Treaties and Covenants among various nations and tribes of the world have often been agreed upon. Many times however the aggressive people take advantage of the weaker more vulnerable neighbors and break treaties or quickly push the weaker aside, just because they can, and are exploited by the often white aggressor.
More often in times of history the aggressor is the most powerful army or tribe that pushed out the smaller and more humble owners of the land. As it says in the scriptures, “We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.” D&C 121:39. I am confidant the Lord in saying “almost all men”, He means the overly vast majority, probably 90-95% . That seems reasonable.
However, there are many times where the Children of the Lord who make special Covenants with the Lord and are the minority, are held to a higher law. For example, with the children of Adam (4,000 BC), eventually all but 8 were destroyed. Yet before that the City of Enoch (3313 BC) who were also the children of God were translated and taken to heaven for their righteousness. The Lord would not allow Enoch to live among the many atrocities of many of Adams seed.
In about 2200 BC the Jaredites were led out of the Old World to America as a covenant to obey God, and they later broke that covenant and were swept from the land.
In about 1,500 BC in the Old World the Children of Israel were held in bondage by Egypt because of their transgressions against God. Moses became their deliverer. In about 722 BC the Northern 10 tribes were conquered by the Assyrians and in 586 BC the Southern Tribes came under the rule of the Babylonians, as the Children of Israel wer disobedient to the covenants they had made with God.
In 600 BC Lehi was led out of the Old World to America as they made new covenants with the Lord, and we know after 1,000 years in America, they eventually fell into apostacy and were removed from the land.
The Hebrew Children of Israel were also under bondage at the time of Christ and Christ tried to remind them to look to Him who had come and they would be blessed. And those Pilgrims and Puritans in 1620 AD coming from Europe to the United States made covenants with God and also were truly tested as they had made a covenant with God.
What lead to the terrible smiting and scattering of the Native Americans was their fathers breaking covenants with the Lord. The Lord allowed the US Govt to become their oppressors, but they could always repent and be saved. It is sad to say the American Colonists and Govt. who abused and drove the Children of God, will be ultimately held accountable for those atrocities, if they haven’t been already.
This seems to be the trial of those who are called as His Children, if they don’t keep those covenants. Those who make covenants with God are always held to a higher standard to be examples to others, but as D&C 121 says, “Almost All” of Gods covenant people do succumb to the weakness of flesh and break covenants, so the Lord HAS to allow the consequences of broken promises to occur to His people.
Briefly I want to speak of the Hill Cumorah in upstate New York. We see that two final battles for two distinct nations happened there. This was a culmination of not obeying the Covenants they had promised to God. Since this land of Cumorah is a key beginning point of this last dispensation of Time under Joseph Smith, this makes the Book of Mormon truly able to speak from the dust, to we as His people today. We are under covenant and we will either obey or be swept off. It is our choice. We who have covenanted with God must obey Him, or the Deep State or Cabal or whatever you want to call Satan, are here to oppress us. We will be victors if we will repent and come unto Him.
VISIT TO THE LAND AND HILL CUORAH
“We had proceeded a little over a mile on the road when the driver of the carriage pointed out a hill to us on our left, which he said was “Mormon Hill.” We supposed that by this he meant Cumorah. Though in its general appearance it resembled the descriptions we had had of Cumorah, yet we were somewhat disappointed in its size, as it was not so high a hill as many others which we saw in the neighborhood. In fact, as we rode along, we saw several hills which we thought more like what we imagined Cumorah to be than the one pointed out to us. We rode on for probably two miles farther, conversing but very little and each absorbed in his own reflections, when we saw, immediately in front of us. a hill that rose suddenly, almost precipitously, from the plain. Brother Brigham, Jun., remarked when we saw it: “There is a hill which agrees in appearance with my idea of Cumorah.”
In this opinion the Editor coincided. The driver, hearing our remarks, turned to us and said: “Yes, this is Gold Bible Hill.” We then learned that Cumorah was known through the country by the name of “Gold Bible Hill.” We asked him what he meant by calling the other, which he had pointed out to us, “‘Mormon Hill.” He replied that there was a cave in that hill which the “Mormons” had dug and some of them had lived in it, so the people said; and, therefore, it was known by that name…
This was the hill Ramah of the Jaredites, and it is probable, that, in this vicinity, Coriantumr and Shiz, with the people whom they led, fought their last battle. For this great battle they were four years preparing, gathering the people together from all parts of the land, and arming men and women, and even children. The battle lasted eight days, and the result was the complete extermination of the Jaredite nation, none being left but the prophet Ether — who warned the nation of the fate that awaited it unless the people repented, and who lived to record the fulfilment of his own warnings and predictions — and Coriantumr who succeeded in slaying his mortal enemy, Shiz.
It is probable that the prophet Ether, when he emerged from his hiding-place to view the destruction of his race, which he had been inspired to foretell, had ascended this hill and from its summit had gazed with profound grief upon the thousands of slain which lay scattered unburied upon the surface of the earth around. He and Coriantumr alone of all that mighty race which had flourished for upwards of fifteen hundred years, were loft. Who can imagine the feelings which he must have had on such an occasion?
From the summit of this hill, doubtless, Mormon and his great son Moroni had also witnessed the gathering of the hosts of the Nephites and the dusky and myriad legions of their deadly enemies, the Lamanites. Around this hill they had marshaled their forces — their twenty- three divsions of ten thousand men each, commanded by the most skillful of their generals; all to be swept away, except Mormon and Moroni and twenty-two others, in one day’s battle, by the fierce and relentless foe whom God permitted to execute his threatened judgment I Stealthily perhaps, for fear of exciting the attention of the Lamanites, Mormon and Moroni and their companions may have ascended this hill and gazed on the dreadful scene around them.
What a picture of desolation and woe must have met their sight! How deep must have been their anguish at thus witnessing the destruction of the fair ones of their nation! No wonder they cried out in anguish, and mourned with pathetic lamentations the rebellion against God which had brought this terrible destruction upon them. Mormon’s feelings must have been very peculiar.
At fifteen years of age chosen to be the commander-in-chief of the armies of his nation, he had fought battle after battle until now, at seventy-four years of age, he witnessed the complete blotting out of what had been the most favored people on the earth. His reflections must have been peculiarly painful, because he knew that had they listened to him he could have saved them.
It was here that he hid the abridgment which he made of the records, and which is now known by his name, and it was here, thirty-six years after this tremendous battle, that his son Moroni also hid his abridgment of the Book of Ether and the record which he had made from which we learn the fate of his father Mormon and his other companion?, that sixteen years after the battle of Cumorah Mormon and all the Nephites except Moroni had been killed by the Lamanites. It was to this spot that about fourteen hundred years after these events, Joseph Smith, the prophet, was led by Moroni in person and here the records, engraved on plates, were committed to him for translation.
Who could tread this ground and reflect upon these mighty events, and not be filled with indescribable emotion ? We were literally surrounded by the graves of two of the mightiest nations which had ever flourished on the earth. We stood in the centre of their burial place. They had rebelled against God, they had slain His prophets, disregarded His warnings and arrayed themselves against Him. His promise and covenant concerning this land are: “that whatsoever nation shall possess it, shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fullness of His wrath shall come upon them. And the fullness of His wrath, cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity; for behold, this is a land which is choice above all other lands ; wherefore he that doth possess it shall serve God, or shall be swept off; for it is the everlasting decree of God.” VISIT TO THE LAND AND HILL CUORAH GEORCE O. CANNON – – EDITOR. SATURDAY, JULY 5, 1873. https://archive.org/stream/juvenileinstruct814geor/juvenileinstruct814geor_djvu.txt
“The final struggles between Nephites and Lamanites were waged in the vicinity of the Hill Cumorah, in what is now the State of New York, resulting in the destruction of the Nephites as a nation, about 400 A.D. The last Nephite representative was Moroni, who, wandering for safety from place to place, daily expecting death from the victorious Lamanites, wrote the concluding parts of the Book of Mormon, and hid the record in Cumorah. It was the same Moroni who as a resurrected being, gave the records into the hands of Joseph Smith in the present dispensation.” James Talmage Articles of Faith, Ch 14, Pg. 260.
INDIAN TREATIES
The United States continue to buy the land of Joseph, and become nursing fathers unto his children. The Globe in speaking of the treaty of peace with the Indians, states, “That the land acquired by government from the Winnebagoes contains about 4,600,000 acres, and is represented to be of excellent soil, well watered, and abounding in inducements for agriculturists to purchase and cultivate.
Advices have been received of the formation of another treaty with the Sacs and Foxes. By this compact the United States acquire about 600,000,000 acres, of a quality not inferior to any between the same parallels of latitude. It is known to abound in lead, and the Indians say in other ores.
For the tract ceded, the United States agree to pay an annuity of twenty thousand dollars for thirty years, to support a black smith and gun-smith in addition to those now employed, to pay the debts of the tribes, to supply provisions, and, as a reward for the fidelity of Ke-o-kuk and the friendly band, to allow a reservation to be made for them of 400 miles square on the Ioway [Iowa] river, to include Ke-o-kuk’s principal village.
Black Hawk and his two sons, the Prophet, Napope and five others, principal warriors of the hostile bands, are to be retained as hostages, during the pleasure of the President. All the other prisoners have been delivered up to the friendly Sacs and Foxes.”
What a beauty it is to see the prophecies fulfilling so exactly. Nephi says:
Nevertheless, after that they have been nursed by the Gentiles, and the Lord hath lifted up his hand upon the Gentiles, and set them up for a standard, and their children shall be carried in their arms and their daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders: behold these things of which are spoken are temporal:
For thus is the covenants of the Lord with our fathers; and it meaneth us in the days to come, and also all our brethren which are of the house of Israel.
And it meaneth that the time cometh that after all the house of Israel have been scattered and confounded, that the Lord God will raise up a mighty nation among the Gentiles: yea, even upon the face of this land;[Heartland of America] and by them shall our seed be scattered. [American Colonists]
And after that our seed is scattered, the Lord God will proceed to do a marvelous work among the Gentiles [Book of Mormon], which shall be of great worth unto our seed:
Wherefore, it is likened unto the being nourished by the Gentiles, and being carried in their arms, and upon their shoulders.
And it shall also be of worth unto the Gentiles; and not only unto the Gentiles, but unto all the house of Israel, unto the making known of the covenants of the Father of heaven, unto Abraham, saying, In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.
And I would my brethren that ye should know, that all the kindreds of the earth cannot be blessed, unless he shall make bare his arm in the eyes of the nations.
Wherefore, the Lord God will proceed to make bare his arm in the eyes of all the nations, in bringing about his covenants and his gospel unto they which are of the house of Israel.
Wherefore, he will bring them again out of captivity, and they shall be gathered together to the lands of their inheritance, and they shall be brought out of obscurity and out of darkness, and they shall know that the Lord is their Savior and their Redeemer, the mighty one of Israel. Page 62 THE EVENING AND THE MORNING STAR Vol. I. Independence, MO January 1833, No. 8. Editor Oliver Cowdery
How Native Americans Struggled to Survive on the Trail of Tears
BY: CHRISTOPHER KLEIN: JULY 10, 2023
In the early 1800s, the sovereign Cherokee nation covered a vast region that included northwest Georgia and adjacent land in Tennessee, North Carolina and Alabama. Under the terms of an 1819 treaty, the United States guaranteed that Cherokee land would be off-limits to white settlers forever.
Forever lasted less than 20 years.
Although the treaty mandated the removal of “all white people who have intruded, or may hereafter intrude, on the lands of the Cherokees,” the United States instead forcibly removed more than 15,000 Cherokees in 1838 and 1839. As many as 4,000 died of disease, starvation and exposure during their detention and forced migration through nine states that became known as the “Trail of Tears.”
[Editors note: The Cherokee of the Iroquois Language group in my opinion, are many of the last Nephites from Cumorah who remained after 421 AD. I believe many of the Nephites before the great destruction, may have fled by ship to Europe and many of them were on the land but not destroyed, just as many Lamanites remained. These Lamanites most likely the Algonquians of today, were part of the “Fort Ancient” culture in history and many of those Lamanites mixed with some Mayans in about 900 Ad who had come up to America after seeing their Mesoamerican region in drought or other reason. The mixture are called the “Mississippian Culture” which had a mixture of Lamanite, Nephite, and Mesoamerican.]
Indian Removal Act Forces Tribes From Native Lands
CHRISTOPHER KLEIN continues, “The Indian Removal Act signed by President Andrew Jackson in 1830 authorized the federal government to relocate tribes within state borders to unsettled land west of the Mississippi River. When white settlers encroached on Cherokee land to grow cotton and search for newly discovered gold, the United States ordered the Cherokee to join the Creek, Seminole, Choctaw and Chicksaw tribes in resettling to present-day Oklahoma.
The first Cherokees to relocate—approximately 2,000 men, women and children split into four groups—did so voluntarily in 1837 and early 1838. They traveled westward by boat following the winding paths of the Tennessee, Ohio, Mississippi and Arkansas Rivers. The journey for these voluntary exiles was as short as 25 days, and deaths numbered less than two dozen.
Conditions proved far worse for the Cherokee evicted from their homes at gunpoint by 7,000 federal troops dispatched by President Martin Van Buren. Beginning on May 26, 1838, soldiers under the command of General Winfield Scott rounded up the majority of the Cherokee along with 1,500 slaves and free blacks, forced them to leave behind most of their possessions and herded them into wooden stockades and internment camps.
Editors note: Many of the Cherokee hid in hills and caves around Tennessee and Alabama and remained even after the removal of their other tribe members. Many of these Cherokee still remain today and are called the Eastern Tribes of the Cherokee.”
“The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), (Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩᏱ ᏕᏣᏓᏂᎸᎩ, Tsalagiyi Detsadanilvgi) is a federally recognized Indian Tribe based in Western North Carolina in the United States. They are descended from the small group of 800–1,000 Cherokee who remained in the Eastern United States after the U.S. military, under the Indian Removal Act, moved the other 15,000 Cherokee to west of the Mississippi River in the late 1830s, to Indian Territory. Those Cherokee remaining in the East were to give up tribal Cherokee citizenship and to assimilate. They became U.S. citizens.” Wikipedia
“Men working in the fields were arrested and driven to the stockades,” recalled Private John Burnett, who served as an interpreter. “Women were dragged from their homes by soldiers whose language they could not understand. Children were often separated from their parents and driven into the stockades with the sky for a blanket and the earth for a pillow. And often the old and infirm were prodded with bayonets to hasten them to the stockades.”
Reverend Daniel Butrick, a missionary who had ministered in the Cherokee territory for 20 years, wrote “from their first arrest they were obliged to live very much like brute animals, and during their travels, were obliged at night to lie down on the naked ground, in the open air, exposed to wind and rain, and herd together, men women and children, like droves of hogs, and in this way, many are hastening to a premature grave.”
Due to the poor sanitation of the internment camps, deadly diseases such as whooping cough, measles and dysentery spread among the Cherokee.
At Least 3,000 Native Americans Died on the Trail of Tears
Check out seven facts about this infamous chapter in American history.
