The Indian Removal Act, signed by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830, set in motion the systematic removal of the Choctaws, Muscogee Creeks, Chickasaws, Seminoles, and Cherokees from their ancestral homes in the east to Indian Territory, present-day Oklahoma. This sad uprooting, full of uncertainties and dangers, became known as the Trail of Tears. In the winter of 1838-1839, three parties of Cherokees came through this area after traveling west by land to the Line Road north of Van Buren, then turning north on the Line Road. Two groups turned west into Indian Territory, while a third ended its removal journey at Vineyard, later Evansville. Lieutenant Robert Whiteley and about 724 Cherokee passed through on August 3, 1838. Lieutenant Gustavus S. Drane's Cherokee party passed through on September 2, 1838. The Bell party of about 650 Cherokees, led by Cherokee John A. Bell and Lieutenant Edward Deas, arrived on January 8, 1939, and disbanded. Other Cherokee parties coming from the north by Cane Hill may also have passed through. In the 1830s, John Latta moved to the area, named the place Vineyard for The Lord's Vineyard, built his two-story log house about 1834, and served as postmaster from 1835 to 1838. On December 27, 1838, Lewis Evans became postmaster, and the town's name was changed to Evansville. The Latta house was moved to the Prairie Grove Battlefield in 1958, where it still stands.