John G. Burnett was a young private in the US Army in 1838 was among the soldiers that forcibly marched the Cherokee Indians from North Carolina to Oklahoma. This is part of his story written for his grandchildren in 1890.

"At this time, 1890, we are too near the removal of the Cherokees for our young people to fully understand the enormity of the crime that was committed against a helpless race of people. Truth is, the facts are being concealed from the young people today. School children of today do not know that we are living on lands that were taken from a helpless race at the bayonet point to satisfy the white man's greed for gold."

"The sufferings of the Cherokees were awful. The trail of the exiles was a trail of death. They had to sleep in wagons and on the ground without fire. And I have known as many as twenty-two of them to die in one night of pneumonia due to the ill treatment, cold, and exposure."

"Murder is murder and somebody must answer, somebody must explain the streams of blood that flowed in the Indian country in the summer of 1838. Somebody must explain the 4,000 silent graves that mark the trail of the Cherokees to their exile." --John G. Barnett

Wow! There is a major movie and book out about some hiddenhistory. The title is "Amazing Grace." Both the book and the movie are about the story of William Wilberforce and the decades long effort to end the slave trade in the British empire. Both are very inspiring.

See "Amazing Grace"! Read "Amazing Grace!" Live Amazing Grace!

Thaddeus Stevens is my 4th greatest American of all times. To read about him go to christianchallenge.blogstream.com (leave off www). Then go to recent posts and click more. Then scroll down until you get to the 4th greatest American.

Stevens was a white guy who believed in and fought for racial equality and freedom for the slaves before and after the Civil War. He was buried in a "black" graveyard. Here is what is written on his head stone:

"I repose on this quiet and secluded spot,
Not from any natural preference for solitude,
But finding any other cemeteries limited as to race by charter rules;
I have chosen this that I may illustrate in my death,
The Principles which I advocated through a long life.
Thaddeus Stevens"

"In America where slaves were separated from their kin, beaten, made to work from daylight to dark for only enough food to keep them alive, while their 'masters' sat in their special seats on Sunday mornings. I ask where was the voice of the church?" --Gene Shepherd

"To live at a period when scenes of horror and blood are frequent makes one callous to the feelings and sentiments of humanity." --Jonathan Drymond 1798-1828