The
weeks that followed General [Winfield] Scott's order to remove
the Cherokees were filled with horror and suffering for the
unfortunate Cherokees and their slaves. The women and children
were driven from their homes, sometimes with blows and close
on the heels of the retreating Indians came greedy whites to
pillage the Indian's homes, drive off their cattle, horses,
and pigs, and they even rifled the graves for any jewelry, or
other ornaments that might have been buried with the dead. The
Cherokees, after having been driven from their homes, were divided
into detachments of nearly equal size and late in October, 1838,
the first detachment started, the others following one by one.
The aged, sick and young children rode in the wagons, which
carried provisions and bedding, while others went on foot. The
trip was made in the dead of winter and many died from exposure
from sleet and snow, and all who lived to make this trip, or
had parents who made it, will long remember it, as a bitter
memory.
