History
During the harsh winter of 1838-1839, 11 detachments containing more than 10,000 Cherokee passed through the Mantle Rock area along the Trail of Tears, not even halfway to Indian Territory. One of these groups, the Peter Hildebrand Detachment, was forced to spend two bitterly cold weeks there, encamped for miles along the road while waiting for the frozen Ohio River to thaw enough for the ferry to carry people from Berry's Ferry, Kentucky, to Golconda, Illinois. After crossing, many were trapped again between the frozen Ohio and Mississippi rivers before they could continue west to Indian Territory. The 11 detachments left Tennessee in 1838 with over 10,000 Cherokee, but because of exhaustion, illness, and death, they numbered hundreds less when they arrived in Oklahoma.
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