Hi johnboy,
This is of seed saver exchange,
Given to SSE in 1977 by the late Dr. John Wyche, SSE member from Hugo, OK. Dr. Wyche’s Cherokee ancestors carried this bean over the Trail of Tears, the infamous winter death march from October 1838 in the Smoky Mountains to March 26, 1839 in Oklahoma, leaving a trail of 4,000 graves. Shiny jet-black seeds. Green 6" pods with purple overlay, good for snaps and dry beans. Pole habit, 85 days.
The following is of Google, makes for intresting reading, as they say money is the root of all evil or in this case Gold.
By the end of the eighteenth century, the Cherokee Nation had settled on land guaranteed to it in a 1791 treaty with the United States. The land was located in northwest Georgia, eastern Tennessee, and southwest North Carolina. The Cherokees established a governmental system similar to that of the United States and adopted a constitution that declared them a sovereign nation, meaning that they were not subject to the laws of any other state or nation. They lived peacefully until gold was discovered on their land in the late 1820s.
Because the United States wanted the gold, in 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, which President Andrew Jackson immediately signed into law. The Cherokees fought removal by taking the case to the United States Supreme Court, which ruled in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831) against the Cherokees because they were a “domestic dependent nation” and not a sovereign nation. On appeal, the case was heard once again in the Supreme Court, Worcester v. Georgia (1832), and the ruling was for the Cherokees, making the removal laws invalid. To be removed, the Cherokees would have to agree to removal and sign a treaty.
The Cherokee Nation was divided between moving and staying put. Most supported Chief John Ross, who fought against removal; however, about 500 Cherokees supported Major Ridge, who represented the United States government and advocated removal. In 1835, Ridge and members of the Cherokee treaty party signed the Treaty of New Echota. The treaty traded Cherokee land east of the Mississippi River for land in Indian Territory (the area that is now Oklahoma), plus more than five million dollars and other benefits from the federal government. The treaty, which was ratified by the United States Senate, gave the U.S. government and Georgia justification to force almost 17,000 Cherokees from their land.
In 1838, the U.S. Army began evicting the Cherokees from their homeland. Several thousand were taken immediately to Indian Territory. Thousands more were held in makeshift forts, having to make do with minimal food and facilities, until they were forced to march to Indian Territory during the winter of 1938-39. Approximately 4,000 Cherokees died during the march. The journey that the Cherokees took across land became known as the Trail of Tears, or the “trail where they cried.”
Regards
Kevin
