A Journey of Injustice: Trail Of Tears National Historic Trail, Oklahoma

Remember and commemorate the survival of the Cherokee people, forcefully removed from their homelands in Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee to live in Indian Territory, now Oklahoma. They traveled by foot, horse, wagon, or steamboat in 1838-1839.

Imagine more than 15,000 Cherokee people being forced to march across nine states to Oklahoma. In 1838 U.S. Army troops under General Winfield Scott's command rounded up Cherokee people and moved them to forts in North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee, prior to their removal west. Thirty-one forts were built for this purpose on the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail.

There are many places of history and commemoration on the Trail of Tears for you to visit. All of these sites participate in the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail.

You can visit George M. Murrell House, near Tahlequah . George Murrell built this 2-story, antebellum, Greek Revival plantation home about 1845. Murrell was married to Minerva Ross, the niece of Cherokee Principal Chief John Ross and the daughter of Lewis Ross. Both of these men played pivotal roles during the Cherokee removal.

The home represents the reestablishment of the Cherokee Nation after removal, and the lifestyle of some people in the Cherokee Nation prior to the Civil War. The plantation home sits on 40 acres of ground, and includes the original spring house, smoke house, picnic area, playground, creek, and nature trail. The site is owned by the Oklahoma Historical Society.

Fort Gibson was active from 1824 through 1890. In its first years, it was the westernmost U.S. military fort, and for awhile it was a key to U.S. military strategy, inasmuch as the fort held more soldiers than any other fort located west of the Mississippi River. In 1832, a commission was created by Congress to locate the Indians in Indian Territory who were about to be removed from the East. The commission made its headquarters at Fort Gibson, and for the remainder of the decade it negotiated treaties with the local native tribes in order to prepare them for the impending changes in their neighbors. The fort was a dispersal site for the Seminole and Creek Indians after their long journey from their homes in the southeastern United States. Located on Oklahoma Highway 80.

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