Lest We Forget: The survival of a Cherokee Woman. Lany is only ten years old when the soldiers came to drive her family west to Indian territory. It was the dead of winter in the mountains of North Carolina where temperatures plunged to freezing at night. The small Cherokee band had lived among the whites without conflicts for many years, but the government in Washington, DC decided the Indians were a threat to the settlers and must go west of the Mississippi. Lany’s parents refused to accept their fate and planned a daring escape. This plan to go higher on the mountain would shape the rest of Lany’s life but would keep her safe on her beloved mountain.

When the soldiers arrive, the entire village were herded into the square trembling in fear. The rifles hung on the soldiers ready to enter the action. Young Laney held tightly to her little brother while her sister and older brother stood nearby. No one could know the lives of the Cherokee nation was being changed forever as they left their valley. As the march began, Laney understood the dangers they faced. Escape seemed impossible, but Laney’s parents had a plan to save themselves and the future of their people. Unable to trust their white neighbors, they had only the mountain and their wits to survive the harsh winter and make a new home for themselves.