jul 12, 1831 - Late 1831: 13,000 Choctaws forced West
Description:
land and climate totally different from what they knew.“Marshaled by guards, hustled by agents, harried by contractors...”
They went on ox wagons, on horses, on foot, then to be ferried across the Mississippi River.
The army was supposed to organize their trek, but it turned over its job to private contractors who charged the government as much as possible, gave the Indians as little as possible. - Food disappeared
- Hunger came
- The first winter migration was one of the coldest on record
- people began to die of pneumonia.
- In the summer, a major cholera epidemic hit Mississippi, Choctaws died by the hundreds
Added to timeline:
Date:
jul 12, 1831
Now
~ 194 years ago