by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

In his April 20 talk, historical archeologist and anthropologist Dr. Lance Green offered glimpses into the story of 400 Cherokee who avoided the Trail of Tears forced removal by hiding in the North Carolina mountains. Why and what became of these people is the subject of Green’s new book, “Their Determination to Remain: A Cherokee Communities’ Resistance to the Trail of Tears.” Green’s previous research mined the story of escaped slaves who hid in the North Carolina swamp, a Confederate POW camp, paleolithic cave excavation in France, and many projects involving North American indigenous communities. A North Carolina plantation owned by a Cherokee man, John Welch, and his white wife Betty, frames the tale recounted in “Their Determination to Remain.”

John Welch owned a 640-acre plantation, land acquired following an 1819 treaty. The federal government had seized 5,000-6000 acres of Cherokee land, but offered the Cherokee who wanted to stay 640-acre tracts. The government did not expect the Cherokee to respond to the offer, since traditionally Cherokee held land in common. To the government’s surprise, many Cherokee chose to stay and chose tracts neighboring one another, maintaining the tribal character of the Cherokee community. The forced removal spawned by the 1830 Indian Removal Act “happened just as cotton was becoming king,” Green said. “That made land in the southeast native Americans occupied very valuable. So they had to go.” The roundup of Cherokees under the provisions of the Indian Removal Act and Treaty of Echota began in the late spring and early summer of 1838.

Because he married a white woman, John Welch was exempt from the Trail of Tears forced removal of 16,000 Cherokee from the southeastern United States to Oklahoma, although Welch’s property was seized and mapped to be given to white settlers. Seven hundred Cherokee residents of the nearby Qualla towns, the site of present-day Cherokee, N.C., were also exempt from removal thanks to the intervention of businessman William Thomas who had dealings with the Cherokee there. The Cherokee had two years to prepare for leaving, but most did not. “Many Cherokee believed it would never actually happen,” Green said. Federal soldiers rounded up Cherokee at gunpoint and imprisoned them at Fort Cass until the actual march west began. When John Welch demanded compensation for his land, he was imprisoned, as well. The mountainous region of western North Carolina offered seclusion and places to hide. With the threat of removal imminent throughout the 1830s, the area became a stronghold of traditional Cherokee who resisted “Westernization.” Some 400 Cherokee who lived in the area of the Qualla towns, but lacked exemptions, fled to the mountains when the federal troops came.

When the federal troops left, the Cherokee came out of hiding. Over 100 had died in the winter of 1838-1839 and only two children survived. John Welch had been released, but was blind and disabled. As a Cherokee, John Welch could not own land, but Betty as a white woman could. The Welch family began to repurchase the family plantation. The family also purchased an additional 800 acres where the Cherokee who returned from the mountains established a community known as Welch Town. By 1840 the enterprising Welch Town Cherokee had erected a council house and held regular ballgames, dances, and ceremonies. The government of North Carolina eventually gave up on the Cherokee who remained and allowed them to purchase land. By 1854 Welch Town had been abandoned. While the federal government counted the seizure of Cherokee land and forced removal of the Cherokee as a “success” from the government’s perspective, the perseverance and determination of the 400 Cherokee who remained behind tells a different success story. Their descendants form the nucleus of the several thousand Cherokee who continue to live in western North Carolina today.

Green’s talk was sponsored by a grant from the University Lectures Committee, The Departments of Anthropology, History, Earth and Environmental Systems and the Roberson Project.