On March 10, 1838, at Red Clay in the Cherokee Nation, nearly fourteen-year-old Jane Bushyhead wrote to her friend and former schoolmate Martha Thompson that she had often wished to enjoy her company again, but feared that if the Cherokees were driven west by oppression to seek a new home, that would be impossible. Jane later traveled to Indian Territory in a detachment led by her father, the Reverend Jesse Bushyhead. Cherokee lands in Indian Territory were later mapped in 1890, and the area labeled 36 marked the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation before removal in 1838. It is unlikely that Jane ever saw Martha again before Jane's untimely death in 1844.