Historical Marker Program

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Choctaw Trail of Tears

McCurtain County
Location: at a point on US Hwy 70 near Broken Bow, Oklahoma
Topics: American Indians; Government; Settlement Patterns; Social/Cultural; Transportation; Westward Expansion, 1803–1861

During the early 1830s, Choctaw Indians removed by the United States government from Mississippi passed near here on their way to new homes in present-day Oklahoma. An estimated 15,000 Choctaws traveled by steamboat, wagon, and on foot to Oklahoma. Approximately one-quarter of the tribe perished from cold, disease, and starvation during the removal journey. This journey became known as the "Choctaw Trails of Tears.