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"Nu na hi du na tlo hi lu icomma" Cherokee for "The Trail Where They Cried" - On October 1, 1838 military units under the direction of John Benge rounded up 1200 Cherokee Indians from Ft. Payne, Alabama and started them on a forced march to Stillwell, OK. Benge's group camped at Smithville 73 days after departing Alabama and was in Batesville on December 15. The group crossed the White River about Christmas and probably moved through Valley Springs the last days of 1838. This band arrived in Stillwell 100 days after leaving Alabama marching 1000 miles in the dead of winter. Historians believe that about ten percent of the Cherokee people died during the removal. To the grieving Cherokee their dead, whom they were not allowed to stop and bury, were like teardrops falling onto the frozen ground hence the name Trail of Tears.
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