Trail of Tears facts for kids
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| Date | Began May 26, 1838 |
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| Location | Georgia to Oklahoma |
| Cause | Indian Removal Act, U.S. expansion, racism |
| Participants | 15,000 Cherokee; 7,000 U.S. soldiers |
| Outcome | Forced removal of the Cherokee from their land |
| Casualties | |
| 353 Cherokee in concentration camps | |
| 4,000 Cherokee on the Trail | |
The Trail of Tears was a forced movement of Native Americans in the United States between 1836 and 1839. The United States government forced Native Americans to leave their lands and move outside the United States. The U.S. then took over the Native Americans' land and made it available to mostly white settlers.
Because thousands of Native Americans died during this forced movement, it is called the "Trail of Tears."
Contents
Reasons
In 1828, gold was found near Dahlonega in Georgia. This resulted in a gold rush. At that time, a Native American nation called the Cherokee lived in Georgia. Many Cherokee children went to American schools. The Cherokees had their own newspaper and built three-story houses. Some even owned slaves.
Even though the land belonged to the Cherokee Nation, President Andrew Jackson wanted this land to belong to the United States. The land was worth over $7,000,000 ($186,539,394 in 2025) U.S. dollars. Jackson signed a law that forced the Cherokees to move. This was called the Indian Removal Act. However, at that time, the Cherokees had their own nation and their own government. They did not have to follow laws made by the United States. Therefore, Jackson signed laws that let him take nearly all the Cherokees' rights.
The Cherokee nation did not want to accept those laws or the Indian Removal Act, so the Cherokees' Chief John Ross tried to defend the Cherokee rights through the United States courts. In 1832, the Supreme Court of the United States said that the Cherokee were living in their own country, "in which the laws of Georgia can have no force." The Court said Georgia had no right to make the Cherokee do anything.
Nevertheless, the U.S. government used a treaty, called the Treaty of New Echota, to remove the Cherokee nation by force. The treaty was signed by the leader of a small group of Cherokees with different opinions than the rest of the Nation. Since an official Cherokee leader did not sign the treaty, it was not legal under Cherokee law. About 15,000 Cherokees signed a petition against the treaty. Newspapers and people around the United States (including John Quincy Adams) protested the treaty. The United States Senate approved the treaty by just one vote. President Jackson signed the treaty into law on May 23, 1836. The treaty gave the Cherokees two years to leave their lands. Only about 2,000 left within the two years.
Forced removal
"I fought through the War Between the States and have seen many men shot, but the Cherokee Removal was the cruelest work I ever knew."
- A Georgia soldier who participated in the removal
The deadline for Cherokees to leave their land voluntarily was on May 23, 1838. President Martin Van Buren sent General Winfield Scott to lead the soldiers who would force the Cherokee to leave.
On May 26th, the official removal began. 7,000 soldiers forced about 15,000 Cherokees and 2,000 of their slaves to leave their land. All Cherokees had to leave their homes right away. Within three weeks, the Cherokees were all forced into concentration camps. They were forced to stay in these camps for the summer of 1838. 353 Cherokee died from dysentery and other diseases.
Finally, Chief Ross got General Scott to agree to a deal. Chief Ross promised that he and other Cherokee leaders would bring the Cherokee people to their new lands on their own. General Scott agreed and even got the U.S. Army to pay the costs of the trip.
The Cherokee traveled in groups of 1000 to 3000 people on three main routes. Different groups started in Chattanooga, Tennessee; Guntersville, Alabama; and Charleston, Tennessee. Most Cherokees had to walk; others, if they were wealthy men, could use wagons. The United States government also gave the Cherokee about 660 wagons.
It is said that many Cherokees sang a Cherokee version of the song Amazing Grace, which became a kind of anthem for the Cherokee nation.
The trip was about 1,200 miles long. During the trip, the Cherokee had to deal with winter weather, blizzards, and diseases. Not everybody agrees on how many people died on the trip. Some say 2,000 and others say 6,000, but most say about 4,000 people died. Finally, the Cherokee who were still alive arrived in what is now Oklahoma.
Routes
The Cherokee took different routes. Some were by land and others by water. Some boats were destroyed, which was a danger on water routes. On the ground, people had to walk through mud and cold weather, and it was harder walking on land.
Water route
This route was taken by about 2,800 Cherokees split into three groups. All groups started at Ross's Landing at the Tennessee River. They used boats to travel to the Ohio River, which took them south to the Mississippi River. They took the Arkansas River westward from the Mississippi. They arrived near Fort Coffee, Oklahoma. The first group left on June 6 and reached the territory after 13 days. The second and third groups had a lot of problems with diseases, so their trip took longer.
Land routes
The people who did not travel by water took land routes. Leaders chosen by John Ross guided groups of 700-1,600 people, usually on northern routes. The routes led through central Tennessee, southwestern Kentucky, and southern Illinois. The groups crossed the Mississippi north of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, then traveled through southern Missouri and west of Arkansas. The people who signed the Treaty of New Enchota were willing to trade their homeland for $5 million and land in Oklahoma. United States soldiers led them and usually took a southern route. All land routes usually ended near Westville, Oklahoma. These routes cover more than 2,200 miles in 9 states. Many people died on the journey because of diseases, lack of water, and bad road conditions.
Interesting facts about the Trail of Tears
- The five tribes who were mainly affected by the Indian Removal Act were fairly civilized. They had tried to adopt some of the American culture and were friendly with the colonists.
- Even though they were given money for food, many of the Cherokee died of starvation because dishonest merchants sold them bad food at high prices.
- The Trail of Tears was not the end of the mistreatment of Native Americans. Much of their in Oklahoma was soon taken from them as well.
- The Cherokee who survived the Trail of Tears established a new nation and government in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.
- John Ross survived the Trail of Tears and was elected Principal Chief of the new Cherokee Nation in 1839.
- Some of the Cherokee men who survived the Trail of Tears killed John Ridge, a Cherokee leader who agreed to the Treaty of New Enchota.
- The U.S. government did not pay the Cherokee the $5 million they were owed from the Treaty of New Enchota until the Cherokee filed petitions.
- The Seminole tribe, one of the tribes that was forced to move, resisted for seven years.
- As a result of the Indian Removal Act, 25 million acres of land was left for settlers and colonists in the southeast United States.
Related pages
- Native Americans in the United States
- Manifest Destiny (the idea that the U.S. had the God-given right to take the lands they wanted)
- Forced migration
Images for kids
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George W. Harkins, Choctaw chief
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Alexis de Tocqueville, French political thinker and historian
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Seminole warrior Tuko-see-mathla, 1834
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Selocta (or Shelocta) was a Muscogee chief who appealed to Andrew Jackson to reduce the demands for Creek lands at the signing of the Treaty of Fort Jackson.
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Historic Marker in Marion, Arkansas, for the Trail of Tears
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Elizabeth "Betsy" Brown Stephens (1903), a Cherokee Indian who walked the Trail of Tears in 1838
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A Trail of Tears map of Southern Illinois from the USDA – U.S. Forest Service
See also
In Spanish: Sendero de lágrimas para niños
