Trail of Tears. Days 83 and 84, Lawrenceburg, TN.

In Arkansas and Tennessee we've been following the Trail of Tears. Five tribes (Chactaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Seminole, and Muskegon) were forced off their land and resettled in Indian Territory west of the Mississipi in the 1830s. This was Andrew Jackson's policy designed to free up land for the white settlers.

Every treaty and agreement was broken repeatedly. They were exploited and starved on the route. By 1837, 47,000 people had been removed freeing up 25 million acres of land. Approximately 17,000 men and women and children starved, died if disease and exposure.

And what does it boil down to...a National Historic Trail that is neither well marked nor well maintained. Not impressed.

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