Edwards was born near Philadelphia , Tennessee , in what was then Roane County , but is now part of Loudon County . He may have been orphaned at a young age , and was raised by his uncle , Dr. Pleasant James Riley Edwards . In 1836 , he moved with his uncle to Cleveland , Tennessee , where his uncle became a prominent physician , and would eventually be elected mayor . The younger Edwards would later recall spending much of his childhood " fishing , hunting and playing with the Indian boys of the Ocoee district , " and remembered the departure of his Cherokee friends on the Trail of Tears as one of the " saddest " days of his life . In the early 1840s , Edwards attended Cleveland 's Oak Grove Academy
Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears
Richard M. Edwards