Note: Herman McDaniel found this item, pretty much by accident, on June 5, 1993, while searching microfilmed records of the Cherokee Removal at the Library of Congress.

This poem originally appeared in the Columbus Sentinel and was reprinted in the August 15,1838 issue of The Southern Whig, published in Athens, Georgia. The poem included these introductory remarks: "The following lines were composed by a young Cherokee girl, by the name of Anna, and given to one of the Editors while on a visit to Calhoun, East Tennessee, some short time since. The town to which she belonged was situated in the Sumach Valley (or Shoe-make, as it is commonly written) through which runs a beautiful stream of the same name. From the valley a full view of the Cohutta mountain, one of the highest in the nation, is presented. We give them a place in our columns, in fulfillment of a promise made to publish them."