Ross implored that the document was a fraud, he even sent a petition to the U.S. government with approximately fifteen thousand Cherokee signatures, attracting the attention of the courts. "On April 23, 1838, Ralph Waldo Emerson appealed to Jackson's successor, President Martin Van Buren, urging him not to inflict "so great an outrage upon the Cherokee Nation." (Legends of America) Ross fought the treaty until the very beginning. The day he requested their expulsion, but his efforts were in vain. As the eviction process began, the U.S. Army struggled to convince the Cherokee to do as they were told by General Winfield Scott, along with a large number of forced soldiers of approximately fifteen thousand people. Cherokee in forts and military camps. While in these camps they were not properly fed, they lived in poor sanitary conditions and without any medicine. As their resettlement was about to begin, the situation went from bad to worse. of rain before the march that turned to snow, this meant that the Cherokee would now have to deal with exposure to the elements while being undernourished. General Winfield Scott allowed Ross to "set up thirteen detachments with about a thousand Cherokee in each." They migrated during the winter of 1838-39, this event