Trail of Tears

At the beginning of the 1830s, over 100,000 Native Americans lived in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, and North Carolina. However, in the 1840s, most of the Native Americans lived somewhere else. What happened to them? Where did they go and why?

Fig. 1: Elizabeth Betsy Brown Stephens, a survivor of the Trail of Tears.

Trail of Tears Timeline

Fig. 2: Trail of Tears Map.

Trail of Tears Background

In the late 1820s, white Americans in the south demanded the resettlement of the indigenous people who lived on the land west of the Mississippi. White settlers had wanted the land of the indigenous people for growing crops such as cotton. Not only did they want it, but they believed that they deserved it. However, indigenous people did want to leave their land.

By the 1830s, there were over 100,000 Native Americans living on millions of acres in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, and Florida.

• Cherokees and Creeks like in Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama.
• Chickasaws and Choctaws lived in Mississippi and Alabama.
• Seminoles in Florida.

By the 1840s, there were very few Native Americans residing on the east coast.

In America's early days, the American government had believed that the best way to deal with the indigenous people was to convert and civilize them. Many of the tribes in the southwest learned to read and speak English, converted to Christianity, and adopted practices like land ownership (including the ownership of slaves). The tribes who did this were viewed as civilized by many Americans

As more white settlers came to the area, the more valuable native land became to those settlers who wanted it for growing crops.

Between 1816 and 1840, tribes between the original states and Mississippi signed more than 40 treaties to cede their land to the US government.

Andrew Jackson crafted a policy of Indian removal and discussed it in his inaugural address. In 1830 Congress passed the Indian Removal Act to force the rest of the indigenous people still living on their native land into a reservation.

As it became apparent that the white settlers were desperate for their land-and desperate enough to be dangerous-the Cherokee people had a debate to settle amongst themselves. Do they make some concessions and trade money for land? Do they fight for their land?

The Trail of Tears

When you hear the word trail, you may imagine a single, earthen route in the woods.

This isn't exactly what the Trail of Tears was. The phrase Trail of Tears describes both a historical event and a description of a route the relocated Native Americans took traveling to Indian Territory (what is now modern-day Oklahoma). It is both the what and the where of this historical concept.

Fig. 3: An Intact Portion of the Trail of Tears.

What is the Trail of Tears?

The phrase Trail of Tears describes a series of forced relocations of native tribes in a twenty-year span of time between 1830 and 1850. Native American tribes from the south and southeast were moved to Indian Territory, which is now the state of Oklahoma. The United States government forced the majority of the tribes to sign a treaty before forcing them to leave their tribal lands.

The United States used the 1830 Indian Removal Act as a legal impetus for removing the indigenous people from their land.

While the Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, and Seminole tribes were relocated at this point, the phrase Trail of Tears is primarily used to describe the forced relocation of the Cherokee tribe.

The Cherokee and the Trail of Tears

Fig. 4: New Echota Historic Site.

In 1835, American government officials and a small group of Cherokee tribe representatives negotiated the Treaty of New Echota. The treaty essentially said that over 17,000 Cherokees had to resettle in the Indian Territory by May of 1838. The Cherokee people were given a hefty chunk of money and promised new land.

The American government was happy with this arrangement, but not all of the Cherokee people were happy. They felt like they had been poorly represented by the negotiating party. Over 10,000 people signed a petition against the treaty, but it happened regardless.

President Andrew Jackson signed the treaty and the state government of Georgia began to eliminate the legal rights of the Cherokee people.

The first group left in 1837, and more followed in 1838. The federal government imposed a deadline of May 1838, but by the time May came around, only a small amount of Cherokees had resettled. President Martin Van Buren ordered General Winfield Scott forcibly carry out the treaty.

Enforcing the treaty consisted of the American military rounding up over 14,000 Cherokee and mixed-race Cherokee people and forcibly marching them to Indian Territory. Federal soldiers to military forts to create larger groups called detachments for their journey west.

From here, the Cherokee people made a long journey west, both by land and by water.

Thousands of people died from starvation, exposure, and illnesses like whooping cough, dysentery, cholera, and typhus.

Fig. 5: Trail of Tears National Historic Trail.

The Physical Land Route

At the beginning of the Trail of Tears, the majority of the Cherokee people were living in Georgia. Cherokee people were assembled at a campsite named Rattlesnake Springs. Nearly 13,000 people left Rattlesnake Springs as they were being relocated to the Indian Territory.

From sites like Rattlesnake Springs, the Cherokee were driven to temporary holding locations for large groups. From there they would go to emigration depots in Tennesse and Alabama.

The removed Cherokee would then travel by either land or water westward to what is now Oklahoma.

The majority of the Cherokee people traveled by land. While some rode in wagons, the majority traveled on foot. It took the Cherokee people and the soldiers escorting them several months to travel.

The Cherokee that survived the trip left the trail at a disbandment site. From there they would start in the Indian Territory amongst others who had been forcibly relocated.

The American government had promised that the land in Indian territory would remain theirs, untouched by the government. However, they did not hold up their end of the bargain. Little bit by little bit, their land was encroached upon until it disappeared and Oklahoma became a state.

Consequences of the Trail of Tears

Thousands of indigenous people died during the journey west from starvation, exposure, and illness. Many of these people we old, very young, or ill in some way prior to the journey. More died later from the consequences of the forced relocation.

The relocation was completed in 1839. Once the relocated Cherokee made it to Indian Territory in Oklahoma, they struggled to start over in a new place.