenir (2002)
• Bloom (2005)
• Live from Austin, TX (2005)
• Live From Austin TX '84 (2010)
• Up Close (2010)

Early singles played on[link]

• "Re-Birth Day"/"Memories Lost And Found" by Mariani (1970)
• "Come In Out Of The Rain" by Jay Aaron Podolnick (1975)
• "Talkin' About Her"/"It's All With You" by Christopher Cross (1976)
• "Thermal Underwear" by Project Terror (Bill Maddox) (1977)
• "That Rider Down" by Bill Colbert (1982)

Albums played on[link]

Group albums[link]

• Perpetuum Mobile' by Mariani (1970)
• Electromagnets by Electromagnets (1975)
• Live and Beyond by Alien Love Child (2000)
• Electromagnets 2 by Electromagnets (2006, originally recorded in 1976)

Compilations[link]

• The Austin Christmas Collection by Various Artists ‒ "What Child is This" (1980)
• The Austin Christmas Collection, Vol. 2 by Various Artists ‒ "What Child Is This" and "Is There A Santa Claus" (1983)
• Guitar Speak by Various Artists ‒ "Western Flyer" (1988)
• KLBJ's Local Licks Live by Various Artists ‒ "Camel's Night Out" (1990)
• Instrumental Moods by Various Artists ‒ "Cliffs Of Dover" (1991)
• Guitar's Practicing Musicians, Vol. 2 by Various Artists ‒ "Cliffs Of Dover" (1991)
• KLBJ's Local Licks Live by Various Artists ‒ "Desert Rose" (1993)
• True Voices by Various Artists ‒ "At The End Of The Day" with Susan Cowsill (1995)
• KLBJ's Local Licks Live by Various Artists ‒ "S.R.V." (1996)
• 13th Millennia Soundtrack by Various Artists (1996)
• G3: Live In Concert by Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and Eric Johnson (1997)
• Merry Axemas Volume 1 by Various Artists ‒ "The First Nowell" (1997)
• Guitar Gods by Various Artists ‒ "Trademark" (1998)
• KGSR 107.1 Broadcasts Vol. 7 by Various Artists ‒ "Tribute To Jerry Reed" and "The Only Thing That's Real" (1999)
• KGSR 107.1 Broadcasts Vol. 8 by Various Artists (1999)
• The Best of Rockline by Various Artists ‒ "S.R.V." (1999)
• Moods Box Set by Various Artists ‒ "Cliffs Of Dover" (1999)
• Rock Guitarist Forever Best by Various Artists ‒ "Soulful Terrain" (1999, Japanese-only release)
• KLBJ Local Licks Live by Various Artists ‒ "Shape I'm In" (2001)
• Band Together by Various Artists ‒ "Shape I'm In" (2002)
• Texas Guitar Slingers Vol. 1 by Various Artists ‒ "Enzo Shuffle" (2002)
• Relief Fund Compilation Album Benefiting the World Trade Center by Various Artists ‒ (2002, unreleased)
• Fender Stratocaster 50th Anniversary by Various Artists ‒ "Trademark" (2004)
• Don't Mess With Texas Vol. 2 by Various Artists ‒ "Boogie King" (2004)
• KGSR 107.1 Broadcasts Vol. 12 by Various Artists ‒ "Song For George" (2004)
• Austin Music Vol. 6 by Various Artists ‒ "Sunarround You" (2007)
• Keep Punching by Various Artists ‒ "Forever Yours" (2007)
• Gibson Presents: Hot Tones in High Definition by Various Artists ‒ "World Of Trouble" (2008)
• Various Artists: This is Fusion Guitar by Various Artists ‒ "Beck's Bolero" (2009)

Guest appearance work[link]

• Once Upon a Rock by American Peddlers ‒ "Circle Song" (1977)
• Back to Earth by Cat Stevens ‒ "Bad Brakes" (1978)
• Gene Morris by Gene Morris ‒ "My Friend" (1979)
• Pearls by Carole King ‒ "Dancin' With Tears In My Eyes" (1980)
• Johnny Dee & The Rocket 88's by Johnny Dee & The Rocket 88's ‒ "No More" (1980)
• Christopher Cross by Christopher Cross ‒ "Minstrel Gigolo" (1980)
• The Shake Russell/Dana Cooper Band by The Shake Russell/Dana Cooper Band ‒ "Waitin' Here For You" and "Goin' Down Judah" (1981)
• Sunrise In Corpus Christi by Faron Evans (1982)
• One to One by Carole King (1982)
• Long Time Friends by Alessi ‒ "Rise Up" (1982)
• Til You Came Along by Bobby Giles (1982)
• Tomás Ramírez by Tomas Ramirez ‒ "SA Stroll" (1983)
• World Beat by Dan Del Santo ‒ "Ain't That Askin' A Little Too Much?" (1983)
• Pressure by Pressure ‒ "Save A Little Time" (1983)
• Peripheral Vision by McColl & Tracey (1984)
• Marc Anthony Thompson by Marc Anthony Thompson ‒ "Recover Gracefully" (1984)
• Stand Up by Steve Morse Band ‒ "Distant Star" (1985)
• Street Language by Rodney Crowell ‒ "Ballad Of Fast Eddie" (1986)
• Guitar Speak by Various Artists ‒ "Western Flyer" (1988)
• Willie Jones by Willie Jones ‒ "So Long Mary Jane" (1990)
• Inside Out by Jay Aaron (Podolnick) ‒ "Ronda" (1990)
• The Urge by Stuart Hamm ‒ "On Our Dreams" and "Lone Star" (1991)
• Rush Street by Richard Marx ‒ "Keep Coming Back" (1992)
• The Hunter by Jennifer Warnes ‒ "Lights Of Louisiana" and "I Can't Hide" (1992)
• Rendezvous by Christopher Cross ‒ "Nothing Will Change" (1992)
• Herman Harris & the Voices of Hope by Herman Harris (1993)
• Read My Licks by Chet Atkins ‒ "Somebody Loves Me Now" (1994)
• What The Hell Was I Thinking? by Dweezil Zappa (1994, unreleased)
• Wave of the Hand by Carla Olson ‒ "I'm Tryin'" (1995)
• Angelica by Various Artists ‒ "Ave Maria" (1997)
• Merry Axemas by Various Artists ‒ "The First Nowell" (1997)
• Angels, Horses & Pirates by Little Blue ‒ "Wait Until You Get Here" (1997)
• Rosebud by Stephen Doster ‒ "There Is No Time" (1998)
• Walking in Avalon by Christopher Cross ‒ "When She Smiles" (1998)
• Koko's Hideaway by Van Wilks ‒ "Vanquila" (1999)
• Fingers And Thumbs by Adrian Legg ‒ "Lunchtime At Rosie's" (1999)
• Been A Long Time by Double Trouble ‒ "In The Garden" (2001)
• Last Of The Cowboy Vampires by Lance Keltner ‒ "Chain Gang" (2001)
• More To Life Than This by Mike Tramp ‒ "On The Good, The Sad, And The Ugly" (2003)
• A Guitar Supreme, Giant Steps in Fusion Guitar by Various Artists ‒ "Resolution" (2004)
• Fusion For Miles, A Guitar Tribute: A Bitchin' Brew by Various Artists ‒ "Jean Pierre" (2005)
• Industrial Zen by John McLaughlin ‒ "New Blues Old Bruise" (2006)
• Viva Carlos: A Supernatural Marathon Celebration by Various Artists ‒ "Aqua Marine" (2006)
• Hero Shuffle by Rex Paul (Schnelle) ‒ "Hero Shuffle" and "Reminds Me of Austin" (2006)
• Walk On by Roscoe Beck ‒ "Together All The Time" (2006)
• The Devil Knows My Name by John5 ‒ "The Washing Away Of Wrong" (2007)
• Freeway Jam: To Beck and Back by Various Artists ‒ "Beck's Bolero" (2007)
• Lovers by Bobby Whitlock and CoCo Carmel ‒ "Layla" (2008)
• From The Reach by Sonny Landreth ‒ "The Milky Way Home" (2008)
• Bridging the Gap by Doyle Dykes ‒ "Red Clay" (2008)
• Big Neighborhood by Mike Stern ‒ "6th Street" and "Long Time Gone" (2009)