In September 1838, more than 850 Potawatomi Indian people were rounded up and marched at gunpoint from their Indiana homeland to present-day Osawatomie, Kansas, along the 1838 Trail of Death route. Many walked the 600-mile distance over two months, and more than 40 died, mostly children, from typhoid fever and the stress of the forced removal. Their young priest, Rev. Benjamin M. Petit, also became ill on the trail and died shortly thereafter near St. Louis. The forced removal included at least 48 camps where the Potawatomi people stayed one night or more, according to the official journal kept by a government agent. In January 1839, the approximate route of Father Petit and Potawatomi escort Abram Burnett (Nan-Wesh-Mah) led to St. Louis, where Petit died a month later.