Trail Of Tears: The Indian Removal Act

Trail of Tears Native Americans experienced a dramatic change in the 1830s. Nearly 125,000 Native Americans who lived on inherited land from ancestors of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Florida were all cast out by the end of the decade. The federal government forced the natives to leave because white settlers wanted an area to grow their cotton. Andrew Jackson (President of the U.S. during this time) signed into law, the Indian Removal Act, authorizing him to grant unsettled lands west of the Mississippi River in return for native lands within state borders. As a result of Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act during the years of 1838 and 1839, the Cherokee nation was enforced to give up land east of the Mississippi River

During the many days of traveling, the Cherokee faced severe weather conditions such as heat and a prolonged drought. During the long march, thousands of Cherokee children, women, and men died. Diseases were spread quickly. The sanitation was horrible, that was some of the ways you could get diseases, and another way you could get diseases was from bug bites. Over four thousand people died from diseases on the way to the settlement. One disease that was spread was typhus. Typhus is a type of rash and a type of disease that was spread quickly. Many of the Cherokee tribal people died of typhus and other diseases. For example, small pox was spread quickly. small pox was one of the deadliest diseases on the trail. Most of the Native Americans died of small pox. That is how deadly small pox was. Since the Native Americans journey was so long the diseases were spread everywhere. Native Americans also caught fevers. Fevers were super high. For example, some fevers went up to 106 degrees. The fever was caused usually by bad sanitation. As you probably know, the sanitation was not that great

A group of Cherokee departed from Tennessee during the summer months in 1838; they were considered the first group and travelled by boat (History.com). On this journey, they travelled the Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Ohio rivers. The prolonged drought made it difficult for people to keep travelling by boat. They gave away with water routes and thousands had to walk during the fall and winter months from Tennessee to present-day Oklahoma. The route followed by the most Cherokees, approximately twelve thousand or more, was the northern route through Kentucky, Illinois, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, and into Indian Territory. According to Nix, author of history.com, the Cherokees all did not leave the Southeast. Because of the 1819 agreement or just hiding in the mountains from U.S. soldiers, some Cherokee were able to maintain land in some parts of North Carolina. Also, people managed to walk back from the Indian Territory, this group of people were known as the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The group remain today and live in the west of North Carolina on Qualla Boundary