I saw the helpless Cherokees arrested and dragged from their homes, and driven at the bayonet point into the stockades. . . .On
the morning of November the 17th we encountered a terrific sleet and snow storm with freezing temperatures and from that day until we reached the end of the fateful journey on March the 26th, 1839, the sufferings of the Cherokees were awful. The trail of the exiles was a trail of death. They had to sleep in the wagons and on the ground without fire. And I have known as many as twenty-two of them to die in one night of pneumonia due to ill treatment, cold, and exposure.—John G. Burnett, 1890What is the main purpose of the passage?to express how nice the US troops were to the Cherokeesto help people understand how the Cherokees were treatedto help the US government justify the Indian Removal Actto help people understand the climate and weather of the West
The Cherokees experience a lot of hardships and exploitation. Besides the emotional trauma of leaving their ancestral homes behind, they experienced physical suffering as well. They lacked proper protection against cold or diseases, which claimed a lot of lives. They were also poorly treated by the military.
The settlers were unable and unwilling to plant crops because it was too cold and too much work for an unskilled worker. Without these successful crops, the colonists survived by trading with the Native Americans.
