Historical Society hear about the Trail of Tears
HOPE – The Hempstead County Historical Society met July 22nd. Joshua Williams told the Society about an event that the Hope Downtown Network will present. It will be held the first Saturday of October. It will be a movie, and the proposed movie has not been finalized. He also made note of the Red River Symposium to be held on July 26th in Historic Washington.
Chris Adams presented a program on the Trail of Tears. Mr. Adam’s mentioned that Washington was a major supply point on the Trail of Tears. The town of Washington profited quite a bit from the Choctaw passing through. The main ration that Washington produced was pork. There was salt, corn and beef that was also rationed.
Mr. Adams mentioned James Harrison, who was known to put out bad food for the Choctaw. The Choctaw coming through made the citizens of Washington rich. Joshua Williams made note of Jacob Buzzard, the county judge of Lafayette County at the time (early 1830s), who also provided lots of provisions to the Choctaw.
Adams also discussed the effects of the Chocktaw being displaced. He mentioned that the general sentiment was that the Choctaw could either be Americanized, or cease to exist. Joshua Williams noted that the Choctaw that come through Washington in past years have said that the citizens in Washington had treated their ancestors well.