The names of 2535 Head of Household from the 1835 Census(Henderson Roll) of the Cherokee Nation taken to identify those to be removed are to appear on the Memorial Wall as well as the number of household members. About 4,200 of the 16,542 Cherokees identified perished as a result of the Cherokee Removal in 1838. This is the closest thing to a headstone they will have.

The History Wall describes: early culture and history how: they evolved from hunter-gatherers to a literate and highly civilized culture with a government similar to ours, they were pressured to give up their land resulting in an illegitimate treaty which they never recognized, they were rounded up and placed in stockades under deplorable conditions in which many died, how disastrous attempts by the Army to move them failed, and how they agreed to self removal.