Mary and the Trail of Tears by Andrea L. Rogers

Author:Andrea L. Rogers [Rogers, Andrea L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: historical fiction; female hero; adventure story; survival story; own voices; chapter books for girls; diverse author; kids 8-12; strong female protagonist; Cherokee removal; Native American removal; American Indian removal; American Indian history; Native American hi
Publisher: Capstone
Published: 2020-04-13T00:00:00+00:00

June 3, 1838

Jenny and Steven were still missing the next morning.

A white woman came into camp and walked from family to family, looking for things to buy cheap. I recognized her. Her name was Mrs. Scales.

I ran to her. “Do you know where Jenny Goingsnake lives?” I asked.

The woman thought a minute. “The Goingsnakes lived up by me. Why?”

“She and her brother hid in the woods. The soldiers won’t let their mother go find them. Would you look for them?” I asked.

The woman nodded. “That’s kind of a lot of trouble for me. How would you be able to pay me?”

I thought of the only thing I had that my family didn’t need. “I’ll be right back,” I said.

I emptied my small burden basket and ran back to Mrs. Scales. In exchange for it, she agreed to try to find Jenny and Steven. I said I would hold onto it until she came back with them. Mrs. Scales frowned again, but left the camp immediately.

I hoped she would find them soon. No Cherokee could remain in Georgia much longer. Soon we would all be moving closer to Ross’s Landing in Tennessee. It would be the first of many water crossings on the trail. Some people were organized to leave with the soldiers almost as soon as they got to camp. Raven didn’t want to leave until his niece and nephew were found. Neither did I.

The day continued to pass, hot and slow. We were going to be separated into detachments, groups of about a thousand Cherokees that would depart for the west at different times. There was a rumor that we would stop going west soon. It was too hot, and the drought was making it hard to move hundreds of people together.

A new shipment of rations arrived. Mama and I went to get in line. As we stood there, those who had gotten their rations walked by, looking unhappy. A friend of Mama’s stopped to talk to her.

“Look,” Mama’s friend said. She opened the bag of cornmeal. Tiny yellow worms with brown heads wiggled in the grain.

Mama shook her head. “Better cook it extra good,” she said.

Her friend laughed and retied her bag. The line moved slow, and I thought about all the bags filled with bugs when each person walked by.

When we returned to our campsite, Mama had me start mixing up the buggy meal for dinner. I missed having Kawonu to feed bugs to.

I crouched on the ground next to our cookfire. I turned my head when I heard some excited voices coming from the direction of the fort’s entrance. Mrs. Scales was walking in with Jenny and Steven in tow.

“Jenny!” I shouted with joy.

I ran to her and hugged her tight. She was dirty and tired. Hers and Steven’s faces and arms were scratched, and their clothes were torn.

Charlotte ran up and wrapped them both in her arms. Raven smiled for the first time in days.

“I’m glad you didn’t get eaten by a bear,” said Becky.

“Me too!” said Jenny.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.