Gold, greed and government

By Jennifer Crutchfield

Shake it to the left. Shake it to the right. Dip the pan, the gold is bright.

Few things get people moving like the glow of gold—especially if it’s free for the taking.  A few hours to our east there is an historic city that sprouted up in the shiny dust of the first gold rush in our country’s history.

In Dahlonega, Ga., the oldest courthouse in the state tells the dramatic story of the gold rush that forever changed the heart of the Cherokee Nation. Thousands of prospectors flocked into Cherokee land in North Georgia, hungry for the nuggets of coppery gold particular to that region.

Gold nuggets were found glinting in the sun among rocks and creek beds and may have been the shiny playthings of Cherokee children before the first white man made his discovery in 1829. News of the multi-million-dollar mother lode spread through the South, and men chased their dreams of riches to the heart of the Cherokee Nation, to land owned by native chiefs, tribes and families.

Land of promise

In 1824 the ground was being laid for the Cherokee removal—now known as the Trail of Tear—and a delegation of tribal chiefs and leaders met with President James Monroe to plead for fairness for their people. Treaties were not being honored, the Cherokee people were being urged to leave their tribal lands, and a dramatic Supreme Court battle had stripped the Nation and its people of their rights, land and dignity.

That Cherokee delegation included both Chief John Ross and Major Ridge, men who were instrumental in the creation of the Brainerd Mission and what would become Chattanooga. Major Ridge had earned his title fighting in the Revolutionary War, and he played a key role in ending Chief Dragging Canoe’s bloody rampage on pioneers traveling the dangerous river through Chattanooga. (One of those travelers was a child who would go on to become the wife of President Andrew Jackson.)

Having been established in 1817, the Brainerd Mission and Chattanooga were at the epicenter of 10 other missions and important enough to have been visited by two presidents, James Monroe and James Madison. Staunch missionaries braved what were dense, dark forests where Eastgate Mall now sits; they were known throughout the country and England for the work that they did to educate an entire nation of Cherokee people.

The missionaries’ native students took their lessons of godliness and respect for the people and the world around them, enthusiastically spreading the word among tribes and nations. Ripe and bursting with the promise of their future, these students grew to be men who created a Cherokee press and newspaper at New Echota, near Calhoun, Ga.  The Cherokee Phoenix printed tracts that were read by a people thirsty for knowledge— and frightened by the hungry looks of encroaching squatters.

The publishers of The Cherokee Phoenix, Elias Boudinot and John Ridge, represented all of what was possible for the Cherokee Nation. Boudinot (Major Ridge’s nephew) and John Ridge (Major Ridge’s son) were among the first graduates of the Brainerd Mission and had been chosen for coveted spots at the Cornwall Mission School in Connecticut. Both young men were strong, handsome, remarkably learned, gifted with languages, and statesmen driven to be catalysts in the transformation of their Nation and their people.

Land of gold

The Cherokee Nation had a burgeoning form of government and a newspaper that was the vehicle of information, faith and inspiration. The Nation also had land and gold—the craving for which turned squatters, pioneers and politicians into savage crowds, burning Cherokee crops and looting houses, including Major Ridge’s plantation near the Dahlonega gold fields.

President Andrew Jackson’s first piece of legislation before a new Congress was the Indian Removal Bill. Claiming to be a friend of the Indians, Jackson was known for having “befriended” tribes now extinct; fiery Tennessee Congressman Davy Crocket proposed an amendment to the bill that called for the removal of all whites from eastern Tennessee.

Cherokee tears stained the land from Chattanooga’s own Ross’s Landing along a death march to the West, as millions of dollars in gold were mined in the Georgia woods of Dahlonega. Today little is said in Dahlonega about its native American heritage, but the majestic views at nearby state parks are inspiring, and the tale of early American pioneers is a tale told in the historic district and working mines of town.

When Major Ridge, a veteran of wars, leader of people and peer of presidents, learned that gold had been discovered on his land, it is easy to imagine that he smiled, envisioning how the good fortune could help his people. He was convinced that the Cherokee Nation could survive only if they sold the land, fetching a good price from the U.S. government before the Nation was driven from it altogether.
Little did Ridge know that his story would end in assassination; his death was ordered according to the “Blood Law” pact signed by chiefs declaring it treason to cede land without tribal permission. Major Ridge, his son John and nephew Elias were assassinated, some while their wives slept on, for their earlier trust in America’s leaders and legal system.

Visit North Georgia gold country

• The Dahlonega Courthouse Gold Museum
• The Smith House: offers a family-friendly menu and has a gold mine visible underneath
• Amicalola Falls State Park and Lodge, Dawsonville, Ga.
• Consolidated Gold Mine: offers tours, gold panning and gem grubbing (www.consolidatedgoldmine.com)
• Crisson Gold Mine: open pit gold mine offers gold panning and gem grubbing (www.crissongoldmine.com)
• Chestatee Wildlife Preserve: nonprofit rescue, exotic animal and wildlife preserve
• Historic Holly Theater:
• Alpine Village, Helen, Ga.
• Babyland General Hospital, Cleveland, Ga.: “birthplace” of Cabbage Patch Dolls
• Ellijay Apple Farms, Ellijay, Ga.
• Unicoi State Park and Lodge near Helen, Ga.
• Vogel State Park, Blairsville, Ga.

Jennifer Crutchfield is the Assistant Publisher of the Chattanooga Parent.  She chases mysteries with her three sons, Will, George and Max.  To share mysteries with her, please email her at jcrutchfield@chattanoogaparentmagazine.com.