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This infographic provides a map of the principal routes used during the Trail of Tears, the forced relocation during the 1830s of Native American peoples from their lands in the southeastern U.S. to lands reserved for them west of the Mississippi River. Those western lands, then designated as Indian Territory, later constituted most of the state of Oklahoma. In addition, the infographic presents statistics on the Trail of Tears and points out notable places and events along the routes.
At the top of the infographic are four blocks of statistics on the Trail of Tears. As one block notes, the U.S. Congress passed the Indian Removal Act in 1830. That legislation, which had been strongly advocated by President Andrew Jackson, authorized the federal government to negotiate treaties granting Native American peoples unsettled lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for their desirable lands within state borders (especially in the Southeast). In principle, the act provided for the peoples’ removal only by their free consent, but, in effect, the act opened the way for their removal by fraud, intimidation, and violence.
According to another statistic, the so-called Five Civilized Tribes, the most populous Native American nations affected, were the Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole. The remaining two blocks of statistics indicate that the land and water routes used by the Cherokee in 1838–39 totaled some 5,045 miles, or about 8,120 kilometers, and traversed what are now nine U.S. states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.
The infographic’s central visual is a map showing the routes of the Trail of Tears in 1838–39. It was by these routes that some 15,000 Cherokee were to set out for the West. Of that number, it is thought that about 4,000 died, having succumbed to hunger, exhaustion, cold, or disease, whether in removal camps in the East, on the westward journey itself, or during their first year in Indian Territory.
Each route is marked and labeled in a different color. There were three major land routes, with variations over certain stretches, on which Cherokee traveled primarily on foot or horseback or in wagons. There was also a water route, following portions of various rivers, on which Cherokee traveled mainly by flatboat or keelboat and steamboat. In addition, the map pinpoints and labels towns, forts, and other notable places on or near the routes. All these features overlay a map of present-day states, outlined and labeled in gray, through or near which the routes ran. In the lower right corner of the infographic is a small gray locator map of the 48 contiguous U.S. states as they now exist that shows the routes as purple lines running from the southeastern part of the country to the south-central part.
Marked in light brown at the eastern end of the main map are routes by which Cherokee were forcibly removed from their homes in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina and confined in stockades or camps to await their removal to Indian Territory. In northwestern Georgia the roundup routes ran through or near Fort Newnan, Calhoun, Rome, and Fort Cumming. A route in northeastern Alabama ran through Fort Payne. Other routes ran from the Fort Lindsay area in western North Carolina, just south of what is now Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and from Calhoun and Fort Cass (now in Charleston) in southeastern Tennessee. Some of the roundup routes converged at or near Ross’s Landing (now in Chattanooga), Tennessee. From that site and other collection points, groups of Cherokee would begin their westward journey.
Several hundred Cherokee evaded the roundup by hiding in the Great Smoky Mountains. Together with Cherokee who escaped from the Trail of Tears or Indian Territory and returned, these people eventually formed the Eastern Band of Cherokee and settled in an area centering on what is now Cherokee, North Carolina, just east of what became the national park.
The map shows the water route by which several groups of Cherokee traveled from southeastern Tennessee to what is now northeastern Oklahoma. This route, marked by a solid blue line, began on the Hiwassee River at Calhoun and Fort Cass and followed that river a short distance northwestward to join the Tennessee River at Blythe Ferry. The route then followed that river southwestward across the state to Ross’s Landing and what is now Guntersville, Alabama. From there it followed the Tennessee River westward across northern Alabama to Tuscumbia Landing and Waterloo Landing. It then followed the river northward across western Tennessee and Kentucky to the Ohio River. On the Ohio the route tended northwestward and then southwestward along the Kentucky-Illinois line to the Mississippi River. It then followed the Mississippi southwestward to Memphis, Tennessee. After turning onto the Arkansas River, the route tended northwestward across Arkansas to Little Rock and what is now Russellville and then westward to Van Buren and Fort Smith. From there it followed the Arkansas River into Indian Territory and continued westward to Fort Coffee. The route ended a short distance up the Grand River, west of the cabin where Sequoyah, the inventor of the Cherokee writing system, had already settled (now in Sallisaw, Oklahoma).
Other groups of Cherokee using the water route were compelled to travel overland along stretches of river that conditions had made unnavigable. They then continued their journey by boat. Such overland segments are marked on the map as dashed blue lines. One such group, led by U.S. Army Captain G.S. Drane, had to travel overland from Ross’s Landing, Tennessee, to Waterloo Landing, Alabama, before it could board boats. Toward the western end of the journey, the group had to travel overland from what is now Russellville, Arkansas, to Evansville, taking a route likely used later by the Bell party (mentioned below). In northern Alabama, groups led by army lieutenants Edward Deas and R.H.K. Whitely had to travel overland along the Tennessee River about half the distance between what is now Guntersville and Tuscumbia Landing. Another group, conducted westward by Cherokee leader John Drew, followed the water route to its end, on the Grand River in Indian Territory, and then traveled overland to the site of Tahlequah, the future capital of the Western Cherokee.
Most of the Cherokee involved in the Trail of Tears took the northern route, marked in pink on the map. This route ran from southeastern Tennessee northwestward across the state through Nashville and then through Hopkinsville, Kentucky; what is now Anna, Illinois; and Jackson, Missouri. (Just inside Missouri, between the site of Anna and Jackson, the map marks the location of Trail of Tears State Park, which commemorates the Cherokee who crossed the Mississippi River there in harsh winter conditions.)
From Jackson, Missouri, the route tended northwestward through what is now Rolla and then southwestward through Springfield to the Missouri-Arkansas line. A short distance into Arkansas some people broke from the main group and set out westward into what is now Oklahoma, using a route marked in purple on the map. (That route passed just south of a point labeled Polson Cemetery, in what is now the northeastern corner of Oklahoma. This is the burial place of three men who had led a minority faction of Cherokee in favor of removal to Indian Territory. They were assassinated in 1839 by forcibly relocated Cherokee who deemed them to be traitors.)
The main group of Cherokee continued southward to Fayetteville, Arkansas. There others broke away, heading (on another route marked in purple) toward the site in Indian Territory where the town of Tahlequah would later be built. Others continued on the more meandering northern route to the same destination. Still others crossed into Indian Territory farther south, from Evansville, Arkansas, heading for Mrs. Webber’s plantation (now in Stilwell, Oklahoma).
Other groups using the northern route deviated from it over certain stretches. One such group, conducted westward by Cherokee leader Richard Taylor, set out (as shown in bold green) from Ross’s Landing and joined the northern route about halfway to Nashville. In Missouri another group, guided by Cherokee leader Peter Hildebrand, took a more southerly path (marked in turquoise) between Jackson and Springfield.
Another major land route, marked in yellow on the map, was that used by a Cherokee group in favor of migrating to Indian Territory. This route is named for John Bell, a white man who had married into the Cherokee and helped lead the group’s relocation. The route ran southwestward from the area of Fort Cass, Tennessee, to Ross’s Landing and then westward across the state through Pulaski to Memphis. There it crossed the Mississippi River into Arkansas, where it passed south of what is now Wynne, ran southwestward to Little Rock, and then tended northwestward along the Arkansas River to what is now Russellville. From there it ran westward to Van Buren and then northward to Evansville. There the group dispersed into Indian Territory, heading (on a route marked in purple) toward Mrs. Webber’s plantation.
A group of Cherokee conducted westward by Cherokee leader John Benge used the route marked in light green on the map. It began just south of Fort Payne, Alabama, ran northwestward to Huntsville, and went on to Pulaski, Tennessee, and Jackson, Missouri. From there it tended southwestward to the Batesville area in northeastern Arkansas and then westward to Fayetteville, where the group disbanded. Some traveled from there directly westward into Indian Territory, while others continued southwestward to Evansville and then across the state line to Mrs. Webber’s plantation. Both disbandment routes are marked in purple.
On the main map, white letters in red circles mark notable places and events of the Trail of Tears in 1838–39. These letters are keyed to brief explanatory notes below the map.
After being forcibly removed from their homes in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina, most Cherokee are moved into 11 concentration camps—10 in Tennessee and one in Alabama—in preparation for their journey to Indian Territory. Conditions in the camps are often miserable. In 1838, drought conditions force thousands who were to have been transported westward by boat to remain confined all summer in camps around Fort Cass, Tennessee. There they endure months of oppressive heat without adequate supplies, shelter, or sanitation, and hundreds die from disease.
From August 23 to December 5, 1838, 10 detachments of Cherokee, totaling 9,032 people, are conducted from camps around Fort Cass toward Indian Territory.
In Meigs county, Tennessee, nine detachments of Cherokee, totaling more than 9,000 people, cross the Tennessee River at Blythe Ferry on their westward journey.
On June 6–17, 1838, three detachments of Cherokee set off for Indian Territory from Ross’s Landing, on the Tennessee River at what is now Chattanooga, Tennessee.
In September 1838 two detachments of Cherokee, totaling 1,642 people, leave for Indian Territory from the plantation of Joseph Vann, a wealthy Cherokee whose property lay at the mouth of Ooltewah (Wolftever) Creek, near what is now Chattanooga, Tennessee.
On September 28, 1838, Cherokee leader John Benge begins to escort 1,079 Cherokee toward what is now Stilwell, Oklahoma.
On October 11, 1838, John Bell begins to escort 660 “treaty” Cherokee from their camp near Fort Cass, Tennessee, toward Evansville, Arkansas. These Cherokee are members of a small minority faction that agreed to the 1835 Treaty of New Echota. By that treaty, all Cherokee lands east of the Mississippi were to be ceded in exchange for $5 million and lands in Indian Territory, to which the Cherokee were to begin migrating by May 1838.
However, the vast majority of Cherokee, including Principal Chief John Ross and the rest of the Cherokee National Council, rejected the treaty as illegitimate and petitioned the U.S. Senate not to ratify it. Despite their efforts, the treaty was ratified and signed into law in 1836. Consequently, when the majority of Cherokee continued to resist removal, the U.S. government dispatched soldiers to force them from their homes.
Four groups of Cherokee travel by water from Ross’s Landing and from camps around Fort Cass, Tennessee, toward Indian Territory. The journey proves to be punishing: of the 3,103 who depart, only 2,273 arrive at Mrs. Webber’s plantation, Fort Coffee, Lee’s Creek (near what is now Stilwell), and Illinois Campground (near what is now Tahlequah, Oklahoma).
On March 24, 1839, the last Cherokee detachment arrives in Indian Territory. In compliance with the Treaty of New Echota, the Cherokee have been promised subsistence rations through March 1, 1840, but these sometimes prove to be inadequate.
On October 19, 1841, the Cherokee National Council designates the town of Tahlequah, in Indian Territory, as the capital of the Cherokee Nation.
