Payne reported his findings in popular newspaper articles , and also had considerable work that was never published . Payne 's collected , unpublished papers from the 1830s have served as important source material for scholars . The writer had visited with the nation as it was on the verge of dramatic change . In 1838 , most of the Cherokee did go west on the Trail of Tears . Removal meant the Cherokee Nation was split and transformed , with eastern and western groups developing independently after that time
Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears
John Howard Payne