"Cherokee Retracement at Pea Ridge National Military Park, Garfield, Arkansas" by NPS , public domain
Trail of Tears
National Historic Trail - AL,AR,GA,IL,KY,MO,NC,OK,TN
The Trail of Tears was a series of forced relocations of approximately 60,000 Native Americans in the United States from their ancestral homelands in the Southeastern United States, to areas to the west of the Mississippi River that had been designated as Indian Territory. The forced relocations were carried out by government authorities following the passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830. The relocated peoples suffered from exposure, disease, and starvation while en route to their new designated reserve, and approximately 4,000 died before reaching their destinations or shortly after from disease. The forced removals included members of the Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek), Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations, as well as their African slaves.
Official Visitor Map of Trail of Tears National Historic Trail (NHT) in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
Georgia Map and Guide to Trail Of Tears National Historic Trail (NHT) in AL, AR, GA, IL, KY, MO, NC, OK, TN. Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
North Carolina Map and Guide to Trail Of Tears National Historic Trail (NHT) in AL, AR, GA, IL, KY, MO, NC, OK, TN. Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
Tennessee Map and Guide to Trail Of Tears National Historic Trail (NHT) in AL, AR, GA, IL, KY, MO, NC, OK, TN. Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
https://www.nps.gov/abli/index.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail_of_Tears
The Trail of Tears was a series of forced relocations of approximately 60,000 Native Americans in the United States from their ancestral homelands in the Southeastern United States, to areas to the west of the Mississippi River that had been designated as Indian Territory. The forced relocations were carried out by government authorities following the passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830. The relocated peoples suffered from exposure, disease, and starvation while en route to their new designated reserve, and approximately 4,000 died before reaching their destinations or shortly after from disease. The forced removals included members of the Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek), Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations, as well as their African slaves.
Remember and commemorate the survival of the Cherokee people, forcefully removed from their homelands in Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee to live in Indian Territory, now Oklahoma. They traveled by foot, horse, wagon, or steamboat in 1838-1839.
You can visit many of the sites along the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail over the 2,200+ mile route that crosses 9 states.
Chieftain's Museum, Rome, Georgia
large white house, green lawn, two trees in front
The museum tells the story of Major Ridge, the influential Ridge family including prominent son John Ridge, Cherokee history, and the Trail of Tears, as well as subsequent history of the home and region.
Brown's Ferry Tavern, Chattanooga, Tennessee
structure in the background with large chimney on the end; signs saying Brown's Ferry Tavern
Cherokee leader John Brown, who owned 640 acres in this area, ordered the construction of Browns Ferry Tavern in 1803. In 1838, the road running past this structure was the route by which several Cherokee detachments were removed to present-day Oklahoma.
Mantle Rock Preserve, Joy, Kentucky
sunlight coming through trees with green leaves
Thousands of Cherokee camped for weeks along the main (northern) route, near Mantle Rock, during the winter of 1838-39 as they waited for ice conditions in the Ohio River to allow a safe crossing.
Cherokee Retracement at Pea Ridge National Military Park, Garfield, Arkansas
dozens of people walk a section of the Trail of Tears, winter scene, trees with no leaves
The Pea Ridge National Military Park encompasses 4,300 acres and features a visitor center, museum, self-guided tours, reconstructed Elkhorn Tavern, and a retracement trail along a 2.5-mile original route segment of the Trail of Tears.
Grave Stone of William Adair, Stilwell, Oklahoma
gravestone with words etched, green grass
When the Cherokee arrived at their prescribed disbandment depot in Oklahoma, settlements sprang up nearby. There was a depot at the Adair's farm near present-day Stilwell, Oklahoma.
Crabb Abbott Farm, Grantsburg, Illinois
Two people walk a remnant of the Trail of Tears. Spring setting with green leafed trees.
Crabb Abbott Farm has segments of the Northern Route, including the rock crossing and ford of Sugar Creek. These segments are contiguous with trail segments on the adjacent Shawnee National Forest.
Webbers Falls - "really a beautiful fall"
Geography impacted Indian Removal and arrival into Indian Territory. Cherokee traveling on the water route went by steamboat which usually pushed or pulled a flat boat. Waterways in the 1830s were not maintained as they are today. Learn why Webbers Falls was a landing point.
Historic photograph of a steamboat on a river pushing a barge or flat boat
Webbers Falls - Old Settlers, New Homeland
Cherokee moved west of the Mississippi River decades before what is now known as the Trail of Tears. Early Cherokee settlers recognized the reality of white demand for land in the southeastern United States and moved west to Arkansas, only to relocate again following a coerced treaty in 1828. By the time of Cherokee removal, Indian Territory (today’s eastern Oklahoma) was a complex quilt of land patents for diverse American Indian groups removed from their homelands.
Historic portrait of Chief John Jolly
Webbers Falls - Last Stop for the Last Detachment
Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, was the landing place for the final detachment of Cherokee into Indian Territory in 1839. The town was already settled by Cherokee who had moved much earlier than the Cherokee forcefully removed in 1838-1839 on the Trail of Tears. The site demonstrates how geography impacted Indian Removal and how the Cherokee rebuilt their nation in a new land.
Historic map showing Trail of Tears sites on the border of Oklahoma and Arkansas
Trail Itineraries in Arkansas
Cherokee on the Trail of Tears passed through Arkansas on their way to Indian Country, today's Arkansas. This itinerary guides you along one of the routes in northwest Arkansas.
What Happened on the Trail of Tears?
In May 1838, the Cherokee removal process began. U.S. Army troops, along with various state militia, moved into the tribe’s homelands and forcibly evicted more than 16,000 Cherokee Indian people from their homelands in Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, and Georgia. They were first sent to so-called “round up camps,” and soon afterward to one of three emigration camps. Once there, the U.S. Army gave orders to move the Cherokee west.
A brown sign indicating the trail of tears, in a forest.
The Prequel: Women’s Suffrage Before 1848
Most suffrage histories begin in 1848, the year Elizabeth Cady Stanton convened a women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York. There, she unfurled a Declaration of Rights and Sentiments, seeking religious, educational and property rights for women – and the right to vote. While Seneca Falls remains an important marker in women’s suffrage history, in fact women had been agitating for this basic right of citizenship even before the first stirrings of the Revolution.
drawing of a group of women in front of a counter
Series: On Their Shoulders: The Radical Stories of Women's Fight for the Vote
These articles were originally published by the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission (WSCC) as a part of the WSCC blog, The Suff Buffs. The Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission was created by Congress to commemorate 100 years of the 19th Amendment throughout 2020 and to ensure the untold stories of women’s battle for the ballot continue to inspire Americans for the next 100 years. In collaboration with the WSCC, the NPS is the forever home of these articles
Logo of the Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission
Become a Junior Ranger for National Historic Trails
Learn about the National Historic Trails and earn junior ranger badges! These activities can be completed virtually or after visiting a site along the National Historic Trails. Booklets can be submitted either electronically or by mail. Take a look and start exploring the trails today!
small photos of different trail sites with junior ranger badges.
Rivers, Rails & Roads: Transportation During the Cherokee Removal 1837 - 1839
The Trail of Tears involved mile after mile of hard travel through miserable conditions. Yet detachments bound for Indian Territory did more than just walk. Although time-honored methods like wagons, keelboats, flatboats, and ferries played major roles, some of the technology used to transport Cherokees on the Trail of Tears was actually quite new.
The image of a booklet cover with a dirt road running through a forest.
Trail of Tears: Trail Transformation
Check out the newly constructed trail at Blythe Ferry on the Trail of Tears NHT! The trail begins at the Cherokee Removal Memorial Park and leads to the historic Blythe Ferry landing site. This was the last time many of the Cherokee would be in their native lands as they were forced west. Once the Cherokee crossed the river they were no longer on their native land. The trail is approx. 1/4 mile long and of natural surface. Thank you to our partners for making this happen!
A gravel path winds through a forest.
Trail of Tears National Historic Trail Spring Newsletter 2021
Read the latest Trail of Tears NHT project updates and completions from the National Trails Office of the National Park Service (NPS).
National Historic Trails: Historical Routes of National Significance
Wondering about National Historic Trails? Check out this infographic with basic information about the trails, their purpose, and where you can go for more information!
Infographic about National Historic Trails featuring a map. Full description available at link.
Trail of Tears: Fayetteville Itinerary
Visit sites along the Trail of Tears in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Trail of Tears: Western Arkansas & Oklahoma Itinerary
Visit sites along the Trail of Tears through Western Arkansas and Oklahoma.
Trail of Tears National Historic Trail Fall Newsletter 2021
Read the Fall 2021 updates on the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail from the National Trails Office, Regions 6, 7, & 8.
Cave Springs and the Trail of Tears
Beaver Dam, in the area known today as Cave Spring, was the site of the most prominent instance of active Cherokee resistance to unauthorized white settlement on Cherokee land.
The front of an old wooden cabin, with a red front door and two windows.
Mantle Rock Preserve and the Trail of Tears
You can hike a portion of the Trail of Tears at The Nature Conservancy's Mantle Rock Preserve in Livingston County, Kentucky. The outdoor exhibits, featured here and available on the site, guide the retracement experience.
New Madrid and the Trail of Tears
The Cherokee on the water route of the Trail of Tears passed by New Madrid, Missouri, on their way to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). This information is available in exhibits, which are located on the levee in New Madrid.
Keelboats: Transportation During the Cherokee Removal 1837 - 1839
Between 1837 and 1839, four Cherokee detachments utilized eight keelboats for their journeys to Indian Territory Keelboats took their name from their construction— long, narrow boats built with a keel providing stability. They typically ranged from 40 to 80 feet long and 8 to 12 feet wide, and came to a point at the bow and stern When fully loaded, the average keelboat drew 2 feet of water, which made it ideal for travel in shallow waters.
A historic flat bottomed wooden boat with a mast, sitting on a river at a dock.
Flatboats: Transportation During the Cherokee Removal 1837 - 1839
Twenty-nine flatboats were used on the Hiwassee and Tennessee rivers to assist in the transportation of four Cherokee detachments to the West between 1837 and 1839. Flatboats were built commercially as early as the late 1780s and were one of the most common vernacular wooden boats used to transport people and cargo along the major southeastern rivers in the early 19th century.
Black and white image of a flat wooden boat on a river.
Ferries: Transportation During the Cherokee Removal 1837 - 1839
Before bridges were common, ferries played an important role in transportation as they provided conveyance over large streams and rivers. Ferry boats were most often flatboats with modifications such as sloping ramps attached to the front and back of the boat. These allowed the ferry to pull up to the bank to unload passengers and cargo directly onto the land.
Black and white image of a ferry boat on a river.
Introduction: Transportation During the Cherokee Removal 1837 - 1839
The Trail of Tears involved mile after mile of hard travel through miserable conditions. Yet detachments bound for Indian Territory did more than just walk. Although time-honored methods like wagons, keelboats, flatboats, and ferries played major roles, some of the technology used to transport Cherokees on the Trail of Tears was actually quite new.
The Tuscumbia, Courtland & Decatur Railroad: Transportation During the Cherokee Removal 1837 - 1839
On March 7, 1837, the first of three Cherokee detachments, consisting of approximately 466 individuals, arrived in Decatur. As a crowd of spectators looked on, the following morning the Cherokee began boarding the first of two trains to take them to Tuscumbia. Unfortunately, this next leg of the journey did not go as planned. Learn more about the Tuscumbia, Courtland & Decatur Railroads that were used on the Trail of Tears.
Historic railroad car.
Early 19th Century Roads and Turnpikes: Transportation During the Cherokee Removal 1837 - 1839
The majority of Cherokee traveled overland on foot during their forced removal to Indian Territory, with some traveling on horses and in wagons. The detachments used a network of well-known, established roads that linked major towns and settlements. Learn more about early 19th century roads and turnpikes that were used on the Trail of Tears.
Highly eroded road bank sits below towering trees.
Steamboats: Transportation During the Cherokee Removal 1837 - 1839
From 1837 to 1839, nine different steamboats were employed to assist in the transportation of Cherokee detachments in reaching Indian Territory. These steamboats included the Knoxville, Newark, Revenue, Smelter, Little Rock, George Guess, Tecumseh, Itasca, and Victoria. Several of these steamboats were also used in the removal of the Muscogee (Creek), Chickasaw, and Seminole.
A drawing of a historic steamboat.
Series: Transportation During the Cherokee Removal 1837 - 1839
The Trail of Tears involved mile after mile of hard travel through miserable conditions. Yet detachments bound for Indian Territory did more than just walk. Although time-honored methods like wagons, keelboats, flatboats, and ferries played major roles, some of the technology used to transport Cherokees on the Trail of Tears was actually quite new.
A person walks through a large swale that sits below and alongside towering trees.
Wagons, Carriages, and Carryalls: Transportation During the Cherokee Removal 1837 - 1839
While the majority of Cherokee walked on the Trail of Tears due to an insufficient number of horses, oxen, and wagons, animal-powered wooden vehicles were still a constant presence on the trail and played an important role in the removal by carrying goods, the elderly, and the sick. Although vehicles helped in these roles, they required regular maintenance. Poor roads and difficult terrain, worsened by inclement weather, took a toll on the vehicles.
Historic wooden, covered wagon.
The Zuraw Wagon: Transportation During the Cherokee Removal 1837 - 1839
The Zuraw Wagon, located at the Foxfire Museum & Heritage Center in Rabun County, Georgia, is not a wagon type, but the name of a specific wagon used during the Cherokee removal. It is the last remaining documented wagon with ties to the Trail of Tears.
Historic wooden wagon.
Transportation During the Cherokee Removal 1837 - 1839
The Trail of Tears involved mile after mile of hard travel through miserable conditions. Yet detachments bound for Indian Territory did more than just walk. Although time-honored methods like wagons, keelboats, flatboats, and ferries played major roles, some of the technology used to transport Cherokees on the Trail of Tears was actually quite new.
A trail through a wooded forest.
Things to Do in Missouri
Find things to do, trip ideas, and more in Missouri.
Purple flowers bloom on a grass-covered landscape under a partly cloudy sky.
Things to Do in Illinois
Find things to do, trip ideas, and more in Illinois.
A light orange two story home containing many windows with green shutters.
Things to Do in Arkansas
Find things to do and trip ideas in Arkansas.
Front of a high school made of brown brick that rises to a high point in the middle with stairways.
Series: Things to Do in the Midwest
There is something for everyone in the Midwest. See what makes the Great Plains great. Dip your toes in the continent's inland seas. Learn about Native American heritage and history. Paddle miles of scenic rivers and waterways. Explore the homes of former presidents. From the Civil War to Civil Rights, discover the stories that shape our journey as a nation.
Steep bluff with pink sky above and yellow leaves below.
The Resource Stewardship Scout Ranger Program Brings BSA Scouts and National Parks Together
To connect more youth to their local communities, NPS created the Resource Stewardship Scout Ranger Program in partnership with the Boy Scouts of America, which welcomes boys, girls, and young adults to participate. Through this program, BSA Scouts and Cub Scouts can earn award certificates and may also receive a patch. Learn more in this article.
William Kai, a Cub Scout, holds up his Resource Stewardship Scout Ranger Certificate Award
Trail of Tears National Historic Trail Spring Newsletter 2022
Read the Spring 2022 updates on the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail from the National Trails Office, Regions 6, 7, & 8.
Trail of Tears National Historic Trail Fall Newsletter 2022
Read the Fall 2022 updates on the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail from the National Trails Office, Regions 6, 7, & 8.
"Fall 2022" on a picture of a building with a green lawn.
Cave Spring Exhibits Audio Description
Wayside Exhibits for The Trail of Tears at Cave Spring Georgia
Two wayside panels side by side installed in Cave Spring Georgia
Columbus Belmont State Park Kentucky Waysides
Wayside exhibits for Trail of Tears at Columbus Belmont State Park, Kentucky.
Cherokee Garden Exhibits Audio Description
Wayside exhibit "Powerful Plants" in the Cherokee Garden at the Green Meadows Preserve in Powder Springs, Georgia
Trail of Tears National Historic Trail Spring Newsletter 2023
Read the Spring 2023 updates on the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail from the National Trails Office, Regions 6, 7, & 8.
An image of a virtual newsletter with pictures and text.
Trail of Tears: Missouri, Illinois, & Kentucky Itinerary
Visit sites in Missouri, Illinois, and Kentucky along the different routes of the forced removal on the Trail of Tears.
Trail of Tears: Alabama Itinerary
Cherokee removals through Alabama included water route detachments. Removal by water on steamboat and flatboat proved to be very hard for the Indians with hundreds of lives lost. The Bell Detachment of 660 Cherokee also passed through northeast Alabama in late 1838.
Trail of Tears: Georgia Itinerary
The Cherokee homelands include Georgia. Most of the sites relate to the round up routes along which the Cherokee were forcibly removed to camps. Most Cherokee are moved into 11 removal camps—10 in Tennessee and one in Alabama. The round ups were the start of an 800-mile journey. Other sites in Georgia showcase elements of Cherokee life or environment in the homelands.
Trail of Tears: Tennessee Itinerary
Cherokee were assigned to detachments that were organized by military or Cherokee leaders. The first three military-led detachments left on the water route, but disease, desertions, and fatalities caused Cherokee leaders to request permission to organize their own removal detachments and travel overland. You can visit several of the departure locations.
Trail of Tears: Paducah Area Itinerary
Visit sites in the Paducah, Kentucky area.
National Trails Coloring Pages
Stretching for 28,000 miles over 26 states, the national historic trails are home to many different animals. Learn more about the trails and the animals that people encountered with these great coloring pages. This is fun for all ages, just download, print, and color!
Coloring page with outline of a deer fawn.
Trail of Tears at Pea Ridge National Military Park
Records show that 10,370 Cherokee traveled on the Trail of Tears through what became Pea Ridge National Military Park. Learn more about the history of the trail at the park.
Reflecting on 55 years of the National Trails System Act: A Journey Through the Establishment of National Scenic and Historic Trails
In celebration of the 55th anniversary of the National Trails System Act, learn more about these significant trails and their history.
Trail of Tears: Northwest Arkansas Itinerary
Explore sites on the Old Wire Road Itinerary which helps the public explore Trail of Tears in northwest Arkansas. Each site features one aspect or story about the Cherokee experience traveling the Trail of Tears in this area as they approach the end of their journey and arrive in Indian Territory (today’s Oklahoma).
Trail of Tears National Historic Trail Fall Newsletter 2023
Read the Fall 2023 updates on the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail from the National Trails Office, Regions 6, 7, & 8.
Black background, white text, "Trail of Tears Newsletter Fall 2023"
Cadron Settlement Park Exhibits Audio Description
Interested in the Trail of Tears at Cadron Settlement Park? Take a look at these interpretive exhibits and listen to their audio descriptions.
Wayside interpretive exhibit, full audio description is available.
North Shore Riverwalk Park Exhibit Audio Description
Interested in the Trail of Tears at North Shore Riverwalk Park? Take a look at this interpretive exhibit and listen to the audio description.
Trail of Tears: Arkansas River Water Route Itinerary
You can visit multiple Water Route sites on the Arkansas River by following the "Follow the Arkansas River, Retrace the Trail of Tears" itinerary. Each site features one aspect or story about the Cherokee and Creek experience traveling the Trail of Tears by water, highlighting the challenges and complexities that arose daily on the Arkansas River.
Painting depicting a Cherokee Indian man standing on a keel boat being towed by a steamboat.
Trail of Tears Commemorative Park Exhibits Audio Description
Interested in the Trail of Tears in Hopkinsville? Take a look at these interpretive exhibits and listen to their audio descriptions.
Wayside interpretive exhibit, full audio description is available.
Trail of Tears: Remember the Removal Bike Ride
The Remember the Removal Bike Ride is a Cherokee Nation program connecting youth with their culture as they bike 950 miles following the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail. Learn more about this event through the personal experience of Amaiya Bearpaw, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and a bike rider on the 2023 team.
Bike riders in formation on a road.
Guide to the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) Southeast Region Collection
This finding aid describes the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) Southest Region Collection, part of the NPS History Collection.
N ational Park Service
U.S. D epartm ent o f th e Interior
... the government
might more mercifully
have put to death
everyone under a year
or over sixty; rather it
had chosen a most
expensive and painful
Trail o f Tears N ational Historic Trail
Tennessee, N orth Carolina,
Georgia, A labam a, Kentucky, Illinois,
Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahom a
way of exterminating
these poor people.
—Missionary Daniel Butrick
Cherokee Nation
The Removal Act
The Gathering Storm
Cherokee Trail of Tears
A Nation Renewed
A traveler through the southern Appalachians realizes
that something is missing from the forested mountains
and cascading streams. The people who once lived
here no longer work the land or hunt the forests. Ihcir
spirits remain and their language is on the landscape,
but most of them are gone. Where did they go? Do
they survive? The answers are on the Trail of Tears.
From the time Europeans arrived in the New World,
they struggled with how to live alongside native people.
In 1803 Thomas Jefferson became the first president
to publicly support removing Indians, and for the next
25 years eastern tribes were forced west. Some of the
Cherokee (known as the 'Old Settlers”) moved west on
their own to distance themselves from the expanding
American republic.
On the heels of the Indian Removal Act, government
agents descended on the southeastern native peoples.
One by one the tribes were removed. Agents coerced
Choctaw chiefs in Mississippi to sign the first removal
treaty, and in late 1831 the tribe was quickly moved to
Indian Territory—present-day Oklahoma.
Most Cherokee refused to recognize the Treaty of New
Echota: few had moved after two years. In the spring of
1838,7,000 soldiers under Gen. Winfield Scott moved
against the Cherokee Nation. The removal effort begun
in Georgia, where Cherokee families were uprooted and
driven—sometimes at bayonet point—to "round-up"
camps, then concentrated in larger removal camps.
Weak and traumatized, 17 detachments of Cherokee
arrived in Indian Territory in 1838 and 1839. The treaty
strife and the harsh removal had also divided the
Cherokee into three factions: pro-treaty, anti-treuty,
and the “Old Settlers."
In the 1600s about 25,000 Cherokee lived on lands
stretching from the Ohio River to northern Georgia. But
European diseases devastated the Cherokee throughout
the 1700s, and by 1819 Americans' unquenchable thirst
for land had whittled away Cherokee lands—down to
10 percent of their original territory.
Events accelerated after Andrew Jackson was elected
president in 1828. In 1830 Congress passed the Indian
Removal Act, providing "for an exchange of lands with
the Indians residing in any of the states or territories,
and for their removal west of the river Mississippi.”
Meanwhile the state of Georgia, home to the Cherokee,
passed laws prohibiting them from conducting tribal
business, testifying against whites, and mining for gold.
Still, they endured. Cherokee Sacred Fire—rekindled
each spring in the New l ire Ceremony and the source of
every home fire—shone over a unified Cherokee Nation.
Adopting many of the political and economic features
of the United States, they drafted a constitution, estab
lished their own courts, and created a written language.
As a symbol of their revival, their newspaper was named
the Cherokee Phoenix, after the mythical bird reborn
of fire. The Cherokee people had shaped a stable and
prosperous life—one envied by their white neighbors.
The Cherokee Nation, though, had produced leaders well
versed in the VS legal system, leaders who fought back.
In Worcester v. Georgia the US Supreme Court, headed
by Chief Justice John Marshall, ruled in 1832 that the
Cherokee held sovereign land rights. President Jackson
openly dismissed the ruling. The Cherokee were running
out of options.
The government removed most Muscogee Creeks, manyin chains, from .Alabama and Georgia to Indian Territory
by 1836. The Chickasaw, whose homeland had once
stretched from Tennessee to Arkansas and Illinois,
were taken away by the end of 1837. The Seminóles
fiercely resisted removal from their Florida homeland
but, after great losses in the Seminole Wars, some 4,000
people were deported to Indian Territory by 1842.
In June the army loaded Cherokee onto flatboats that
traveled the Tennessee. Ohio, Mississippi, and Arkansas
rivers to Indian Territory. The first boat reached its
goal in 13 days, but desertions and fatalities plagued the
next two groups. Diseases raged through the cramped,
poorly-supplied boats.
The Cherokee resisted removal and looked to their
leadcrs to sway American political opinion. Still, 20 tribal
members, led by Major Ridge and acting outside the
authority of the Cherokee government, signed the Treaty
of New l-xhota in 1835. The conditions for removal were
set: In exchange for $5 million the tribe would relocate
to Indian Territory. Though the majority of Cherokee
protested the agreement, by May 1836 Congress made
it law. The treaty gave the
Connected to the Landscape
Assertion of Power
Culture Clash
…forward with their bayonets.
Cherokee Expelled
distant thunder fell upon my ear. In
The Cherokee people flourished across the fertile
landscape of northwest Georgia. Sandstonecapped mountains, narrow valleys, and ridges
offered rich soils for farming and vast forests
provided plentiful food as well as oak and hickory
for housing, boats, and tools. A lifetime of
knowledge of vegetation, animals, insects, birds,
reptiles, and amphibians helped Cherokee to
create everything from wasp soup and bloodroot
dye to sassafras tea and turtle-shell rattles.
Georgia moved first to remove Indians. In 1802,
the Compact of Georgia relinquished the state’s
claims to lands west of the Chattahoochee River
in return for the federal government’s pledge to
remove all Indians from the state as soon as it
could be done practicably and peacefully.
Most Cherokee refused to recognize the Treaty of
New Echota and instead relied on their leaders to
sway American political opinion in their favor. In
the spring of 1838, they started work in their fields
just as they had done for generations.
The roundup of the Georgia Cherokee proceeded
swiftly. Troops knew where Cherokee families
lived and how many were in each household. The
Georgia militia had constructed 14 roundup forts
and camps to take thousands of innocent people
as prisoners.
All told, it took 20 days to round up the
Cherokee people from home and hearth and
march them to camps where they slept on bare
ground—adjacent to the forts that had been built
for the soldiers and their supplies.
almost an exact western direction
a dark spiral cloud was rising
above the horizon and sent forth a
murmur. I almost fancied a voice of
divine indignation for the wrongs of
my poor and unhappy countrymen,
driven by brutal power from all they
loved and cherished in the land of
their fathers, to gratify the cravings
of avarice.
-Cherokee leader William Shorey Coodey
Their culture thrived—but so much about their
world was changing. Beginning in the mid-18th
century, encroachment of white people from
the East led to food sources disappearing. Deer,
turkey, bison, and elk populations dramatically
dwindled from overhunting and loss of habitat
due to the establishment of farms and pastures.
Road building interrupted game trails and
diminished coveted bird nesting sites.
While the Cherokee continued to gather foods,
medicines, and materials from their local
landscapes, they also began raising cattle, goats,
sheep, and pigs—and cleared land for peach
orchards and other agriculture. Settlements
changed from compact villages to towns
sprawled along rivers, resembling European-style
communities.
The Indian Removal Act, passed by Congress
in 1830, provided an exchange of land with
the Indians that would move them west of the
Mississippi River. By the mid-1830s, the Choctaw,
Creek, and Chickasaw had arrived in Indian
Territory (present-day Oklahoma).
In December 1835, a small group of unauthorized
Cherokee tribal members (known as the Treaty
Party) signed the Treaty of New Echota agreeing
to be removed to the West. Even though most
Cherokee signed a petition against the agreement,
the conditions for removal were set.
In the early spring of 1838, federal troops
supported by Georgia militia began filtering
into the Cherokee Nation to set up military forts
as staging areas to launch the Indian removal.
Georgians had waited 36 long years to claim
Cherokee land.
But on May 10, 1838, Major General Winfield Scott
issued a dramatic proclamation that would forever
change Cherokee lives:
Cherokees! The President of the United States has sent
me with a powerful army, to cause you…to join…
your people…on the other side of the Mississippi…
Will you then, by resistance, compel us to resort to
arms? God forbid! I am an old warrior, and have been
present at many a scene of slaughter; but spare me, I
beseech you, the horror of witnessing the destruction of
the Cherokees.
William Cotter, aide to the soldiers, observed:
After all the warning and with the soldiers in their
midst, the inevitable day appointed found the Indians
at work in their houses and in their fields. …two or
three dropped their hoes and ran as fast as they could
when they saw the soldiers coming into the field. The
men handled them gently, but picked them up in the
road, in the field, anywhere they found them, part of a
family at a time, and carried them to the post [fort].
Cherokee memories are starkly different.
Ooloo-Cha, widow of Sweet Water:
The soldiers came and took us from our home. They
first surrounded our house and they took the mare
while we were at work in the fields and they drove us
out of doors and did not permit us to take anything
with us, not even a second change of clothes. They…
drove us off to a fort that was built at New Echota.
Reverend Daniel S. Butrick ran a mission near
Rome and was an eyewitness to the events:
Thus in two or three days about 8,000 people,
man
Western Carolina University
Trail of Tears Association
Trail of Tears National Historic Trail
National Park Service
When I saw them, men, women
Cherokee Homeland
Forts and Roads
Doorstep Deportation
Resistance in the Mountains
A Persistent People
and children, moving along thro'
Before the arrival of Europeans, the mountain
region of what is today western North Carolina
had long been the center of the Cherokee
homeland. Here Cherokee built their towns and
farmed the valleys formed by the Tuckasegee,
Little Tennessee, Hiwassee, and other rivers.
The US Army and state militias built forts and
roads in the Cherokee Nation to gather and
forcibly remove a nation of people, over 15,000
Cherokee, 3,500 of whom lived in North Carolina.
In early 1838, army commanders viewed western
North Carolina as a hotbed of Cherokee resistance.
Rather than revolt, the Cherokee simply ignored
the mandate to be removed and went about planting
crops and building homes. In early June Capt. L. B.
Webster noted, There are about six thousand in our
neighborhood… They all remain quietly at work on
their little farms… They sell us very cheap anything
they have to spare, and look upon the regular troops as
their friends… These are innocent and simple people
into whose homes we are to obtrude ourselves…
Though the majority of North Carolina
Cherokee submitted to forced removal, several
hundred disappeared into remote sections of the
mountains, becoming fugitives in their native
land. The mountain terrain made locating these
refugees very difficult. One officer reported,
After three weeks of the most arduous and fatiguing
duty, traveling the country in every direction,
searching the mountains on foot in every point
where Indians could be heard of we [have] not been
able to get sight of a single one. The Cherokee's
precise knowledge of the mountains and their
communication network flummoxed the soldiers,
rendering all attempts to capture them futile.
Cherokee living at Quallatown on the Oconaluftee
River successfully demanded exemption from
removal under provisions in earlier treaties
between the Cherokee Nation and the United
States. Known as the Luftee or Citizen Indians, this
group eventually coalesced with their neighbors
and kinspeople who managed to avoid capture
during removal. They formed the Eastern Band of
Cherokee Indians.
the valley towards the far west, . . .
I could not help but think that some
fearful retribution would yet come
upon us from this much impugned
race. The scene seemed to be more
like a distempered dream, or
something worthy of the dark ages
than like a present reality; but it
was too true.
-The Diary of Lieutenant John Phelps,
June 22, 1838
This region holds some of the most significant
and sacred Cherokee places, such as Kituwah,
considered the mother town of the Cherokee and
a site of great religious, cultural, and historical
importance. Today these mountains are still the
home of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians,
descendants of those who sacrificed tremendously
to remain in their ancestral southeastern lands.
Removal Decree Sets the Stage
As early as 1803 President Thomas Jefferson
supported voluntary Indian removal. But it wasn’t
until Andrew Jackson was elected president in
1828 that events accelerated. In 1830 Congress
passed the Indian Removal Act, which mandated
that the Indian tribes move to new lands west of
the Mississippi.
Trail of Tears
North Carolina Map and Guide
What happened in 1835 outraged most of
the Cherokee Nation—a small number of
unauthorized Cherokee tribal members signed
the Treaty of New Echota, accepting $5 million
to leave their ancestral lands and move to Indian
Territory. The stage was set for Cherokee removal.
In order to facilitate the brutal work of collection,
imprisonment, and deportation of thousands of
people, the US government tallied the number of
Cherokee in each community and surveyed roads
and trails. The Unicoi Turnpike, established
in 1816, supplied an easy removal path as it
ran through northern Georgia, western North
Carolina, and eastern Tennessee.
Fort Butler had been established in 1836 to
keep order after the ratification of the Treaty of
New Echota. Two years later, the army quickly
constructed four more forts in the surrounding area.
In 1837 the North Carolina legislature approved
construction of the Great State Road between
Franklin and Fort Butler to expedite the sale and
settlement of Cherokee lands. During the spring
of 1838 the Old Army Road, stretching between
Andrews and Robbinsville, was improved in 10
days from a Cherokee foot path to a wagon road.
From these collection points and conduit paths,
all of the North Carolina Cherokee captured by
the army were funneled through Fort Butler.
Fort Butler included a blockhouse, palisade, barracks, a hospital, and other buildings. Sketch of Fort Butler, ca. 1837
When the troops began their deportation operations
on June 12, Lt. John Phelps said, …seven companies
of us marched thither… By
In 1835, a minority of Cherokee leaders, acting outside
the authority of the Cherokee government, signed the
Treaty of New Echota. This treaty set the conditions for
removal: In exchange for $5 million, the tribe would
relocate to the West. Most Cherokee protested the
Treaty, but in 1838, in an event known as the Trail of
Tears, over 15,000 Cherokee were forced from their
homes, many at the hands of federal troops and state
militia. During the process many families became
separated, never to see their loved ones again. The
journey that lay ahead of them would test the strength
and will of each man, woman, and child traveling west
to unfamiliar land.
At the time the Treaty of
New Echota was signed,
southeast Tennessee was
not only the location of
the seat of the Cherokee
government in Red Clay,
but also the home of
about 2,500 Cherokee.
Prominent leaders Hair
Principal Chief John Ross
Conrad, James Brown,
1828-1866
Jesse Bushyhead, Lewis
Ross, and Principal Chief John Ross all had homes
in Tennessee. They lived in communities scattered
across the hills and valleys and along the rivers and
creeks. Most Cherokee farmed the fertile soils. Some
owned prosperous plantations, stores, taverns,
and ferries. Throughout the years, several mission
schools, such as Brainerd, near Chattanooga,
provided a place for Cherokee children to learn to
read and write in English and to attend Christian
church services. In many respects, Cherokee
The Tennessee Trail of Tears story is one of removal
camps and detachment routes. Cherokee driven from
their homes in Georgia and North Carolina arrived
in Tennessee, where they waited to be organized
into “detachments” to take them to Indian Territory
(present-day Oklahoma), a home they never wanted.
Even so, Tennessee’s legacy today remains rich in
Cherokee culture.
Tennessee
Trail of Tears
The “Sun Circle”
at Ross’s Landing,
Chattanooga
Artwork by Harry Fenn
The circular Cherokee design
to the left symbolizes the
holy sun in the form of sacred
fire sent by the Creator. The
central cross depicts the four
logs that keep the sacred
fire alive. It is said that the
Cherokee will survive as long
as the sacred fire burns.
Ferry at Chattanooga
In 1816, brothers John and Lewis Ross established the
settlement of Ross’s Landing. It consisted of a ferry,
warehouse, and ferry landing site
We are now about to take our final leave
and kind farewell to our native land the
country that the Great Spirit gave our
Fathers, we are on the eve of leaving
that Country that gave us birth.
It is the land of our fathers…our sons,
and it is (with sorrow) that we are
forced by the authority of the white man
to quit the scenes of our childhood, but
stern necessity says we must go, and we
bid a final farewell to it and all we hold
dear East of the Father of Waters, the
Majestic Mississippi.
Traveling through Tennessee
The detachment of the people are very loth [sic] to go on, and
unusually slow in preparing for starting each morning. I am
not surprised at this because they are moving not from choice
to an unknown region not desired by them.
Fort Cass
1838 historic map of the Fort Cass area
Highlighted in blue are the removal camps that were spread
across the valley.
communities did not differ much from those of their
American neighbors. In 1838, though, Cherokee life
was about to change.
Beginning in late May 1838, thousands of Cherokee,
enslaved African Americans, and Creek were taken
from their homes by troops and held at removal
camps near one of three emigrating depots. Two of
these camps were located in the vicinity of Cherokee
communities in Tennessee: Ross’s Landing, now
known as Chattanooga, and Fort Cass in presentday Charleston. During removal, Fort Cass served as
the center for the largest emigrating depot. Removal
camps in this area were spread out over a 12- by
4-mile area, extending from Charleston southward.
Approximately 7,000 Cherokees were held at these
camps prior to their departure to Indian Territory, but
poor conditions at the camps led to rapid outbreaks
of disease, and many perished before the journey
began. How many more families would lose their
loved ones before reaching their new homes?
—Detachment Conductor Elijah Hicks,
October 24, 1838
The Cherokee used many different routes to reach their
new home in the West—most started in Tennessee. In
June, three groups of Cherokee left Ross’s landing to
begin their journey to Indian Territory. Dire conditions,
disease, and deaths plagued the last two groups. As a
result, Principal Chief John Ross and other Cherokee
leaders petitioned the US government to allow the
Cherokee to control the remainder of their removal.
Permission was granted and the remaining Cherokee
were organized into detachments of about 1,000 each.
MTSU Center for Historic Preservation
Cherokee Communities to Removal Camps
Museum of the Cherokee Indian
MTSU Center for Historic Preservation
Toby Darden Road
Tennessee Greenways and Trails
MTSU Center for Histo