Among the detachments that removed the Cherokee people from their homelands in the southeastern United States, three landed in Decatur at what became Rhodes Ferry Park. Because the Muscle Shoals section of the Tennessee River was difficult to navigate, the Cherokee were transported from Decatur Landing to Tuscumbia Landing on the newly built Tuscumbia, Courtland, and Decatur Railroad. On March 7, 1837, the Major Ridge party docked at Decatur with 471 Cherokee. The Lt. Edward Deas detachment landed there on June 9, 1838, with 800 Cherokee, and on June 21, 1838, the Lt. Robert H.K. Whiteley detachment landed with 1000 Cherokee. Of these three detachments, one documented fatality occurred in Decatur, an elderly Cherokee woman, and a second documented fatality occurred between Decatur and Tuscumbia when a Cherokee man was crushed by the train.