Trail Of Tears Monument Planned For Fort Smith

Oklahoma‘s Five Civilized Tribes have signed off on a plan for a Trail of Tears monument to be built in Arkansas.

The new monument will be built at the U.S. Marshal's Museum in Fort Smith.

The U.S. Marshal's museum will donate the land and the Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes will pay for the monument.

Creek Nation Principal Chief George Tiger sent a letter last month accepting the proposal and thanking the museum for "a very generous and thoughtful gesture."

The monument would represent the tribes' forced journey west into what is now Oklahoma during the 19th century, known as the Trail of Tears.

The Five Civilized Tribes are made up of the Creek, Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminole nations.