General Winfield Scott’s General Order No. 25, 1838

Considering the number and temper of the mass to be removed, together with the extent and fastnesses of the country occupied, it will readily occur that the simple indiscretions—acts of harshness and cruelty, on the part of our troops, may lead, step by step, to delays, to impatience and exasperation, and in the end, to a general war and carnage—a result, in the case of those particular Indians, utterly abhorrent to the generous sympathies of the whole American people.
Every possible kindness, compatible with the necessity of removal, must, therefore, be shown by the troops, and, if, in the ranks, a despicable individual should be found, capable of inflicting a wanton injury or insult on any Cherokee man, woman or child, it is hereby made the special duty of the nearest good officer or man, instantly to interpose, and to seize and consign the guilty wretch to the severest penalty of the laws.

General Winfield Scott’s General Order No. 25 1838

The U.S. military forcefully removed those Cherokee who refused to leave their homeland for Indian Territory in Oklahoma under the Treaty of New Echota. During the forced removal, the military was ordered to treat the Cherokee humanely, but many died of exposure and starvation on the “Trail of Tears.”

National Archives, Records of U.S. Army Continental Commands, 1821–1920