Yesterday was Juneteenth, a day allowing for consideration of what concepts like freedom, equity, property, and power have meant for people in North America for the past few centuries. It was an appropriate day for honoring the thousands of women, men, and children forcibly moved along the Trail of Tears.
Just after 11 a.m. Thursday, a dozen cyclists rode into Pea Ridge National Military Park. This is the 40th annual edition of the Remember the Removal Bike Ride, honoring the thousands of people forced from their homes and marched along the Trail of Tears. Each year, riders cycle from Georgia to Tahlequah. The trail passes through what is now Pea Ridge National Military Park. Jason Irby of Little Rock, the president of the Arkansas Chapter of the Trail of Tears Association, was among those welcoming the riders and applauding their work to honor their—and his—ancestors.
"And today, when the Remember the Removal riders come through, we intend to commend them for being a part of that remembrance," Irby said.
The ride closely follows the routes thousands of Native people were forced to walk after being removed from their homes in the 1830s. At least 12 groups, each numbering at least hundreds of people, were marched along a road in present-day Benton County, a spot that would become known as Elkhorn Tavern. Thursday, Park Superintendent Shelly Todd stood at that spot and talked with the riders and their support staff.
"Twelve removal parties are believed to have traveled this road and camped in this area," Todd said. "The first and the last are the two that are most well documented. And the ones that we know the most about because of the journals that were kept by the leader of the party, B.B. Cannon."
The forcible removal of Cherokee people from their homes occurred after the U.S. Senate ratified the New Treaty of Echota. Accounts of the marches describe weeks of back-to-back advances of 12 miles one day and 16 the next—no matter the weather or terrain. Dr. William Isaac Irvin Morrow was the assigned physician to the last detachment of Cherokee people to come through modern-day Benton County. Here's Shelly Todd reading from his diary:
"The weather was almost uncomfortably warm, and the clouds seemed charged with electricity and about sunset, we heard low thunder," she read. "Soon after dark, the wind rose almost to a tempest. We retired to rest as usual. In our little carryall, but were awakened in the night by a severe storm. The wind drove with such violence that part of our tent was thrown down, and the rain beat in between the curtains of our carryall and wet our bed. We arose and partly dressed but could not think of going entirely into the open air and, therefore, again wrapped ourselves in our bedclothes and fell asleep. A little before day, the rain changed to snow. The cold seemed very severe. By the morning of the 20th, Buttrick, his wife, and most Cherokees were wet and terribly cold. One little girl who had been sick died during the stormy night."
The spot where they camped is less than a mile from where the riders listened to that account. Remembering and honoring the people who marched here is the inspiration for riders this year like Hannah Nugent of Tahlequah.
"I am a seventh-generation descendant of Rebecca Catcher Nugent, and she was the last living survivor of the Cherokee Trail of Tears," Nugent said. "And so it really means a lot to me to be able to pass that knowledge on and to kind of live up to my ancestors' footsteps. My mom was also a mentor rider last year, but unfortunately, she didn't get to finish the ride. So I'm doing this in honor of her and all my other family who continue to support me."
The ride takes almost three weeks and is scheduled to end Friday morning in Tahlequah. For the ride into Pea Ridge Thursday, the Ozarks weather was about as forgiving as can be expected in June, with a slight breeze and cloud cover. Nika West, a native of Cherokee, North Carolina, and now a resident of Springdale, says he’s known since he was a teen he’d want to do this ride:
"We've had some mountains to climb, a couple of mountains, and then we got up to Kentucky and then got to Missouri, and Missouri provided some challenges for all of us," West said. "Just the different terrain of the rolling hills. It was nice today to actually have some flat land to kind of roll on."
The 2024 ride is like the previous 39 editions, a mix of younger riders and older mentor riders. There is a group representing the Eastern Band of Cherokees and another representing the Cherokee Nation. Hannah Nugent says that blend of personalities creates a successful experience.
"Whenever you apply, you either apply for a youth rider position or mentor rider position," Nugent said. "Youth riders are between the ages of 16 and, I believe, 24. I think whenever you hit 25 in training, that's like the max. And then there's about a 10-year gap, and you can apply for a mentor rider, but you have to be over the age of 35. So that is more geared toward leadership, like how Nika said it was geared towards health and helping initiative for on the eastern side, this is to promote leadership skills on the Cherokee Nation."
Riders were able to spend a few minutes inside the park’s Visitor Center, where the park is temporarily displaying a rare Cherokee Braves battle flag, flown during the Battle of Pea Ridge during the Civil War by the First Cherokee Mounted Rifles. Park Superintendent Shelly Todd says the flag is representative of the complex nature of history.
"One thing to know is that after federal troops abandoned Indian Territory, and a couple of decades after removal, Principal Chief John Ross was very reluctantly allied with the Confederacy," Todd said. "So the Cherokee Braves, the First and Second Cherokee Mounted Rifles, did fight on the side of the Confederacy under Brigadier General Albert Pike, but they did so reluctantly. They were in fear of reprisal from the neighboring Confederate states of Arkansas and Texas. And so, that decision bitterly divided the tribe, which had already been divided by the Treaty of New Echota. In 1861, the Cherokee National Council authorized the creation of the First Cherokee Mounted Rifles, which, of course, were also called the Cherokee Braves. There were pro-Union Cherokees, and much like the Confederacy and the Union, brothers fought brothers, and fathers fought sons. It was a bitterly divisive time."
The flag will be on exhibit through July 7 at the park. For Ashawna Miles, a mentor rider who lives in Wagoner, Oklahoma, the flag was a surprise. She’s of both African and Cherokee descent and has ancestors who were enslaved. She says to be at this place, where ancestors were forcibly marched, on this day, Juneteenth, is special.
"I think that things don't happen just by accident," Miles said. "And so here we are today on Juneteenth. But also, I've never seen the Cherokee Braves flag. I didn't even know this exhibit was here and so it's definitely full circle and I'm so appreciative and this is something that I definitely want to learn more about."
For Miles, the 2024 ride is an important part of a journey that stretches beyond the three weeks.
"The uniqueness for myself, along with several other freedmen, is researching my ancestors that came on the Trail of Tears that were full-bloods, but also researching my ancestors that were enslaved," Miles said. "So I was kind of doing it from two different perspectives. And of course, my ancestors that were full-bloods, I found out more information about those individuals, but my enslaved ancestors are still lacking, but we're getting there."
Like other mentor riders, those 35 and older, Ashawna Miles says she’s known for some time she’s wanted to make this trek while learning more about her ancestors. She says she waited until she was 50 to participate in the Remember the Removal Bike Ride.
"Most importantly, I wanted to do the ride to retrace the steps of my ancestors," she said. "It's always been kind of, you hear it, and it's a little cliché in regards to a missing piece of you, but it has been and I have just been on a search of learning more about my history and learning about my ancestors that came on the Trail of Tears and just learning about my family as a whole."
Hannah Nugent of Tahlequah says as the ride nears completion, she’s eager to be home but understands the gravity of the ride.
"I definitely miss my family a lot, and I will be excited to be back home, but this is something that is going to carry on with me forever, and I'm going to miss it when it's over," Nugent said. "Even on the worst, hottest days with the most elevation, I'm going to miss it."
The consequences of the forced removal of scores of thousands of Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muskogee, and Seminole people were devastating. The loss of homeland was compounded by as many as 16,000 deaths on the forced marches. Journal entries count about 55 deaths along the route for the detachment that endured the storms in March 1839 near Elkhorn Tavern. Thursday, the riders paused at the field where their ancestors weathered those storms and remembered them with a prayer and music.
The 17-day, 40th anniversary Remember the Removal Bike Ride was in Pea Ridge National Military Park yesterday and is scheduled to complete the 950-mile journey in Tahlequah tomorrow.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline by reporters. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. The authoritative record of KUAF programming is the audio record.
