Trail of Tears National Historic Trail National Park Service New Madrid and the Trail of Tears Trail of Tears Association

They Passed This Way Dangers of Water Travel along the Trail of Tears Home to thousands of men, women, and children, the Cherokee Nation once spread Few groups of Cherokee traveled by water. After hearing of the across parts of Georgia, North Carolina, diffi culties faced by military-led Tennessee, and Alabama. The 1830 Indian groups that had traveled the water route, Cherokee leaders Removal Act required that the Cherokee petitioned for permission to surrender their land and move west. manage the removal of their own people. In 1838, more than 15,000 Cherokee began They decided to remove over land routes to avoid the dangers their trek west from their eastern homeland of travel by boat, including to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) I have no more land. I am driven the quick spread of sickness onboard, the fear of disease over the “Trail of Tears.” They traveled by away from home, driven up the along the river lowlands, and roads and rivers, including this stretch of the red waters, let us all go, let us all unpredictable water levels and weather patterns. Mississippi River. More than 1,000 died during die together and somewhere upon the journey westward, and more than 4,000 the banks we will be there. From Sin-e-cha’s Song, heard on removal boats died as a result of their forced migration. along the Trail of Tears.

Federal Indian Removal Policy Today Trail of Tears National Historic Trail

Federal Indian removal policy aroused fi erce and Despite the hardships of the journey, bitter debate. Supporters of the policy claimed it members of the fi ve removed tribes was a benevolent action to save the tribes east of established new lives in the West. the Mississippi River from being overwhelmed and They stand as successful sovereign lost in the onslaught of an expanding American nations, proudly preserving cultural population. Opponents decried its inhumanity and traditions, while adapting to the the tragic consequences it had for the Indian peoples. challenges of the 21st century. One thing was certain; removal freed millions of acres of desired Indian lands for use by white settlers. Cherokee who survived the Trail of Tears created a new sovereign The Indian Removal Act of 1830 resulted in the nation in present-day Oklahoma. removal of thousands of American Indians from their Some Cherokee remained in North ancestral lands for new homes in Indian Territory Carolina and, due to a special By helping to preserve historic sites and trail segments, and developing areas for public use, (present-day Oklahoma). They traveled by existing exemption, formed the Eastern the story of the forced removal of the Cherokee people and other American Indian tribes is roads and rivers. Many groups left in the fall, hoping In the 1830s, the federal government forcibly removed approximately Band of Cherokee Indians. remembered and told by the National Park Service and its partners. to avoid the disease and heat of summer travel, and 16,000 Cherokee, 21,000 Muscogee (Creek), 9,000 Choctaw, 6,000 Chickasaw, and 4,000 Seminole from their ancestral homes in the You can visit more sites along the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail. instead faced treacherous winter weather. Many died southeastern United States. during the ordeal of the Trail of Tears. Learn more at www.nps.gov/trte Trail of Tears National Historic Trail National Park Service New Madrid and the Trail of Tears Trail of Tears Association

The steamer Warren brought news...of the loss Water Route to Indian Territory of the steam-boat Monmouth, and the death of at least onehalf of her infamouslyinfamously crowded This was a remote stretch of the Mississippii River passengers.passengers. This fatal, and momostst aappalling,pppalling, acciaccidentd when steamboats of Cherokee passed by onn ttheirheh ir arose ffromrom a collision between thesethese two boats; but way west to Indian Territory on the water routeoutte ooff fromfrom the best intelligence we can procure, the bblamel the Trail of Tears. River traffi c in 1838 was limitedmiited restsrests upuponon the Monmouth. ...Six hundred [Creek][Creek to the daylight hours because of snags and sshiftshifts werewerer jammed into this boat... and three hundrhundrede in the river. It is probable that one or more ooff tthehee have pperished.”erisheed.” steamboats stopped at New Madrid becausee tthereheree ArkansasArkAr ansas Gazette,Gazettte, NovemberNovembe er 28,28, 18371 were not many places to aquire supplies, includingcluding food for the travelers as well as wood and wwaterater for the steam engines.

Local pilots were often hired to take boats through nearby stretches of the river. Physiciciansans who lived here may have tended to Cherokeeee sicsickk from exhaustion and the close quarters onboardboard ship. At the time, the town of New Madrid hadhad only 317 residents, 159 of whom were enslaved.ved. The unreliability of navigable Steamboats pulling long rivers, safety concerns, and fl atboats and keelboats were severe health threats meant common and part of a bustling New Madrid County, Missouri that only a minority of scene on the Arkansas and Cherokee traveled by river Mississippi rivers in the 1830s. rather than over land.

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View of New Madrid by Henry Lewis, ca. 1840s Courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri Courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri