As many as 30,000 Cherokee passed through Arkansas on their way to Indian Territory in Oklahoma by land or water or a combination of the two between 1834 and 1839 as part of Indian Removal. The Trail of Tears left hundreds of dead buried in shallow graves and weakened others so that they died at the end of the journey. Some Arkansans noted the groups with sorrow, and at least one, Dr. J. C. Roberts, died while tending Cherokee cholera victims at Cadron (Faulkner County). However, Indian Removal also offered many Arkansans a chance to sell food to support the Indians and their animals en route, as well as a chance to profit from providing passage on steamboats on the rivers, wagons when the rivers were too low, and ferries across the many streams for those traveling over land.
The Cherokee Nation persisted in Indian Territory on the western border of Arkansas but not altogether peacefully. For example, factional conflicts among the Cherokee that arose during the final dissolution of the homeland in the 1830s led to civil war that lasted until 1846, though war effectively broke out again as part of the U.S. Civil War, with Cherokee fighting in both Union and Confederate forces in Indian Territory and sometimes in Arkansas. This violence led to disruptions, lawlessness, and refugees moving back and forth across the border, with some remaining in Arkansas. In more peaceful times, Indian Territory provided a market for agricultural produce and manufactured goods, allowing profit to be made by Anglo-American farmers, traders, and shippers. In hard times, Cherokee families sometimes moved into Arkansas looking for work.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee_Nation_%2819th_century%29
http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=553
