The Chickamauga Nation on Memorial Day 2026
© TCNPress.Org
By Line – YO-WA-NE-GV - The White Place
Monday, May 25, 2026, 8:00 pm
Remember, honor, and memorialize are words many will hear every Memorial Day.
Let’s be honest, it is mentally challenging to remember, honor, and memorialize the Chickamauga Chiefs, Warriors, Headmen, Clan Mothers, Grandmothers, Elders, and Children who were victims of the Genocide perpetrated against them by the Colonies, the United States, and the Cherokee Nation.
The Colonies and the United States established and carried out Genocidal policies against the Chickamauga as early as June 28, 1776, only two days before the actual signing of the Declaration of Independence. The Colonial Militias and US Military, under the oversight of the War Department, Congress, and the President of the United States, oversaw the wanton and specifically directed annihilation of the Chickamauga villages and towns. Pensioners freely admit that they were told to murder elders, women, and children, burn homes and crops, as well as take women and children to sell as slaves or keep as sex slaves (War Brides).
The Cherokee Nation, according to their Chief Charles R. Hicks, first committed its genocide against the Chickamauga beginning when they killed the Chiefs and Priests and took over their Mounds when they invaded the Chickamauga homelands in the late 1600s and early 1700s. The Moravian Missionaries document that the Cherokee Nation saw the Lower Town Chickamauga as mentally inferior and refused to allow intermarriage. This genocide continued when their Beloved Woman and various Chiefs led the US Military into the Lower Town Villages for the purpose or murder, rape, and pillage simply because of their traditional values. Then on June 22, 1839, the Chief Genocidal Maniac, John Ross, sent out his thugs and henchmen to perpetrate a final solution to the Cherokee Nation’s “Chickamauga Problem” by assassinating numerous Chiefs and beginning a centuries-long directed effort to eradicate the Chickamauga from the face of the earth. The United States, by its refusal to honor its Treaties with the Chickamauga to protect them, their land, and government, condoned the Cherokee Nation Coup de Taut, and the Ethnic Cleansing which continues to this day.
After researching, reading, and looking at the available record, it is no wonder the Chickamauga of today do not want to be reminded of the history of the Chickamauga on Memorial Day, it can lead to depression and even PTSD.
While the Chickamauga must overcome the diabolical actions of the United States and the Cherokee Nation, we must remember, honor, and memorialize all of the grandmothers and grandfathers, mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, and cousins, who dared to overcome every form of adversity, to carry forth the rich and amazing culture and traditions taught to them by their grandmothers and grandfathers, mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, and cousins. They gave everything they had for those of us today that carry on their blood, dreams, and hopes.
Most Chickamauga families went into hiding in plain sight almost 200 years ago. Many of those Chickamauga families have only come out of hiding in the last two generations. Their loss of culture, traditions, and even their language is but a distant, unfamiliar twinge in their deep-rooted psyche.
Today, The Chickamauga Nation battles to cross back into the past and recover that which was taken from them through the hate of Genocide, but they are making every attempt to make that happen for future generations to be reunited with their past.
Ultimately, every day is Memorial Day for The Chickamauga Nation as they strive to remember, honor, and memorialize the Traditions and Culture of their ancestors.