When the first lands were sold by the Cherokee, in 1721, a part of
the tribe bitterly opposed the sale, saying that if the Indians once
consented to give up any of their territory the whites would never
be satisfied, but would soon want a little more, and a little again,
until at last there would be none left for the Indians. Finding all
they could say not enough to prevent the treaty, they determined to
leave their old homes forever and go far into the West, beyond the
Great river, where the white men could never follow them. They gave
no heed to the entreaties of their friends, but began preparations
for the long march, until the others, finding that they could not
prevent their going, set to work and did their best to fit them out
with pack horses loaded with bread, dried venison, and other supplies.
When all was ready they started, under the direction of their chief. A
company of picked men was sent with them to help them in crossing
the Great river, and every night until they reached it runners were
sent back to the tribe, and out from the tribe to the marching band,
to carry messages and keep each party posted as to how the other
was getting along. At last they came to the Mississippi, and crossed
it by the help of those warriors who had been sent with them. These
then returned to the tribe, while the others kept on to the west. All
communication was now at an end. No more was heard of the wanderers,
and in time the story of the lost Cherokee was forgotten or remembered
only as an old tale.
Still the white man pressed upon the Cherokee and one piece of land
after another was sold, until as years went on the dispossessed people
began to turn their faces toward the west as their final resting place,
and small bands of hunters crossed the Mississippi to learn what might
be beyond. One of these parties pushed on across the plains and there
at the foot of the great mountains--the Rockies--they found a tribe
speaking the old Cherokee language and living still as the Cherokee
had lived before they had ever known the white man or his ways.