Stories of the Past and the Impact on the Present

Meet Sylvia, a Mosaics in Science intern at Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Read her park story to learn how visiting parks with her family led to her to researching woody debris in the Cuyahoga River.

Civil War soldiers faced death on a daily basis. However, they also faced going home with various disabilities. One such disability was partial or complete deafness. Many soldiers were accustomed to temporary deafness from the constant artillery fire in the field. However, illness, the environment, and even the medicine the doctors used on patients could cause a much more permanent hearing loss.

Schools for the Deaf and the Blind were profoundly affected by the Civil War, and in very different ways between schools in the North and the South. In the North, schools continued their terms, with the battles being taught as "current events." In the South, students were sent home as their schools were taken over as field hospitals or severely damaged in battles.

Cherokee culture thrived for thousands of years in the southeastern United States before European contact. In the 1800s, when the Europeans settlers arrived, members of the Cherokee Nation tried to assimilate European-American culture. Cherokee leaders such as Major Ridge and Chief John Ross believed this was the best way to hold onto their Cherokee lifeways.

Sections of primary documents detailing events that led to the Trail of Tears: Dahlonega Gold Rush; Indian Removal Act; Cherokee Nation v Georgia; Worcester v Georgia; Treaty of Echota.

In the 1830s, the Cherokee were divided on the issue of adopting aspects of white, European-American culture or maintaining an indigenous culture and identity. Several incidents occurred after the passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 that prompted several members of the Cherokee Nation to sign the Treaty of Echota. This treaty eventually led to the Trail of Tears. Cherokee Chief John Ross opposes the treaty in this letter to the U.S Senate and House of Representatives.

Since the early 1800s, the Cherokee Nation tried to protect their lands by assimilating into the European-American culture as much as possible. However, when Andrew Jackson became president in 1828, that tactic rapidly changed. Gold was found so people desperately wanted Cherokee lands. Chief Womankiller speaks at a Cherokee Council meeting in favor of enacting a bill to prevent this rush on their land.

The Cherokee Nation tried to hold on to their ancestral lands, but in the 1830s gold and a new U.S. president made this impossible. Cherokee leaders John Ross and Major Ridge fought for their tribe from different perspectives. The Indian Removal Act and the Treaty of New Echota allowed Federal troops to force thousands of Cherokee to take the Trail of Tears to new land in the West.