The Cherokee have come to call the event Nu na da ul tsun yi (the place where they cried); another term is Tlo va sa (our removal).

The Seminole in Florida resisted removal by the United States Army for decades (1817–1850) with guerrilla warfare, part of the intermittent Native American Wars that lasted from 1540 to 1924.

Tensions between the indigenous Cherokee and white settlers developed over ownership of the land rich in gold deposits and fertile soil that could be used for farming cotton.

Released, Ross and a delegation of tribal leaders traveled to Washington, DC to protest against this high-handed action, and to lobby against the removal policy of President Andrew Jackson.

Agent John F. Schermerhorn gathered a group of dissident Cherokee in the home of Elias Boudinot at the tribal capital, New Echota.

The Cherokee Indians typically grew small family farms and only planted what was needed to survive alongside hunting and gathering.

[neutrality is disputed] The Cherokee lands in Georgia were settled upon by the Cherokee for the simple reason that they were and still are the shortest and most easily traversed route between the only fresh water sourced settlement location at the southeastern tip of the Appalachian range (the Chattahoochee River), and the natural passes, ridges, and valleys which lead to the Tennessee River at what is today, Chattanooga.

[citation needed] From Chattanooga there was and is the potential for a year-round water transport to St. Louis and the west (via the Ohio and Mississippi rivers), or to as far east as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

He had no desire to use the power of the national government to protect the Cherokee from Georgia, since he was already entangled with states' rights issues in what became known as the nullification crisis.

Chief Ross canceled the tribal elections in 1832, the Council threatened to impeach the Ridges, and a prominent member of the Treaty Party, John "Jack" Walker, Jr., was murdered.

Our hearts are sickened, our utterance is paralyzed, when we reflect on the condition in which we are placed, by the audacious practices of unprincipled men, who have managed their stratagems with so much dexterity as to impose on the Government of the United States, in the face of our earnest, solemn, and reiterated protestations."

Bell, Charles Foreman, William Rogers, George W. Adair, James Starr, and Jesse Halfbreed, signed or left "X" marks on the Treaty of New Echota after those present voted unanimously for its approval.

This Treaty, which was not approved by National Council, gave up all the Cherokee land east of the Mississippi River in return for five million dollars to be disbursed on a per capita basis, an additional half-million dollars for educational funds, title in perpetuity to an amount of land in Indian Territory equal to that given up, and full compensation for all property left in the East.

There was also a clause in the treaty as signed allowing Cherokee who so desired to remain and become citizens of the states in which they resided on 160 acres (0.65 km2) of land, but that was later stricken out by President Jackson.

Despite the protests by the Cherokee National Council and principal Chief Ross that the document was a fraud, Congress ratified the Treaty on May 23, 1836 by one vote.

However, President Andrew Jackson dispatched General John E. Wool to begin the process of rounding up all those who would accept government provisions and prepare them for removal.

Due to the staunch opposition, preparations did not begin for several months, which greatly frustrated General Wool, who reported that the Indians were "almost universally opposed to the Treaty.

"[18] During this time, efforts were also being made by pro-removal advocates within the Cherokee to persuade the rest of the people to accept government subsistence and therefore give in to the inevitable.

Seeing that all efforts to sway their brethren were fruitless, a number of Cherokee (mostly members of the Ridge faction) ceased their delay and accepted government funds for subsistence and transportation.

For example, on April 23, 1838, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a letter to Jackson's successor, President Martin Van Buren, urging him not to inflict "so vast an outrage upon the Cherokee Nation.

He established military operational headquarters at Fort Cass in Charleston, Tennessee at the site of the Indian Agency,[20] and arrived at New Echota on May 17, 1838, in command of U.S. Army and state militia totaling about 7,000 soldiers.

This story is perhaps a garbled version of the episode when a Cherokee named Tsali or Charley and three others killed two soldiers in the North Carolina mountains during the round-up.

[citation needed] The two Indians were subsequently tracked down and executed by Chief Euchella's band of Cherokee in exchange for a deal with the Army to avoid their own removal.

The deaths and desertions in the Army's boat detachments caused Gen Scott to suspend the Army's removal efforts, and the remaining Cherokee were put into eleven internment camps, located at Fort Cass, Ross's Landing in present-day Chattanooga, Red Clay, Bedwell Springs, Chatata, Mouse Creek, Rattlesnake Springs, Chestoee, and Calhoun, and one camp near Fort Payne in Alabama.

This was granted; meanwhile Chief Ross, finally accepting defeat, managed to have the remainder of the removal turned over to the supervision of the Cherokee Council.

Although there were some objections within the U.S. government because of the additional cost, General Scott awarded a contract for removing the remaining 11,000 Cherokee under the supervision of Principal Chief Ross, with expenses to be paid by the Army, which outraged President Van Buren and surprised many.

He then wasted no time in forming a plan, in which he organized 12 wagon trains, each with about 1,000 persons and conducted by veteran full-blood tribal leaders or educated mixed bloods.

These detachments were forced to trek through various trails, crossing through Kentucky, Illinois, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Missouri to the final destination of Oklahoma.

[21] There exist muster rolls for four (Benge, Chuwaluka, G. Hicks, and Hildebrand) of the 12 wagon trains and payrolls of officials for all 13 detachments among the personal papers of Principal Chief John Ross in the Gilcrease Institution in Tulsa, OK.

[citation needed] A local newspaper, the Highland Messenger, said July 24, 1840, “that between nine hundred and a thousand of these deluded beings … are still hovering about the homes of their fathers, in the counties of Macon and Cherokee" and "that they are a great annoyance to the citizens" who wanted to buy land there believing the Cherokee were gone; the newspaper reported that President Jackson said "they … are, in his opinion, free to go or stay.’[26] The Trail of Tears is generally considered to be an infamous episode in American history.