With its proximity to the Arkansas River , the small town served as a port for travel and shipping . Steamships provided the primary mode of transport , arriving from downriver ports such as New Orleans . From 1832 – 1838 , Pine Bluff residents would see Native American migrants on the Trail of Tears waterway who were being forcibly removed by the US Army from the American Southeast to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River . From 1832 – 1858 , Pine Bluff was also a station on the passage of Seminole and Black Seminoles , who were forcibly removed from Florida to the Territory . They included the legendary Black Seminole leader John Horse , who arrived in the city via the steamboat '' Swan '' in 1842
Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears
Pine Bluff, Arkansas