Tears to Justice

Tears to Justice is a work of fiction. Upon graduating from West Point in 1838, Second Lieutenant Jacob Johnson fulfilled his father’s dream of having a son serve as a United States Army officer. His father had been orphaned at the age of ten when his parents were killed by Cherokees in the Massacre of Long Cane Creek, South Carolina.

Second Lieutenant Johnson received his first duty assignment at graduation. He was anything but pleased. He was assigned to assist in forcing Cherokee Indians to leave their homes and march to the Oklahoma Indian Territory.

The conditions along the Trail were brutal. The Trail of Tears had earned its name. The lieutenant befriended a young Cherokee woman, Awinita, who was expecting a child. The baby would not wait to be born in Oklahoma. The young lieutenant was given permission to take the expectant mother to a cotton plantation along the Trail, where she gave birth.

The plantation owners were instructed to see that the mother and her baby were placed with the next group of Indians that came along on the Trail. Later, the lieutenant discovered that the mother and her baby had been sold into slavery by the plantation owner.

The lieutenant devoted the rest of his career to seeking justice for those who were forced off of their lands and onto reservations, or who were held in slavery. He was also committed to seek accountability for those who abused others.

After thirty years of military service, and attaining the rank of colonel, many of Colonel Jacob Johnson’s goals had been fulfilled, especially as he fought with General Grant in the War Between the States.