August, but drought had made TennesseeRiver unusable. At this point Cherokee desperation contributed to the disaster. Notwishing to remain until spring in the lethal conditions at Rattlesnake Springs, Rosspetitioned the government to allow the Cherokee to manage their own removal. Permission was delayed until October. When it finally came, several large groups ofCherokee departed into the face of an approaching winter. They were marched westwithout adequate shelter, provisions, or food. The soldiers were under orders to movequickly and did little to protect them from whites who attacked and robbed the Cherokeeof what little they had left. Two-thirds were trapped in southern Illinois by ice on theMississippi and forced to remain for a month without shelter or supplies. As many as4,000, including the wife of John Ross, died enroute. Many had to be left unburied besidethe road. Some Cherokee avoided the removal. Under the provisions of the 1817 and 1819 treaties,400 Qualia of Chief Yonaguska who lived in North Carolina were United States citizensand owned their land individually. Not members of the Cherokee Nation, they were notsubject to removal and allowed to stay. Several hundred Cherokee escaped and hid in themountains. The army used other Cherokee to hunt them. Tsali and two of his sons werecaptured and executed after they had killed a soldier trying to capture them. In 1842 thearmy gave up the effort, and the fugitive Cherokee were allowed to remain in an"unofficial" status. Formal recognition came in 1848 when Congress agreed to recognizethe Eastern Cherokee provided North Carolina would do likewise. Currently there aremore than 8,000 Eastern Cherokee who living in the mountains of western NorthCarolina. The Echota Cherokee Tribe in Alabama is another group descended fromindividual Cherokee landowners protected from removal by the 1817 and 1819 treaties. At the same time as the Trail of Tears, another group of Cherokee was being fo...
