Trail of Tears Expansion Study Approved

By Ray Burson

In one of its final acts of 2006, Congress passed, and the President signed into law, the bill that could expand the current Trail of Tears to include the route the Benge party of Cherokees took through Ripley County on their trek to Indian Territory in 1838.

The Trail of Tears Study Act (H.R. 3085) directs the Department of the Interior to complete the criteria necessary to move forward in expanding the current Trail to include the Benge and Bell routes as well as many water routes and emigration depots.

In the winter of 1838-39, a detachment of over 1,000 Cherokee emigrants led by Capt. John Benge, left Alabama for Indian Territory (later Oklahoma).  The group, which included some 60 wagons and over 600 horses, crossed the Mississippi River from Columbus, Ky. To Belmont, Mo.  They then traveled north and turned west just south of Cape Girardeau.  They proceeded through what is now the Wappapello Wildlife Area and turned south on the Old Military Road (Natchitoches Trail) near Greenville.

Benge’s party entered Ripley County near Fairdealing, proceeded southwest and camped one or more days in Harris Hollow, just southwest of present day Oxly.  The group is believed to have entered Arkansas by crossing Current River at a ford just upstream from Pitman’s Ferry, about 200 yards above the mouth of Glaze Creek.

The Ripley County Historical Society has two references to provide for the study that document the Cherokees passing through our county.  One is a hand written interview historian Dr. John Hume had with the widow of Washington Harris in 1887.  That eyewitness report confirms that the group camped at Harris Hollow before crossing Current River.

The second reference, found recently, is an excerpt from a lengthy description of a tour through Ripley County published in the Prospect-News in 1893.  It reads:

"We find we are nearing the Arkansas line, we turn east through a bottom country with a heavy growth of oak timber while the undergrowth of red and white sumach, hazel and pawpaw tells us that a fertile soil lays underneath our feet, until we come to Current River at the Indian ford, where the Indian tribes in their great move west, years ago, crossed Current River in force, on their way to the land set apart for their future homes by our government."

Having the Benge route incorporated into the official Trail of Tears would greatly enrich the history of Southeast Missouri.  It would provide a new tourist attraction and give a reason for increased ties between museums and historical societies in Southeast Missouri and Arkansas.  It would also promote the important Ripley County portion of the old Southwest Trail that led from Vincennes, In. to Natchitoches, La.