The Indian Removal Act of 1830 (under President Andrew Jackson) called for the voluntary or forcible removal of all Indians from the eastern United States to the state of Oklahoma. May of 1838 marked the deadline for voluntary Native American removal. The military was prepared to use force and did so under the command of General
General Winfield Scott ordered the round up and removal of over 17,000 Cherokees who refused to leave. So began the Cherokee "Trail of Tears," one of the darkest episodes in relations between the United States and American Indians.
The process was swift and brutal. Detachments of soldiers arrived at every Cherokee house and drove men, women and children out of their homes with only the clothes on their backs. They were placed in concentration camps where conditions were horrendous. Food and supplies were limited and
disease was rampant. Many perished.
By late June of 1838, the upper Tennessee River had become too low for navigation due to a drought. The U.S. government hired wagon master J.C.S. Hood to transport 1,070 Native Americans by foot and wagon from Ross' Landing in Chattanooga, Tennessee to what is now Waterloo, Alabama approximately 230 miles. Much of the journey followed what is now U.S. Highway 72.
Upon reaching Waterloo, the survivors were in despicable condition. Migration had to be suspended until the river was high enough for navigation. Many died in Waterloo and others escaped into the surrounding hills. Many area residents can trace their Native American ancestry to those who fled.
Estimates of as many as 4,000 deaths occurred because of this forced removal of civilized Native Americans from their rightful homes.
In the end, members of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole Nations suffered the same fate as the Cherokees.
