During the winter of 1838-1839, over 10,000 Cherokee men, women, and children traveled the road in front of you as part of an 800 mile journey, halfway from their homeland and unsure of what lay ahead. A January 26, 1839, New York Observer account said that the Indians as a whole carried in their countenances everything but the appearance of happiness, and that some carried a downcast, dejected look bordering on despair.