Copyright © 1998 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

When the Cherokee were being harassed by the white settlers and by the State of Georgia they made their last council at a lovely large spring that flowed in a depression just across from Georgia into southern Tennessee. This was the Red Clay Council Grounds.

At last these civil and advanced people were required to leave their ancestral home and sanctuary and travel to an unknown place in the west. It was the "Trail of Tears." It is a time to pause and reflect for all Americans. There should be an annual "Original American Day" each year to commemorate the horrors that this noble people experienced. A day of "sackcloth and ashes" for all men of honor.

As the Original People left the land that was so sacred to them they carried along with them what they were able. Some on foot and others in wagons or on a mount. Many pots of fire were taken from that last great council flame, not just as a memory, but of necessity for they had no matches. Amazingly the original fires survived in the homes of hundreds of people who were resettled to the west, and in the 1950s coals from that fire were delivered to the Eastern Band of the Cherokee. Then in April of 1984 ten Cherokee braves returned that flame by relay runners from Cherokee, North Carolina to their sacred Council Ground at Red Clay.

A monument had been prepared to receive the heat of the flame and to keep it burning forever. A stone fireplace with a secured plexiglass front was built on a rise above the great spring. A large propane tank was hidden in a declivity beyond the altar to furnish the source of energy to maintain the fire from that long ago Council. It was to be a memorial to all mankind of the horrors experienced by these simple people. The fire was never to be allowed to be extinguished for it was to live on as a reminder to us all. A plaque on the chimney reads:

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ETERNAL FLAME OF THE CHEROKEE NATION

THIS FIRE IS A MEMORIAL TO THOSE
PEOPLE WHO SUFFERED AND DIED ON
THE INFAMOUS "TRAIL OF TEARS".
IT ALSO COMMEMORATES THE REUNITING
OF THE EASTERN AND WESTERN
CHEROKEE NATIONS HERE AT RED CLAY.
AUG. 7, 1837 - APR. 6, 1984

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Standing before the monument one bright fall afternoon in a mood of reflection, I was joined by a Park Ranger. Red Clay is now the property of the Stare of Tennessee and has been made into a State Park. He was a rather uncomplicated man, and with disguised guile I said, "That glass cover certainly seems secure. How do you ever get in there to relight the flame when it goes out?" "Oh that's no problem.", he said, "We just unscrew the front, remove the glass and relight the flame." "Have you ever had to do that?" I asked. "Several times!" was his response.

So the flame of the Cherokee has again been allowed to be extinguished on those holy grounds and relit with all of the thoughtlessness of the past generations. Today the plexiglass is partly loose and wood is inside for the purpose of relighting the ETERNAL FLAME. This sacrilege must be stopped!

What should be done:

1. Contact the Department of Tennessee State Parks at (environment@mail.state.tn.us) or by telephone or letter. Send your own personal request of what should be done.

2. The Monument's flame should be fitted with a dual energy source to assure no future outages.

3. Bring new "pure" fire from Oklahoma or Cherokee, NC. and with ceremony relight the flame.

4. Adjust the flame to a more respectable and economical size.

5. Sweep out the interior of the Monument. On the floor place a small clay pot, arrowheads, stones and other memorabilia to make the flame in a more friendly, realistic setting.

5. Refasten the plexiglass front (its loose now) and attach a seal that would have to be broken to secure entrance to relight. Make it an offense to relight without Departmental knowledge.

Here was the capital and last council grounds of the Cherokee Nation in the east. At a full council held in October 1835 a proposed treaty with the United States providing for the removal of the Cherokee to the Indian territory, now Oklahoma, was overwhelmingly rejected. John Howard Payne, author of the song "Home Sweet Home" and a champion of Indian rights attended the council, which was also attended by a number of prominent United States and Cherokee officials. The council house stood jut east of the great council spring.

Brigadier general John E. Wood and his detachment of troops camped at a large spring about 1/4 mile to the east while observing the meetings of the Cherokees in council.

Four miles to the northeast at Flint Springs was the last home in the east of John Ross, principal chief of the Cherokee Nation.

Twenty-Five miles from here on Highway 411 south of Benton is the grave of Nancy Ward, a "Beloved Woman" of the Cherokee.