Trail of Tears
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"The Trail of Tears"
Painting by Robert Lindneux
Robert Lindneux was
a member of the Royal Society of Artists and his work
is recognized in many private collections and museums,
including the Thomas Gilcrease Institute, the Whitney
Gallery of Western American Art, the Frank Phillips Museum,
the Colorado Historical Society, the Buffalo Bill Memorial
Museum, and the National Museum of Wildlife Art, which
houses one painting and seventeen of his drawings. His
most famous work, The Trail of Tears, was painted in
1942 and is on display in the Woolaroc
Museum, Bartlesville, Oklahoma. |
The term “Trail of Tears”
signifies the various routes used for the forced Indian removal
from 1837 to 1839. At least three of the Cherokee removal parties
traveled through Northwest Arkansas on the “State Road”
that ran from Springfield to Fort Smith through Fayetteville.
The road followed the general route of what would later be called
the Telegraph Road, entering the state just north of the Pea Ridge
Park and tracking southwest toward Fayetteville. The Cherokees
turned west in Fayetteville, toward their final destination of
Tahlequah, Oklahoma.
Based on the diaries of party leaders
we know some of the specific dates and camp locations of the traveling
Cherokees. The Richard Taylor contingent camped at the Elk Horn
Tavern site in today’s Pea Ridge Military Park on March
18, 1839. Then according to a party leader’s diary: “Traveled
15 miles to Cross Hollow , ate dinner at Homeslys, and came on
5 miles to Fitzgerald’s”. On March 21, 1839, the diary
entry records “Thursday 21, cloudy and cool, passed through
Fayetteville… got a mean meal at the Brick Tavern”
Hildebrand’s contingent followed closely behind the Richard
Taylor group. The Hildebrand group consisted of 88 wagons, 881
horses, and 1,312 Cherokee.
More Information
Click
here for the National Parks Service Trail
of Tears website that includes an interactive map.
Click
here for a press release from Arkansas Congressman Marion
Berry regarding the Trail of Tears.
