The Secret of the Stones Ernest Dempsey (ebooks online reader .TXT) 📖

fought the notion of relocation for nearly three decades. In fact, there were white members of Congress who tried to prevent the removal from happening. Most notably was the Tennessee congressman Davy Crockett. By siding with the Cherokee, Crockett’s political career was ruined, and we all know what happened to him soon thereafter.” Pausing in his story, Joe plopped back down on the couch.

“I just don’t understand how the United States government could do something like that,” Allyson’s voice was full of empathy.

“Well, it was a weird sequence of events,” Joe sighed. “Ten years before the Cherokee were relocated, the Creek Indians were taken from their lands when one of their acknowledged leaders, Chief McIntosh, signed the Treaty of Indian Springs. All the U.S. government needed to move the Creek was that signature. Less than a year later, McIntosh was found dead, stabbed by one of his own people.

“By 1832, there was a division among the Cherokee. John Ross held sway over the majority, but there was a small contingent of about five hundred Indians that supported three other leaders: Major Ridge, his son, John, and Elias Boudinot. These three men met with Congress behind the backs of John Ross and the rest of the Cherokee nation and signed the Removal Act as representatives of the tribe. That was all Andrew Jackson and the feds needed. Daniel Webster and Henry Clay, two notable figures in history, pleaded that the act not be ratified. It happened, nonetheless, and Gen. John Wool was ordered to invade the Cherokee lands. Wool was a good man and knew to do such a thing was morally unjust. He refused and resigned his post. So, replacement Gen. Winfield Scott went in with seven thousand troops and did the job.

“Almost a third of the Cherokee, including John Ross’s wife, died on the way to Oklahoma in the bitter winter of 1838-1839.” Joe gave a grim chuckle, “Ironically, the three men who signed the Echota Treaty allowing for the relocation were later murdered the same way McIntosh was by the Creek ten years prior.”

Allyson looked perplexed. “Why did the Indians need to be moved in the first place?”

Leaning back, he crossed his legs and folded his hands. “Excellent question. The Cherokee had, essentially, become a part of society in the United States. They lived in homes designed like the whites, dressed in the modern European styles, and ran a system of government much like a democracy. The Cherokee were a civilized part of America. But the white settlers had discovered something for which conquistadors and explorers had searched for centuries.”

“Gold,” Sean realized aloud.

“You got it. A vein of the stuff was found down in what is now Dahlonega, ‘bout an hour from here. Once that was discovered, the young government needed no other reason. Of course, they claimed that the area was overcrowded to justify their actions, but the plain truth of it was that those innocent people were brutally murdered and herded out of their homes like animals so that the search for more gold could continue.”

“And once the Dahlonega mines had been found, the probability of the El Dorado legend became much more viable,” Sean rationalized.

“Bingo,” he replied, spreading his arms out across the back of the couch. “And there is one more piece to this legend that you should know about.

“When my dad was just a boy, he and a few friends were playing in the woods forty-five minutes northeast of here, about ten miles from the Vann house. They were running around in the hills when suddenly, they happened upon a cave. Boys never really have a good sense of fear, so the three of them decided to go inside and take a look around. What they discovered was astounding. The cavern wasn’t natural; it had been carved out of the rock by human hands. Within the giant chamber, a large stone table sat in the center. As the boys’ eyes adjusted to the darkness, they could see carvings in the stone that encircled the room on the wall just below the ceiling.”

Mystified, Allyson asked, “What did the carvings say?”

“Well, the boys ran back into town and told their parents about what they had found. The kids took their families back to the cave to show them the strange site. A few experts were brought in to investigate, including an old Cherokee man who had returned to the area decades before. He was brought in to see if he could interpret the writing on the stone.

“As the old man read the inscription, his eyes grew wide, and his face took on a troubled look. He urged the families to leave the premises quickly and claimed they were all in great danger. After exiting the cave, the group stood around outside the entrance, uncertain what was going on. My grandfather was there along with my dad. Grandpappy asked the old Indian what the carvings meant and what the danger was.

“The Indian’s reply was grim, ‘It says the white man will never take our gold, and for those who try, death awaits.’”

“What does that mean?” Sean interrupted the story. “What was going to kill them?”

“I’m not sure. All I know is that old Indian was scared out of his wits. Musta been something pretty bad.”

“So what did everyone do?” Allyson rejoined the conversation.

“Well, Allyson, they went back to their homes and started making phone calls. Many of the locals wanted to excavate the site and bring in archaeologists to study the room. The funny thing is the whole area was fenced off about a week later by the government. Even stranger than that, the following year, a dam was built nearby, and the land was flooded. That