Military Road

The Choctaw who came this way arrived in two waves. More than six thousand reached the new country in the fall and winter of 1831-32, settling mostly around Boggy Depot, Doaksville and Skullyville, and about five thousand more followed in 1832 and 1833. That first winter was exceptionally harsh. Alexis de Tocqueville watched one party with snow hard on the ground and ice on the river, the sick, newborn babies and the old among them, with neither tents nor wagons. Hundreds died. The Choctaw were the first of the Five Tribes forced west after the 1830 Removal Act.

What the plaque says

Military Road Choctaw Trail of Tears Cut from Washington, Ark., to Fort Towson in 1831 for removal of Choctaws from Miss., became known as "Choctaw Trail of Tears" after thousands of suf- fering Indians used it to reach new land. Road served as major east-west artery for Choctaw Nation until early 1900's. Impor- tant early Choctaw settlements on road were Harris Mill, Eagletown, Lukfata, Wheelock and Clear Creek. Segments of road still identifiable and visible.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Beavers Bend State Park — 8.1 mi
  Pine and hardwood Ouachita hills where the Mountain Fork leaves Broken Bow Lake, a 1930s CCC park named for a Choctaw citizen, with trout water, a 26-mile ridge trail and the Forest Heritage Center.

More markers nearby

• Miller Courthouse — 11 mi
• Shawneetown — 11 mi
• Wheelock Mission — 15 mi
• Elliott Academy — 22 mi