Early in the 1800's, gold was found from Virginia to Alabama, including a rich belt on Cherokee land in what is now Dahlonega, Georgia, causing a huge influx of miners and a land grab by new settlers. Pressure and greed from politicians led to the removal of Indians from their homeland by force, fraudulent treaties, and settler hostilities. The U.S. Government sanctioned forced removal by passing the Indian Removal Act of 1830, affecting Cherokee from Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee, and the Carolinas. In May 1838, soldiers under U.S. Army General Winfield Scott began rounding up Cherokee in this area who had refused to move to Indian Territory in Oklahoma. About 16,000 Cherokee were placed in stockades in Tennessee and Alabama until their removal. Roughly 3,000 were sent by boat down the Tennessee River, and the rest were marched overland in the fall and winter of 1838–39. This forced removal under harsh conditions resulted in the deaths of about 4,000 Cherokee. In late June 1838, a party of 1,070 poorly equipped Indians was marched overland from Ross' Landing at Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Waterloo, Alabama, because of low water in the upper Tennessee River. Historical documents show that they followed the general route of present-day U.S. Highway 72, passing through the northern border of the city of Madison. Arriving in Waterloo on July 10, 1838, in miserable condition, the Cherokee were placed on a boat to continue their journey west. The Trail of Tears, resulting from the Indian Removal Act passed by the U.S. Congress, became one of the darkest chapters in American history.