d themselves in a nightmare for the next year. In 1838 General Winfield Scott got tired of delaying this longer than the 2 years he waited already so he took charge in collecting the Cherokee. The Cherokee were taken from their homes and their belongings. The were placed in holding camps so none would escape. The Cherokee were to be moved in the fall of 1838. The journey did not occur in October, 1838 because of bad weather. They were now supposed to move 13,000 Cherokee in the spring of 1839 a distance of eight-hundred miles. The Cherokee were fed on meager rations and suffered malnutrition. They were badly clothed for the spring and many caught diseases and died. Many Cherokee tried to escape and some succeeded. The Cherokee knew these woodlands and knew where to go. The white men couldn't find them without the help of other Cherokee and bribes. Most of the Cherokee hid in the mountains and could not be found. During the eight-hundred mile trek many children and spouses were separated from their families when the Government would split up the Cherokee into groups of 1,000 for ease of removal. About one-third of the original Cherokee they collected died in the holding camps and between the trek from the Southeast section of the Union to Indian Territory. They would have to learn a new way of life and adjust. They lost their negro slaves, and their possessions. The Cherokee were farmers, and the land was infertile. The land was meant for cattle raising, which they didn't know ho to do. They built a capital city called Tahlequah, and their nation was declared in September 6, 1839. Their culture was bred here along their new way of life. John Ross who was elected by the Cherokee as the President of the Cherokee nation in 1827 continues his roll in the land, shared with another seventy tribes. They had opened up schools in the Indian Territory to continue their education for their children. The first Cherokee school opened in 1801 when the...
