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Buffalo carving, Woodcarving, c. 1978
Cypress wood, elk horn
Collection of the artist
Photography by Maggie Holtzberg
Buffalo carving commemorating the suffering of Muscogee Indians on the Trail of Tears. When the Army forcibly marched the people from the Okefenokee Swamp to Oklahoma, they were told that there would be buffalo, antelope,and other wild game to hunt and eat where they would settle. However, when they arrived in Oklahoma, they found that they were deceived. There was so little to hunt that they were forced to eat their horses, dogs, and any other animals that they brought with them from the Okefenokee swamp. This design dates back to the Trail of Tears, and the horns on the buffalo are turned down to denote the sadness of the occasion.
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