Stone Gardens: Slave couple who traversed the Trail of Tears settled in Cherokee County following the Civil War

Harry Buffington and Dorcas Bushyhead Buffington lived remarkable lives as enslaved people who survived the Trail of Tears, contributed to the Union effort during the Civil War, raised a large family, and became symbols of Cherokee heritage and tradition.

Harry was born into slavery around 1813 in the Cherokee Nation in the east. His parents' names were not preserved in records. He was the only enslaved person held by Charles Buffington, a half -blood Cherokee who lived in Brasstown in what is now Clay County, North Carolina, according to the 1835 Cherokee census.

When the Cherokee were forcibly removed, Harry traveled with the Buffington family in the Choowalooky or Wofford Detachment. They left the east on October 27, 1838, and arrived in the west on March 1, 1839. The family settled in the Beatties Prairie area in what is now Delaware County.

Around 1840 Harry married Dorcas Bushyhead at the Baptist Mission north of present-day Westville. The ceremony was performed by Reverend Jesse Bushyhead.

Dorcas was born in 1824 on Candys Creek in the Cherokee Nation east, in present day McMinn County, Tennessee. Her mother Patsy had been enslaved by Edward Wilkerson and later by his daughter, Eliza, who married Reverend Jesse Bushyhead.

Dorcas' father was Charles Foreman, a three-eighths Cherokee man and first cousin to Reverend Bushyhead. The Bushyhead family held four enslaved people according to the 1835 census. Dorcas made the journey west at age 15 as part of the Bushyhead detachment led by Reverend Bushyhead, one of the conductors appointed by Chief John Ross.

The group departed on October 6, 1838, and arrived on February 27, 1839, after traveling more than 800 miles.

Harry and Dorcas became parents to 15 children, seven of whom lived to adulthood: Harry, Lucy Ann, Josephine, Margaret, Narcissa, Ambrose, and Chancy. Harry also fathered another son, Henry, with a different mother.

They lived near present-day Westville before the Civil War. Harry enlisted in the Union Army on July 11, 1862, at Baxter Springs, Kansas, serving as a private in Company K of the Third Indian Home Guard. He worked as a hospital orderly, likely at Fort Gibson.

In February 1863 the Cherokee Council emancipated enslaved people in the nation following President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Harry was discharged in April 1865 as a free man.

Dorcas claimed she purchased her freedom from Mrs. Bushyhead around 1856, though no official records confirm this. She served as a nurse for the Union Army starting in March 1863, mainly at the hospital in Fort Gibson and briefly at a temporary hospital in Neosho, Missouri.

In 1894 she received a pension of $12 per month for her service. After the war, the family farmed in the Tahlequah district northeast of Fort Gibson. Harry died suddenly of heat stroke at his home on June 24, 1884. Dorcas passed away on November 22, 1913, near Hulbert.

Both were originally buried in the Sol Harlan Cemetery. Their remains were reinterred in 1951 at Gadugi Cemetery near Hulbert when Fort Gibson Lake construction required the relocation of graves.

For the first time, the Oklahoma Trail of Tears Association held a grave marking ceremony for Cherokee Freedmen survivors of the Trail of Tears on April 12, 2025, at Gadugi Cemetery. Family members, Cherokee Nation officials, and community members attended.

Ashawna Miles, a descendant, read Dorcas' biography and expressed deep honor in recognizing her fifth great-grandmother's sacrifices. Gary McGhee, another descendant, read Harry's biography and highlighted the joy of seeing his sixth great-grandparents honored.

Cherokee songwriter Becky Hobbs performed and a poem was read. Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. and Trail of Tears Association leaders spoke about the importance of acknowledging the roughly 1500 to 2000 enslaved people who endured the removal and the ongoing journey toward truth and equity in Cherokee history.

The marking serves as a catalyst for recognizing more such graves and ensuring these stories are remembered.