President Martin Van Buren ordered General Winfield Scott to hasten the removal process of the Cherokees from their lands in Georgia. With 7,000 soldiers at his disposal, General Scott rounded up the Cherokees and placed them in stockades while the whites ransacked the homes and stole the belongings of the Cherokees. The Cherokees were then brought to the Indian Territory in the march known as Trail of Tears because an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 Cherokees died along the way.