The Cherokee crossing at Columbus, Kentucky: two Trail of Tears waysides

Nearly 1,100 Cherokee waited ten days on a bluff above Columbus, Kentucky, in 1838 to be ferried across the Mississippi River as part of the Trail of Tears. Two wayside exhibits at Columbus-Belmont State Park, made by the National Park Service and its partners, tell that story, and this National Park Service page gives their words as audio descriptions for people who cannot see them.

The "Crossing Over" exhibit panel. Image from the National Park Service's page.

"Crossing Over": a river town and a long wait

Each panel is slanted, about 3 feet wide and 2 feet tall, set about 3 feet off the ground. "Crossing Over" has a pencil-sketch background of Cherokee waiting to board a ferry, the only colour on their blankets and coats. Its partners are the Trail of Tears Association, the Kentucky Great River Region Organization and the National Park Service.

In the 1830s, the panel says, Columbus was one of the busiest trading towns on the Mississippi, with a post office, sawmill, tavern and four trading stores. Nearly 1,100 Cherokee led by John Benge arrived in 1838 and camped on a bluff that is now part of the state park. They waited 10 days to be ferried over before continuing their forced migration to Indian Territory. A detachment subcontractor, Colonel J. L. Colburn, wrote in a letter of March 2, 1841 that the river crossing took three days, that roads on the way were rough enough that the detachment had to repair bridges, and that a 70-mile trek through swampland to Jackson, Missouri followed, with another 450 miles to Indian Territory.

The panel records that the Benge detachment left Fort Payne, Alabama with 1079 people and 1,131 reached Indian Territory on January 11, 1839; there were 33 deaths and three births, and others joined on the way.

"They Passed This Way": the removal in numbers

The "They Passed This Way" exhibit panel. Image from the National Park Service's page.

The Cherokee Nation once spread across parts of Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 required the Cherokee to give up their land and move west, and in 1838 more than 15,000 began the journey over the Trail of Tears. The panel says nearly 1,000 died on the way west and up to 4,000 died as a result of the forced removal process.

Few groups travelled by water. After hearing of the difficulties of military-led groups that had gone by river, Cherokee leaders petitioned to manage their own people's removal, choosing overland routes to avoid fast-spreading sickness on boats, disease along the river lowlands and unpredictable water levels and weather.

The panel says the removal policy aroused fierce debate. Supporters called it a benevolent act to save eastern tribes from being overwhelmed by American expansion; opponents decried its inhumanity. It adds that one thing was certain: removal freed millions of acres of desired land for white settlers. Many groups left in the fall to avoid summer heat and disease and met treacherous winter weather.

Its closing section says the five removed nations built new lives in the West and are successful sovereign nations preserving their traditions. The Cherokee who survived formed a new nation in present-day Oklahoma, and some who stayed in North Carolina formed the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians through a special exemption.

Sources

• National Park Service, Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, "Columbus Belmont State Park Kentucky Waysides" (https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/columbus-belmont-state-park-kentucky-waysides.htm), audio descriptions of two wayside exhibits. The page's two "Learn More" thumbnails, the roster of the detachment’s officers and a quoted song are left out.
• National Park Service; rewritten in hubnx's own words.