On September 28, 1838, Cherokee leader John Benge begins to escort 1,079 Cherokee toward what is now Stilwell, Oklahoma. The number of Cherokee departing with the Benge Detachment varies according to various sources of information available and ranges between 1079 to 1200. The other information is consistent with 1132 arriving in Indian Territory, 33 deaths and 3 births. Some of the other detachments have a category for "desertions"; however, there is no listing for deserters in the Benge records. When all is summed up, this detachment had one of the lowest attrition rates.
The Hildebrand Detachment was the largest detachment that crossed the river and traveled the Northern Route of the Trail of Tears with 1,766 people. Led by Peter Hildebrand, it left from stockades located between Charleston and Cleveland, Tennessee, for Indian Territory, now Oklahoma, on Oct. 23, 1838.
Marked in light brown at the eastern end of the main map are routes by which Cherokee were forcibly removed from their homes in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina and confined in stockades or camps to await their removal to Indian Territory. Many of these people opposed the Indian Removal Act which resulted in their detainment. From that site and other collection points, groups of Cherokee would begin their westward journey as the U.S. government saw fit.
Several hundred Cherokee evaded the roundup by hiding in the Great Smoky Mountains. Together with Cherokee who escaped from the Trail of Tears or Indian Territory and returned, these people eventually formed the Eastern Band of Cherokee and settled in an area centering on what is now Cherokee, North Carolina, just east of what became the national park.