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Cherokee Removal Forts

A U.S. government policy known as Indian removal

In May 1830, Congress endorsed President Andrew Jackson's policy of removal by passing the Indian Removal Act, which authorized the president to set aside lands west of the Mississippi to exchange for the lands of the Indian nations in the east.

It was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830.

Illegal stockades were built on Cherokee land. They were intended to house Cherokee people long before their forced journey on "The Trail of Tears."

Shortly after the Congress passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, Camp Hinar Sixes, the earliest of the forts in Georgia, was built in September of that year. It was used to house members of the infamous Georgia Guard who took it upon themselves to brutalize the Cherokee, even though at this time, the settlers themselves were illegal immigrants. The Georgia Guard did not officially exist until December of that same year.

The Georgia Guard aided by troops from Alabama, Florida, North and South Carolina, and Tennessee, would approach Cherokee homes and enter them by force. The residents would then be arrested and dragged from their homes, and driven at bayonet point into stockades.

Other Cherokee Removal Forts were: Fort Red Clay, Fort Cass (about four miles south of present-day Charleston), Fort Marr in Old Fort, all in Tennessee and Fort Butler in Murphy, North Carolina.

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