An act of the Georgia General Assembly passed on December 3 of that year created the counties of Forsyth, Lumpkin, Union, Cobb, Gilmer, Murray, Cass (now Bartow), Floyd, and Paulding. The forcible (sometimes at gunpoint) removal of the Cherokee people, leading up to the notorious Trail of Tears to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River, began in this area the year before. The push by European Americans to expel the Cherokee was accelerated by the discovery of gold in local streams.