Trails of Tears memorial to join Marshals Museum project

The Trail of Tears, one of the saddest episodes in U.S. history, may be marked with a unique monument or memorial co-located with the planned U.S. Marshals Museum in Fort Smith.

The museum board of directors on Tuesday (June 14) approved an agreement with the Five Civilized Tribes in which the Tribes would build a “world-class monument or memorial befitting the historical and cultural significance of the Indian Removal of the 1830’s.”

Edwin Marshall, who represents the Five Civilized Tribes on the museum board, said the five chiefs of the tribe had a “great sense of enthusiasm” for the project but will have to formally approve the plan at a future meeting.

“The Chiefs were real receptive to it. That’s a good indicator, but it’s no guarantee of anything,” Marshall told The City Wire after Tuesday’s meeting.

Marshall said if the five chiefs agree with the plan, the chiefs and the museum board will have to approve the final plan.

Between 1831 and 1839, the U.S. Government forcibly removed more than 15,000 Cherokee and other tribes from their homeland in the southeastern United States. The tribes were forced to march across Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Alabama, Tennessee, Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas to Oklahoma. Many died during the forced relocation.

According to the U.S. Marshals Museum staff, Fort Smith was a focal point for the Indian Removal of the 1830‘s, with the Arkansas River serving as one of several primary routes now known as the Trail of Tears. Not only is the planned Marshal Museum to be built on a bank of the Arkansas River, but U.S. Marshals and Tribal Lighthorsemen were responsible for maintaining law and order in the newly settle Indian Territory.

The planned Trail of Tears monument will also memorialize the Lighthorsemen who lost their lives in the line of duty while serving as deputy U.S. Marshals.

“The history of Fort Smith and the relationship between the U.S. Marshals and the Indian Nations makes this a natural project for cooperation between the USMM and the Council,” noted a letter from Marshals Museum President & CEO Jim Dunn to Marshall. “This project provides an opportunity to highlight a critical but under-told event in American history. When the USMM and this Memorial are complete, it will also allow the USMM and the Council to publicize the historical and cultural features of both.”

According to the letter, the Five Civilized Tribes agrees to erect “statuary or other features” that will be “attractive to visitors who may visit Crystal Bridges in Bentonville and consistent with the quality of the Bass Reeves equestrian statue to be erected near the J. Fred Patton Bridge over the Arkansas River.”

The Bass Reeves Legacy Initiative has raised most of the $300,000 required to create and place a 25-foot tall statue in the Ross Pendergraft Park in downtown Fort Smith. The group plans to erect and unveil the statue in spring 2012.

Bass Reeves began his career as a deputy U.S. Marshal during the term of U.S. District Judge Isaac Parker. Reeves served as a U.S. Marshal between 1875 and 1910. Even though Reeves was an African-American and illiterate, he brought in more outlaws from eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas than anyone else.

Other terms of the Tribes’ proposal are:
• The U.S. Marshals Museum will make available to the Council sufficient land for the Trail of Tears Monument or Memorial;

• The expense of the monument or memorial and related infrastructure will be at the expense of the Council;

• There is no requirement that the Council purchase the land or otherwise contribute to the U.S. Marshals Museum Capital Campaign;

• The Council will have artistic control of the Monument or Memorial, subject to final approval of the USMM Board of Directors;

• The Trail of Tears Monument/Memorial will be erected in at or near the time the USMM determines to break ground for construction of the Museum; and,

• The Council and the USMM will establish appropriate committees to work out the details on the plan as generally outlined in this letter.

Dunn said the museum also will work with Fort Smith to incorporate possible walking trails or other features planned by the city, Fort Smith National Historic Site and other groups into the overall design. He said the Trail of Tears memorial could “take many forms,” including a statue or “several features along a path.”

In January 2007, the U.S. Marshals Service selected Fort Smith as the site for the national museum. The cost to build the 50,000-square-foot museum — including exhibit work — is estimated as high as $50 million. Museum officials have not estimated on when the money will be raised and the museum opened.