Ross pleaded that the document was a fraud, he even sent a petition to the American government with approximately fifteen thousand Cherokee signatures attracting the attention of the court. "On April 23, 1838, Ralph Waldo Emerson appealed to Jackson's successor, President Martin Van Buren, urging him not to inflict "so vast an indignity on the Cherokee Nation." (Legends of America) Ross fought the treaty to the end. The day appointed for their removal, but his efforts were unsuccessful. When the removal process began, the U.S. Army had difficulty convincing the Cherokee people to do what they were told, along with large numbers of soldiers,. about fifteen thousand Cherokees in the forts and military camps. While in said camps they were not adequately fed, they lived in poor hygienic conditions and without any kind of medicine. At the beginning of their transfer the situation went from bad to worse; which had turned to snow. This meant that the Cherokees would now face exposure to the elements while malnourished. General Winfield Scott allowed Ross to "organize thirteen detachments with approximately one thousand Cherokees in each of them. They migrated in the winter of 1838-39, this event