The U.S. Department of War forcibly removes approximately 17,000 Cherokee to Indian Territory (which is now known as Oklahoma). Cherokee authorities estimate that 6,000 men, women, and children die on the 1,200-mile march called the Trail of Tears. Other Cherokee escape to North Carolina, where they elude capture and forced removal. Their descendents remain in their homeland in the Great Smoky Mountains to this day. Many tribes in the Southeast, the Northeast, and Great Plains have their own trails of tears.