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Memphis, Tennessee, on the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail: A Site Report
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By Amanda L. Paige
Resources on Indian Removal No. 15
Sequoyah Research Center
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
January 11, 2007
Research for this report was funded in part by a Challenge Cost Share Agreement with the Long Distance Trails Office of the National Park Service, Santa Fe, New
Mexico. No part of this text may be duplicated or otherwise used except by permission of the author or as provided for by the "Special Provision" section of the agreement.
Memphis, Tennessee, on the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail
The Greater Memphis, Tennessee, area encompasses the city of Memphis and the surrounding metropolitan area, including the town of Raleigh. Memphis was founded in 1819 on what was known as the fourth Chickasaw Bluff. It played a pivotal role in Indian removal. Memphis served as a crossing point on the Mississippi River for tribal groups removing to Indian Territory. As a port city on the Mississippi River, Memphis was important for not only transportation but also supply for removal. Memphis also was the home of the disbursing agent for Indian removal east of the Mississippi, Joseph A. Phillips, and also the commission merchant, Marcus B. Winchester.
Removal contingents passed by Memphis on the river or through Memphis, utilizing the crossing at Memphis to the road through the Mississippi Swamp and then on to Williams Strong’s place west of the St. Francis. Memphis saw four of the so-called Five Civilized tribes pass through: the Choctaws, Muscogees (Creeks), Chickasaws, and Cherokees.
Memphis and Choctaw Removal
The earliest Choctaw contingents were the vanguard of the main body of emigrating Choctaws, who arrived in 1831. These consisted of around twenty Choctaws and one hundred Choctaw horses. They crossed the Mississippi at Memphis and went through the difficult Mississippi Swamp, passing through the Grand Prairie before reaching Little Rock on December 18.1
The next Choctaw contingents traveled through the Memphis area in the winter of 1831-1832. Followers of Mushulatubbe under the direction of Peter Pitchlynn, they had traveled from the northeastern part of the Choctaw Nation, up the Cotton Gin Port road through the Chickasaw Nation to Memphis, intending to go overland from there through the Mississippi Swamp and on to Fort Smith. They had suffered greatly on the first leg of their journey. Upon reaching Memphis, they found the Mississippi Swamp impassable, and special agent Dr. John T. Fulton arranged for the Brandywine to take the party on to Arkansas Post.2 Noted French traveler Alexis de Toqueville saw this group as they boarded the steamboat:
| Here began a scene which, in truth, had something lamentable about it. The Indians advanced mournfully toward the bank. First they had their horses go aboard; several of them little accustomed to the forms of civilized life, took fright and plunged into the Mississip[p]i, from which they could be pulled out only with difficulty. Then came the men who, according to ordinary habits, carried only their arms; then the women carrying their children attached to their backs or wrapped in the blankets they wore; they were, besides, burdened down with loads containing their whole wealth. Finally the old people were led on. Among them was a woman 110 years old. I have never seen a more appalling shape. She was naked save for a covering which left visible, at a thousand places, the most emaciated figure imaginable. She was escorted by two or three generations of grandchildren. To leave one's country at that age to seek one's fortune in a foreign land, what misery! Among the old people there was a young girl who had broken her arm a week before; for want of care the arm had been frozen below the fracture. Yet she had to follow the common journey When everything was on board the dogs approached the bank; but they refused to enter the vessel and began howling frightfully. Their masters had to bring them on by force. In the whole scene there was an air of ruin and destruction, something which betrayed a final and irrevocable adieu; one couldn't watch without feeling one's heart wrung.3 |
The Choctaw removal parties of winter 1832-1833 were better organized than those of the previous winters. However, those who went before them, those who went over the Cotton Gin Port road through the Chickasaw Nation to Memphis suffered extreme hardships. A missionary to the Chickasaws described them as they passed his mission station at Martyn:
| A number of small companies have since passed, who were detained on the way by loss of horses and other causes. No provision could be made for them, and consequently they were, in some instances, very destitute. One party came to us and begged an ear of corn apiece, to relieve, for a season, their sufferings. Another party camped in the woods near us, about three weeks ago, and that night a storm of hail and sleet commenced, which was followed, in a day or two, with a heavy fall of snow. For more than two weeks there was continued freezing and colder weather than I have ever seen in this climate. During the whole of this time these suffering people were lying at their camp, without any shelter, and with very little provision. Much suffering was to be expected in the removal of the Choctaws, but if I am to judge from what I have seen and heard, the half was not anticipated.4 |
There were still hardships ahead. Parties left Memphis overland or by steamboat to Rock Roe on the White River.5 This removal, while better organized, faced a cholera epidemic, which had been moving southward through the United States. The cholera had spread as far south as Memphis when these parties arrived there. Lt. Joseph A. Phillips and S.T. Cross led parties from Folsom’s and Greenwood Leflore’s districts. These parties traveled overland because they correctly associated the cholera epidemic with steamboat travel. However, Cross still reported two deaths from Cholera in his party.6
More parties traveled aboard the Thomas Yeatman, Volant, and Reindeer from Memphis. These were the Conchas under Lt. William R. Montgomery and the Six Towns and Chickasawahays under Lt. Isaac P. Simonton, both groups accompanied by F.W. Armstrong, agent for Choctaw removal west of the Mississippi. These groups were affected by cholera with another nineteen dying by November 27.
Capt. John Page led another group from Mushulatubbe’s district which arrived in Memphis November 3. Once again fear of cholera deterred the Choctaw from boarding steamboats at Memphis for travel west.7
Memphis and Muscogee (Creek) Removal
Muscogee (Creek) removal was different from the earlier Choctaw removal. Civilian contractors, instead of the government, were in charge. Early Muscogee removals were handled by the J.W.A. Sanford Emigrating Company with later removals handled by the Alabama Emigrating Company. Each removing group, however, was accompanied by an army officer acting as disbursing agent.
The first contingent under this arrangement was led by William J. Beattie for the J.W.A. Sanford Emigrating Company and Captain John Page disbursing officer. The party traveled overland by way of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to Memphis in very cold weather. Page wrote of their misery, especially the children's: "I have to stop the wagons to take the children out and warm them and put them back again 6 or 7 times a day. I send ahead and have fires built for this purpose. I wrap them in tents and anything I can get hold of to keep them from freezing."8 At Memphis, the Sanford company decided to split the party into two groups. One continued by water with Capt. Page aboard the Harry Hill; and the other crossed the river and went overland with 200 horses belonging to the party under the direction of William Beattie. It took three weeks for the Harry Hill to transport the Muscogees from Memphis to Little Rock because the Arkansas River was frozen over, and the crew had to break ice to make a way for the boat.9
William Beattie led another Muscogee contingent through Memphis in the winter of 1835-1836. This contingent was comprised of 511 members of Fish Pond, Kealedji, and Hilibi towns and one hundred slaves. Organized near Wetumpka, Alabama, they were also accompanied by Lt. Edward Deas acting as the disbursing agent for the U.S. government. They traveled northwest to Tuscumbia and then to Waterloo, Alabama. They reached Memphis by steamboat early in the morning of December 30, 1835. They landed opposite Memphis to keep liquor peddlers away. Shortly after landing the overland contingent driving the Muscogee ponies reached Memphis and began ferrying the horses across the Mississippi River. The other contingent continued aboard the Alpha and two keel boats that were hired in Waterloo, Alabama.10
In the fall of 1836, Memphis saw 13,000 Muscogees encamped on the river banks awaiting transportation to Indian Territory. The 13,000 were divided into smaller contingents accompanied by a military officer acting as disbursing agent for the United States government. The contingents were Tuckebatche Hadjo’s party (accompanied by Marine Lt. John T. Sprague), Opothleyohola’s party (accompanied by Captain M.W. Batman), Lt. R.B Screven’s Party, William A. Campbell’s Party, and Lt. Edward Deas’ party. These parties were plagued by numerous problems that were exacerbated by the inefficient Alabama Emigrating Company. There was a lack of steamboats for the parties, and the Mississippi Swamp was all but impassable by wagon during the fall.
The first two parties to leave Memphis were Opothleyhola’s party and Lt. R.B. Screven’s party. Opothleyhola’s party was split into two groups: an overland party accompanying their horses and 1200 who traveled aboard the Farmer. Screven’s party was conducted by William McGillvray of the Alabama Emigrating Company. This party also divided in Memphis with one part traveling by boat and the other overland with the horses through the Mississippi Swamp.
Tuckebatche Hadjo’s party left Memphis aboard the John Nelson and two flat boats after remaining in Memphis for over two weeks in October. Lt. Sprague wrote about the experiences of the parties at Memphis in October 1836 in a letter to General George Gibson, the Commissary General of Subsistence for the United States:
| At Memphis we remained from the 9th of October until the 27th. The Mississippi was here to be crossed, and the Company were much disappointed in not finding their steam boats as they anticipated. The boats, however, arrived on the 11th; Captain Batemans party were the first to cross, Lieutenant Scrivens was the second, and my own the third, Lieutenant Deas and Mr. Campbells parties were in the rear. The assembly of thirteen thousand Indians at one point, necessarily made our movements slow. This detention was of advantage to the Indians as it gave them rest and afforded the sick and feeble an opportunity to recover. The required rations were furnished them regularly within this time, and they all conducted with the greatest propriety. The Common Council of the City passed an ordinance prohibiting the sale of liquor, which added greatly to their comfort, and to the peace and security of the citizens.11 |
The last two parties of fall 1836 were William A. Campbell’s and Lt. Edward Deas’ parties. They traveled from Talledega to Gunter's Landing and Huntsville, Alabama, and from there to Memphis. At Memphis, Campbell’s party divided into two groups, one by boat and one overland with the horses. At Memphis, John Davidson saw Lt. Edward Deas’ party and wrote in his diary about Memphis and this group:
| Memphis is a miserable looking place. And its Egyptian City name renders it contemptible. I saw here an encampment of about 5000 Indians. They are mostly Creeks, whom the Government are removing into Arkansas. I have just walked through their Camp. They are indeed a miserable looking set of beings.12 |
Lt. Deas' party once again split into two groups, one going by boat and the other overland. However, at the last minute most of the Muscogee boat party backed out of traveling by water. Deas assigned another conductor to lead these Muscogees through the Mississippi Swamp.
Deas accompanied another party of Muscogees in the spring of 1837. This party consisted of 543 Muscogees who had sought refuge from removal in the Cherokee Nation. They departed Gunter's Landing, Alabama, and traveled by flatboat and land to Waterloo, where they boarded the steamboat Black Hawk. The Black Hawk passed by Memphis without stopping. The reason Deas gave in his diary was that some of the Muscogees wanted to visit the Chickasaw country and “would attempt to leave the party for that purpose.”13
The last two contingents of Muscogees to pass through Memphis were contingents of Muscogees living in the Chickasaw Nation. One left Memphis aboard the Fox , and a week later on November 24, 1837, the second and final group left Memphis aboard the Itasca.14
Memphis and Chickasaw Removal15
Memphis played a large role in the removal of the Chickasaws to their new home in Indian Territory. Capt. J.A. Phillips, disbursing agent for Indian removal east of the Mississippi, oversaw removal from his headquarters at Memphis, and Marcus B. Winchester, commission merchant for removal, had charge of rations for Chickasaw removal and also sold any Chickasaw supplies that might spoil before the Chickasaw arrived in Memphis.
Memphis’ location on the Mississippi River meant it was easy to move large quantities of food and supplies quickly to the supply depots set up for Chickasaw removal. Phillips made plans for the Chickasaws to remove by water because many Chickasaws preferred this mode of transportation.
The first Chickasaw removal group, however, crossed the river at Memphis in the summer of 1837 and traveled overland to the West. Led by J. M. Millard as disbursing agent, they came from Samuel Sealy's District and traveled to Little Rock, where they split, some going southwest to the Red River and others up the Arkansas.
Chickasaws gathered at Memphis under the charge of A.M.M. Upshaw in the fall of 1837, making Memphis the staging area for the various Chickasaw contingents departing for Fort Coffee, Indian Territory. Simeon Buckner of Louisville, Kentucky, was awarded the contract to remove the Chickasaws by water. Buckner had six boats at Memphis available for removal: the Kentukian, the Cinderella, the DeKalb, the Fox, the Cavalier, and the Itasca. Five contingents left by water from Memphis in late November.
A problem arose when word of two steamboat disasters--the Thomas Yeatman and the Monmouth, both involved in removal of other tribes--reached Memphis. A majority of the Chickasaws refused to ride the boats. This meant that removal of the Chickasaws would not be completed in the fall of 1837 but would continue through the winter of 1838. Upshaw and Phillips had to make new plans for removal of the Chickasaws overland. Supplies were not set up for overland removal. Thus Phillips and Upshaw had to hire additional teams and drivers for the overland parties. M.B. Winchester, Simeon Buckner, and J. McMahon were hired to ferry horses, oxen, supplies, wagons, and the Chickasaws across the Mississippi.
In January 1838 Upshaw thought Chickasaw removal was completed and dismissed almost all of his agents. He retained three, thinking the remaining Chickasaw numbered a few hundred. A small pox epidemic and rumors of epidemic on different routes to Indian Territory caused concern among the Chickasaws. By June Upshaw had a group ready to remove west; this group included a man he called “the King of the Chickasaws,” Ishtehotopa, the minko. This party reached Memphis by June 24 and encamped opposite Memphis for over a week before departing July 2.
The last official contingent of Chickasaws to pass through Memphis began gathering there late October of 1838. The Chickasaws began crossing the Mississippi river in November, which was difficult at that time due to low river levels that made ferrying difficult. The last group numbered 300 and was noted in the Memphis Enquirer.
Memphis and Cherokee Removal
Cherokee removal was originally conducted under provisions of the controversial Treaty of New Echota (1835). Few Cherokees recognized the legality of the treaty and remained in the Cherokee Nation. The treaty deadline passed in May 1838, and the United States Army and Georgia state and local militias began rounding up the remaining Cherokees.
April 1838 saw the last voluntary removal group under the Treaty of Echota. Lt. Edward Deas accompanied a contingent of 250 Cherokees aboard the steamboat Smelter, owned by Tennessean Williamson Smith, who had a contract to remove the Cherokees. They left Waterloo, Alabama, on April 6 and quickly passed by Memphis at midnight on April 9.16
Deas also accompanied one of the first forced removal parties in June 1838. This group also traveled aboard the Smelter. Deas remarked in a journal entry
about the contingent’s passage by Memphis:
| The Boats reached the mouth of the Ohio about midnight and have since continued to run stopping twice to wood in daylight. We passed Memphis this evening between 9 & 10 O’clock, but did not land. A small boat was and ashore to carry letters and procure provisions.17 |
Another reason why the party did not land in Memphis was that before reaching Memphis Deas lost approximately 100 Cherokees, not to death but desertion.18
Lt. R.H.K.Whiteley accompanied a group of 875 Cherokees from Ross’ Landing, Tennessee, on June 12. Whiteley’s party had begun their journey overland, but traveled aboard the Smelter from Waterloo, Alabama, a move necessitated by Cherokee desertions after leaving Ross’ Landing. The party stopped at Memphis for two hours in the afternoon of July 3 to take on supplies before resuming its journey.19
The Smelter was put into service again for another Cherokee contingent under
the direction of Capt. G.S. Drane. Capt. Drane did not want to remove his party by water, preferring to travel overland. However, after a revolt and desertions by the Cherokee in Bellefonte, Alabama, led to a near standstill in his party’s removal, Drane and his party boarded the Smelter on July 14 in Waterloo.20 The party continued on with little trouble until they were grounded at Little Rock.
The Bell Contingent was a group of Cherokee who refused removal under John Ross because they had accepted terms of removal under the Treaty of New Echota. This pro-treaty group was led by John Bell and Lt. Edward Deas as the government’s disbursing agent in November 1838. The party traveled overland, approaching Memphis by way of Raleigh before crossing the Mississippi River at Memphis around November 24. Before crossing at Memphis Deas arranged to ship the party’s baggage to Little Rock by water, and the physician accompanying the group bought new supplies for his medical store.21
The last Cherokee party to pass by Memphis was the John Drew Contingent aboard the Victoria, a steamboat bought at Tuscumbia, Alabama, by Chief John Ross for his family and invalid Cherokees belonging to Evan Jones and Rev. Bushyhead’s contingents. The Victoria passed by Memphis sometime in early February, 1839. Ross's wife died just before they reached Little Rock, and Ross later said that his “children became motherless and the remains of Mrs. Ross were left in a strange land!” She was buried when the boat reached Little Rock, Arkansas.22
Present Day Memphis
The Mississippi River still plays a role in the development of the Greater Memphis area. Today the city of Memphis is connected by four bridges (two automobile bridges, two railroad bridges) that span the Mississippi River. Interstates I-40 runs east-west and I-55 runs north-south through West Memphis and in the future I-69 will connect Memphis to Mexico and Canada as part of a NAFTA corridor. Metropolitan Memphis is geographically defined as five counties in three states: Shelby and Fayette counties in Tennessee, DeSoto and Tipton Counties in Mississippi, and Crittenden County in Arkansas. The metropolitan area of Memphis contains a population of 1.1 million people.
Many of the roads leading into the Metropolitan Memphis area still follow the general path of nineteenth-century roads:
| The Cherokee Trail became Poplar Avenue. The Chickasaw Trail is now US-78. The Tri-Weekly Mail Trail became US-64 while the Military Trail to Little Rock is now I-40. Four original trails linked Memphis to the region and the nation. Three of the trails extended to the east and one continued across the river to the west. These four trails set the pattern upon which the region grew.23 |
Opportunities for Site Interpretation
Memphis has a number of museums including the Pink Palace Museum the
largest science and history museum in the South. Memphis is also the home of the National Civil Rights Museum which includes an overview of civil rights from slavery to the Gay and Lesbian movement. The yearly Memphis in May festival annually includes a tribute to an international nation. Future festivals could possibly include exhibits around the various Indian nations that passed through Memphis. Memphis is currently working on a master plan to redevelop the riverfront area. This new master plan will include parks, river walks, and view corridors all of which could be used for interpretive signage marking the Trail of Tears.
Notes
1. Arkansas Gazette, December 31, 1831.
2. Amanda L. Paige, Fuller L. Bumpers, and Daniel F. Littlefield, Jr., The North Little Rock Site on the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail: Historical Contexts Report (Little Rock: American Native Press Archives, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2003), 20.
3. Quoted from George Wilson Pierson, Toqueville in America (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997), 597-598.
4. Missionary Herald 28 (1832), 118.
5. Paige, et al., North Little Rock Site, 20.
6. Ibid., 21.
7. Ibid., 22.
8. Quoted from Grant Foreman, Indian Removal: The Emigration of the Five Civilized Tribes of Indians (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1972), 127.
9. Paige et al., North Little Rock Site, 24.
10. Ibid., 25; Gaston Litton, "Journal of a Party of Emigrating Creek Indians,
1835-1836," Journal of Southern History 7 (May 1941), 234.
11. Lt. J. T. Sprague to C. A. Harris, April 1, 1837 (Creek Emigration S249-37), National Archives Microfilm Publications Microcopy M234, Roll 238. This source is hereafter cited as M234-R238.
12. "A Journey Through the South in 1836: Diary of James D. Davidson," Journal of Southern History 1 (August 1935), 355.
13. Creek Emigration Journal of Occurrences of Lt. E. Deas, May, 1837 (Creek Emigration D57-37), M234-R238.
14. Paige et al., North Little Rock Site, 33; Arkansas Gazette, November 23, 1837.
15. Information for Chickasaw removal comes from Amanda L. Paige, Fuller L. Bumpers, and Daniel F. Littlefield, Jr., "Chickasaw Removal," unpublished book, especially Chapters 4 through 7.
16. Paige, et al., North Little Rock Site, 45-46.
17. Edward Deas, Journal of Emigration, June 1838 (D217), Special Case File 249, National Archives Microfilm Publications Microcopy 547, Roll 69.
18. Paige, et al., North Little Rock Site, 45.
19. R. H. K. Whiteley's Journal, June 1838, http://www.mindspring.com/~wayne.gibson.
20. Jamie Metrailer, Amanda L. Paige, and Daniel F. Littlefield, Jr., Paducah, Kentucky, on the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, Resources on Indian Removal No. 6 (Little Rock: Sequoyah Research Center, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2006), 4.
21. Page et al., North Little Rock Site, 49.
22. Financial account and explanation of John Ross for transporting a detachment of emigrant Cherokees by steamboat to Indian Territory in late 1838 and 1839, http://arcweb.archives.gov/arc/servlet/arc, retrieved August 30, 2006.
23. Memphis Region Sourcebook: Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, creating a strategic regional future; the report of the Governor's Alliance for Regional Excellence (Memphis: Memphis Area Chamber of Commerce, 2001), 16.
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