The Dark Places of the Earth

"And this also," said Marlow suddenly, "has been one of the dark places of the earth."

So here, too, SW Michigan, and the Pottawatomie removal, what they call the "Trail of Death."

The "removal" took place in 1838. There is a remarkable journal of the escorting military officer. What does his journal have in common with the voices we hear in Heart of Darkness? Here is one entry:

Monday 1st Oct. Early in the morning we left Island Grove - traveled over a dry prairie country, 17 miles, we reached our encampment near Jacksonville at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Nothing occurred during our march except a child fell from a wagon and was much crushed by the wheels running over it. It is thought the child will die. Tonight some of the chiefs reported 2 runaways who left this morning. During the evening we were much perplexed by the curiosity of visitors, to many of who the sight of an emigration or body of Indians is as great a rarity as a traveling caravan of wild animals. Late at night the camp was complimented by serenade from Jacksonville Band.

Richard Taylor has created a website with the history of the Pottawatomie removal from SW Michigan and Northern Indiana.
Does Kurtz' judgment fall here as well?

I saw on that ivory face the expression of somber pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror--of an intense and hopeless despair.

What horrors form the basis, are fulfilled now daily in the continuation, of your and my 'civilization'?