The Shawnee Trail of Tears

Dr. Randall L. Buchman, will present “A Sorrowful Journey,” the story of the removal of the Shawnee, Seneca, and Ottawa Indians from Ohio in 1832, 7 to 9 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 19, in the Cedar Point Center Auditorium at Bowling Green State University.

“A Sorrowful Journey,” is based on the recently discovered journal of John Shelby, an assistant conductor of the Shawnee, Seneca, and Ottawa tribes in Ohio as they followed their own “trail of tears,” walking across four states to lands west of the Mississippi. Suffering from hunger and exposure, nearly one-third died on the three-month journey including many children, who were buried quickly along the route.

The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Jackson in 1830. The theory of the extremely controversial policy was to have tribes leave voluntarily. In practice, however, extreme pressure was used to have American Indian leaders sign removal treaties.

Buchman, a professor emeritus of history and archaeology at Defiance College, specializes in Ohio Valley American Indian Studies. His book, “A Sorrowful Journey, ” was published in 2007. Many of his history articles have been published in journals such as “Ohio Archaeologist, “ American Antiquity” and “Ohio History.” He is also the author of “Historic Indians,” “Woods Journal” and “The Confluence, the Story of Fort Defiance.”

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