By JOHN WILSON
Chattanooga Free Press Staff Writer
Wednesday, 17 April 1996, pA1-2 2 photos: Dr. Duane King, Jay Mills

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. The leading authority on the Trail of Tears told a conference here today that new evidence shows the famous Cherokee forced exodus went directly across Moccasin Bend.

Dr. Duane King, director of the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles, said the official trail designated by Congress in 1987 has the detachments going from Ross's Landing around the end of Lookout Mountain.

"Save the Bend' supporters attending the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail Advisory Committee annual meeting here said the discovery lends more support for giving the historic bend national park status.

They also said it bolsters a new plan calling for a Trail of Tears Interpretive Center at Moccasin Bend in conjunction with the proposed national park.

Jay Mills, vice president of the Friends of Moccasin Bend National Park (FMBNP), said the group has set getting national park status as its first priority and establishing the interpretive center as the second.

He said hundreds of Cherokees were rounded up in 1838 and placed in a stockade just upriver from Ross's Landing at Citico and several detachments went out from there. But he said, "There is not even a single marker in Chattanooga telling about this important historical event.'

Chattanoogan Harley Grant said, "We have a local history museum, Civil War museum and a black museum. But the missing component is an interpretive center telling about the Native Americans who were here for thousands and thousands of years.'

Mr. Grant, who is chairman of the Tennessee Commission on Indian affairs, said most American Indians here would prefer that Moccasin Bend be returned to the Cherokee tribe. But he said there is "no direct opposition or outright rebellion' against the national park idea.'

He said American Indians "are 100 percent against any more archaeological digs on Moccasin Bend. From what has been taken out already, we have been given enough insight about who was there and how they lived.'

Dr. King told the group, which last year met in Chattanooga, "Chattanooga's position at an intersection of interstate highway traffic makes it a highly desirable location for a park and museum devoted to our nation's growing interest in Native American history. My recent discovery of material confirming the overland route of the Trail of Tears across the site makes Moccasin Bend an even more significant historical location.

"The Moccasin Bend museum/cultural center could well be one of the most outstanding Native American museums in the United States.'

Dr. King, who is under contract with the FMBNP, said he discovered Army payment vouchers made at the time of the Indian Removal. He said the detachment led by Lt. Edward Deas past Ross's Landing crossed on a ferry to Moccasin Bend and then took another ferry at Brown's Ferry en route to Kelly's Ferry.

Mickey Robbins, FMBNP president, said Rep. Zach Wamp has been working closely with the group in seeking to spark renewed interest in Washington on the national park idea.

He said there is already federal legislation on the books allowing the creation of the national park dating back to an effort in the late 1940s and early 1950s that came close to succeeding.

Over 900 acres at the Bend are owned by the city, county and state. A psychiatric hospital, sewage-treatment plant and golf course have been placed there since the earlier national park effort.

Mr. Robbins said, "When the goal of a national park is achieved, the FMBNP will turn its attention to exploring -- with city, county, state, tribal, private sector and other interested stakeholders -- the opportunities for developing a major interpretive center for regional Native American history.'

The FMBNP recently received a $25,000 grant from the Benwood Foundation and a feasibility study is under way. A report is due within the next few weeks on economic benefits a Trail of Tears Museum would bring.

Other officers of the FMBNP are Tom Kunesh, secretary, and Karen Diamond, treasurer. Members of the board include Bonnie Currey, Tom Decosimo, Dr. Henry Francis, Adele Hampton, Dr. Pope Holliday, Bob Hunter, Leighton LeBoeuf, Jack McDonald, Terry McIntosh, Mike Mahn, Sally Robinson, Dan Saieed and Neil Thomas III.