during this time george hicks, one of the conductors. sent the following letter, to the headquarters in north carolina. johnson county illinois, 1839. my dear friend and brother. we left the cherokee nation east, the land of our negativity, on the first day of last november. picked up the line of our march for the far west. and to the mercy of an all-white providence, who is every ever ready to assist the oppressed. whose ears are ever open to their cries, we have arrived thus far on a journey to the west. the following winter, has been very cold. and we have necessarily suffered a great deal from exposure, from cold and fatigue. are people, a great many of them were very poor, and very destitute of clothing and of the means of red nearing themselves comfortable. we've done all in our power to remedy this situation, and contributed very much to the comfort by supplying them as far as we could, with blankets and shoes. but still we have suffered a great deal with sickness and have lost since the 21st of october, about 35, a great proporti

respectfully george hicks. our principal chief, john ross, left last after he had seen all the other cherokees on their way west. he traveled by steamboat with a small group of cherokees in order to take those who had been too ill to leave with the regular detachments. and while the various detachments were waiting to cross the mississippi river, he visited the camps, and he wrote the following account. on my arrival with the water detachment at paducah, i received letters from various persons connected with some of the first houses in nashville informed me that it was understood the land detachments had been stopped at the mississippi river by ice. and for various reasons it would be most advisable to transport the immigrants at that point by water. therefore, they sent me proposals for furnishing the steamboats for that purpose. from the mouth of the ohio i also received letters from mr. clark jr., one of my principal agents on the route and other persons, all urging me in the most pressing terms to visit the

and during this time, george hicks, one of the conductors of removal detachment and a member of the moravian church, sent the following letter to the moravian headquarters salem, north carolina, from johnson county, illinois, 13th of january, 1839. my dear friend and brother, we left the cherokee nation east, the land of our nativity, on the first day of last november and took up the line of our march for the far west and through the mercies of an all-wise providence, who is ever ready to assist the oppressed, and whose ear is ever open to their cries, have arrived thus far on our journey to the west. the following winter has been very cold, and we have necessarily suffered a great deal from exposure from cold and fatigue. our people, a great many of them were very poor and very destitute of clothing and of the means of rendering themselves comfortable. we've done all in our power to remedy the destitute situation and contributed very much to their comfort by supplying them so far as we could with clothing, blankets, and shoes. but still, we have suffered a great deal with sickness and have

george hicks, peter hildebrand and richard taylor's detachment had not yet crossed for that purpose. i made it distinctly known that no change would or could be made from completing the journey by land, that it was evident these alarming tales about the roads to missouri were in great measure magnified for effect. however true, the scarcity of high prices for supplies on the road might prove to be that supplies should be procured, cost what they would, if they were to be had at all within reach of their travel. they took up the march the next morning which was done accordingly. while the cherokees were in charge of their own removal, there was never any complaint about lack of food on the way. and ross goes on to say, the boats generally laden, it could not be prevailed upon to stop and take me on board. after thus being detained two or three days, i determined not to wait any longer for passage by water, and i procured the loan of a horse and rode three days by boat accompanied by my brother. and the next morning after my return, we slipped cable. within a week from that timeund my