A small group of Cherokee leaders signed a treaty that most Cherokee people never agreed to. This led to the Indian Removal Act of 1830. In 1838, under General Winfield Scott, the US military rounded up about 16,000 Cherokee from their ancestral homes and placed them in detention camps with harsh conditions before forcing them on a 1200-mile march to present-day Oklahoma. Between 4000 and 6000 Cherokee perished from starvation, disease, and exposure during the journey, now known as the Trail of