Andrew JacksonA free program exploring the struggle over Indian Removal between two early 19th-century Tennesseans – frontiersman David Crockett and President Andrew Jackson – is set for 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22, at Moccasin Bend National Archaeological District.
“Divided Loyalty: A Tennessean’s Struggle With Removal” is presented by the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.
The program will mainly focus on Crockett’s perspective. As organizers describe it: “Sometimes when you stand up for what you know to be right, it can seem as though you are looking into the face of an overwhelming giant.”
The back story is that, in 1830 in the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C., Congressman Crockett broke ranks with President Jackson, his former commanding general, over Jackson’s Indian Removal Act. The controversial legislation ultimately passed, authorizing the relocation of Indians from Southern states into territory west of the Mississippi River.
In his remarks opposing the act, Crockett reminded his colleagues and the nation that “if this [taking of American Indian land] was not oppression with a vengeance, he did not know what it was.”
Parking will be at the gateway site at 10 Hamm Road, and Special Event signs will be posted along Manufacturers and Hamm roads as guides. Those attending may wish to bring portable chairs and water for the one-hour program.
For more information, call 706-866-9241, 423-821-7786 or visit www.nps.gov/chch.