Capt. Alley on the Trail of Tears

I was a young teenager when I learned from my grandfather that his father, Capt. John Haywood Alley, had served under Gen. Winfield Scott in the removal of the Cherokee Indians from the southeastern states to the plains of Oklahoma in 1836. Having recently seen the drama, “Unto These Hills,” I was troubled to know that one of my ancestors had participated in this sad event.
My grandfather tried to reassure me by explaining that his father as a young captain was only carrying out orders passed down to the army by the U.S. Congress. He further related that as a young man, he himself had often seen his aged father shuffle out to the ruins of the old stockades near their farm, which had been used as “holding pens” during the roundup, and shed bitter tears at his memories. That knowledge gave me a measure of consolation at the time, though it did little to lesson the sadness I felt some years later when I read the tragic story of the Trail of Tears.

Howard E. Alley
Highlands
Haywood EMC

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