In 1830, the U.S. Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, which led to the forced relocation of eastern Cherokee tribes to Indian territory west of the Mississippi River. Between 1838 and 1839, the U.S. government forced thousands of Cherokees to move from their homes in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee to present-day Oklahoma. In the autumn of 1838, sixteen separate groups of Cherokee, about 16,000 in total, began the 1,000-mile overland journey to the west. The loss of life on the trail was high: nearly 4,000, or 25 percent, died on the way. Fifteen of the groups crossed the Mississippi River north of Cape Girardeau at what is now Trail of Tears State Park. Area residents were reported to have provided baskets of food to the Cherokee caught up in this tragic event, now called Trail of Tears.