Decatur in Morgan County, Alabama — The American South (East South Central)

Fight For Survival

Rhodes Ferry Park

— Trail of Tears National Historic Trail —

Fight For Survival Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Ruth Wilson Wilcox, June 25, 2017

1. Fight For Survival Marker

Inscription. The Cherokee people resisted the government's order to leave the Tennessee Valley. They signed petitions and lobbied Congress. Yet the Indian Removal Act of 1830 still passed. In March 1837, the first detachment—a group of Cherokee families, slaves, and a doctor—loaded onto 11 flat boats with Major Ridge, a Cherokee leader. In 1838, two more detachments faced hunger, disease, and death on their Trail of Tears route through Decatur.

Captions
Major Ridge signed away Cherokee land in the Treaty of New Echota in 1835, hoping to preserve Cherokee rights to Indian Territory.

...I know we love the graves of our fathers. We can never forget these home but an unbending, iron necessity tells us we must leave them. I would willing die to preserve them, but any forcible effort to keep them will cost us our lands, our lives and the lives of our children."
Major Ridge

Name of Detachment • Arrival Date in Decatur • Number of Cherokee
Major Ridge • March 7, 1837 • 471
Lt. Edward Deas • June 9, 1838 • 800
Lt. Robert H.K. Whiteley • June 21, 1838 • 1,000

Erected by City of Decatur, Decatur Parks, Trail of Tears Association,

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National Park Service.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Indigenous Peoples and Communities. A significant historical year for this entry is 1830.

Location. 34° 36.85′ N, 86° 58.777′ W. Marker is in Decatur, Alabama, in Morgan County. It can be reached from Oak Street north of Market Street. Located in Rhodes Ferry Park. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Decatur AL 35601, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in North Alabama.

It is also in the American South,

specifically in the Deep South,

in Appalachia,

and specifically in Southern Appalachia. Globally, it is in North America,

a Gulf of Mexico state,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the original Cherokee Nation,

the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Packed with People (here, next to this marker); Cherokee Trail Of Tears (within shouting distance of

Fight For Survival Trail of Tears National Historic Trail image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Sandra Hughes Tidwell, January 6, 2020

2. Fight For Survival Trail of Tears National Historic Trail

this marker); Site of Benson Field (within shouting distance of this marker); “Captain, We’ve Got It At Last” - The Charge of the 14th U.S. Colored Infantry (within shouting distance of this marker); Words of Resistance (within shouting distance of this marker); Uprooted From Home (within shouting distance of this marker); Gold Star Families Memorial Monument (approx. 0.2 miles away); Confederate Leadership at Decatur - McCartney Hotel Site (approx. 0.2 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Decatur.

Photographed by Ruth Wilson Wilcox, June 25, 2017

3. Fight For Survival Marker

Credits. This page was last revised on January 7, 2022. It was originally submitted on October 10, 2019. This page has been viewed 523 times since then and 23 times this year. Photos: 1. submitted on October 10, 2019. 2. submitted on January 6, 2022, by Sandra Hughes Tidwell of Killen, Alabama, USA. 3. submitted on October 10, 2019.