What Happens When the War Department, Department of the Interior, Secretary of the Interior, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs Works with the Wrong Tribe on Treaty Rights and Land Rights?
TCNPress.Org
By Line Fort Smith, Arkansas
Wednesday June 4, 2025 4:45 a.m.
Several Chiefs of The Chickamauga Nation recently sat down for an interview about their treaties and their rights. They explained their history and asked some pointed questions. “Can it be imagined that the United States government would make such a colossal mistake to make treaties and land patents with one tribe and then give those treaty rights and land patents to another Tribe, thinking they were the same Tribe? The evidence is overwhelming that this very thing happened with the Lower Town Chickamauga, also known as the Lower Town Cherokee, Arkansas Cherokee, Western Cherokee, Old Settler Cherokee, Red Stick Cherokee, and many other lesser-known names.”
The Lower Town Chickamauga have been signing treaties on this continent since 1684. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson identified the Lower Town Cherokee as Chickamauga, the Congress identified the Lower Town Cherokee as Chickamauga, and the War Department identified the Lower Town Cherokee as Chickamauga. The Army Corps of Engineers identifies the Lower Town Cherokee, Western Cherokee, and Arkansas Cherokee as Chickamauga. Even the State of Arkansas, in its Historical Preservation book titled “The Promised Land,” identifies the Arkansas Cherokee and Western Cherokee as Chickamauga. There is little to no excuse for the United States government to make such a glaring mistake as to mistakenly believe the Chickamauga and the Cherokee are the same Tribe.
The United States' confusion started in 1785 when it began signing treaties with those who spoke or understood the Cherokee Trade language. Below is a breakdown of those who signed the “Cherokee” treaties by their cultural and historical identities.
Addressed to and Signed by:
Of the 22 Treaties, 333 of the 364 (91.5%) Signatories are Lower Town Chickamauga
1785 7 Stat 18
- To: “the Head-Men and Warriors of all the Cherokees”
- At Least 28 of the 37 (73%) Signatories Are Lower Town Chickamauga
1791 7 Stat 39
- To: “the undersigned Chiefs and Warriors of the Cherokee Nation of Indians, on the Part and Behalf of the said Nation.”
- At Least 37 of the 41 (90%) Signatories Are Lower Town Chickamauga
1792 7 Stat 42
To: “the undersigned chiefs and warriors, in behalf of themselves and the Cherokee nation”
- All 6 (100%) of the Signatories Are Lower Town Chickamauga
1794 7 Stat 43
To: “Chiefs and Warriors, in their own names, and in behalf of the whole Cherokee nation”
- All 12 (100%) of the Signatories Are Lower Town Chickamauga
1798 7 Stat 62
To: “the Cherokee nation of Indians”
- At Least 37 of the 39 (95%) Signatories Are Lower Town Chickamauga
1804 7 Stat 288
To: “Cherokee nation of Indians; and the underwritten principal Chiefs, representing the said nation”
- All 10 (100%) of the Signatories Are Lower Town Chickamauga
1805 7 Statute 93
To: “Cherokee Indians”
- All 33 (100%) Signatories Are Lower Town Chickamauga
1805 7 Statute 95
To: “the Cherokees”
- All 14 (100%) Signatories Are Lower Town Chickamauga
1806 7 Statute 101
To: “the Cherokee nation of Indians”
- All 17 (100%) Signatories Are Lower Town Chickamauga
1807 7 Stat 103
To: “the Cherokee nation”
- All 5 (100%) Signatories Are Lower Town Chickamauga
1816 7 Stat 138
To: “and the undersigned Chiefs and Headmen of the Cherokee Nation, duly authorized and empowered by the said Nation”
- At Least 3 of the 6 (50%) Signatories are Lower Town Chickamauga
1816 7 Stat 139
To: “the undersigned chiefs and head men of the Cherokee nation”
- At Least 3 of the 6 (50%) Signatories are Lower Town Chickamauga
1816 7 Stat 148
To: “and Cherokee tribe, or nation, of Indians”
- All 16 (100%) Signatories are Lower Town Chickamauga
1816 7 Stat 148 RATIFICATION:
To: “the undersigned chiefs and warriors of the Cherokee nation”
- All 9 (100%) of the Signatories are Lower Town Chickamauga
1817 Stat 156
To: “and the chiefs, head men and warriors, of the Cherokee nation, east of the Mississippi river”
- At Least 26 of the 31 (84%) Signatories East of the Mississippi River are Lower Town Chickamauga
To: “and the chiefs, head men, and warriors, of the Cherokees on the Arkansas river, and their deputies, John D. Chisholm and James Rogers, duly authorized by the chiefs of the Cherokees on the Arkansas river”
- All 15 (100%) Signatories West of the Mississippi River are Lower Town Chickamauga
1819 7 Statute 195
To: “the undersigned Chiefs and Head Men of the Cherokee nation of Indians”
- At Least 7 of the 12 (58%) Signatories are Lower Town Chickamauga
1819 7 Statute 195 ADDENDUM:
To: “Chiefs of the Cherokee nation”
- At Least 19 of the 21 (90%) Signatories are Lower Town Chickamauga
1828 7 Stat. 311
To: “Chiefs and Head Men of the Cherokee Nation of Indians, West of the Mississippi,”
- All 7 (100%) Signatories Are Lower Town Chickamauga
• National Council voted in 1825 to kill anyone selling lands to the United States or White men.
• Nation Council votes in 1828 to send the deputation to Washington for the purpose of obtaining the Western Outlet promised in Treaty in 1817. Never given authority to sign a treaty to sell or trade the lands of the Tribe.
• Were retained for 3 months against their will in Washington and plied with alcohol until they signed
• Chief Black Fox – Died in 1811,
• Thomas Graves not a Chickamauga Chief at the time of signing,
• George Guess – Sequoyah not a Chickamauga Chief at the time of signing,
• Thomas Maw not a Chickamauga Chief – Paid by the United States to promote the Treaty to the Eastern Cherokee,
• George Marvis not a Chickamauga Chief – Claims to have been made Chief in 1830,
• John Looney not a Chickamauga Chief – Voted as the last “Western Cherokee” Chief in 1838 after John Jolly, who did not sign,
• John Rogers Jr. not a Chickamauga Chief but became a Chief in 1839 and was deposed by John Ross in 1839.
• Signatures of George Guess and Thomas Maw do not match their names and were written by the same person
1833 7 Stat. 414
To: “the undersigned Chiefs and Head-men of the Cherokee nation of Indians west of the Mississippi”
- All 4 (100%) Signatories are Lower Town Chickamauga
1835 7 Stat. 474
To: “Treaty with the Comanche and Witchetaw Indians and their associated Bands”
- All 2 (100%) Signatories are Lower Town Chickamauga
1835 7 Stat 478
To: “Chiefs Head Men and People of the Cherokee tribe of Indians”
- All 20 (100%) Signatories Are Lower Town Chickamauga
1835 7 Stat 487
To: “western Cherokees”
- All 2 (100%) Signatories Are Lower Town Chickamauga
1836 7 Stat 488 ADDEMDUM:
To: “the undersigned were authorized at the general meeting of the Cherokee people held at New Echota”
- to 7 Stat. 474: - All 20 (100%) Signatories Are Lower Town Chickamauga
1838 December 31 – Land Patent for 14,374,135 acres issued based upon 1828, 1833, 1835, and 1835 Treaties, which were only signed by Lower Town Chickamauga.
Further complicating issues for the United States government are the Laws of the Cherokee Nation, which made it illegal for anyone living outside of the Cherokee Nation's jurisdiction, East of the Mississippi River, to be a citizen or have rights as a Cherokee. This invokes the United States’ Constitutional requirement of full faith and credit with the laws of the Cherokee Nation. The Dark Horse v. Cherokee Nation decision further complicates the matter in that the Supreme Court of the Cherokee Nation enforced its laws against people who lived outside of the jurisdiction of the Cherokee Nation East of the Mississippi. This eviscerates any claims that the Cherokee Nation East of the Mississippi River had any claims to any of the treaty rights ascribed to the Lower Town Chickamauga, Western Cherokee, Arkansas Cherokee, Old Settler Cherokee, Red Stick Cherokee, Treaty Party, or any other name used by the United States or the Cherokee Nation to identify the Chickamauga.
The United States had established a government-to-government relationship with the government of The Chickamauga Nation (Lower Town Chickamauga, Lower Town Cherokee, Arkansas Cherokee, Western Cherokee, Old Settler Cherokee, Red Stick Cherokee) in 1809 when President Thomas Jefferson traded lands east of the Mississippi River for lands west of the Mississippi River. Furthering that government-to-government relation in 1817, the United States made the treaty 7 Stat 156 with The Chickamauga Nation west of the Mississippi River. The United States began specifically servicing the government of The Chickamauga Nation on March 3, 1819, with the passage of Statute 2, Chapter 85, the Civilization of Indian Tribes Act, which provided directly for education and agricultural assistance to the Tribe.
In 1828, the United States entered 7 Stat 311 solely with The Chickamauga Nation (Western Cherokee). The treaty clearly states:
"secure to the Cherokee nation of Indians, as well those now living within the limits of the Territory of Arkansas, as those of their friends and brothers who reside in States East of the Mississippi, and who may wish to join their brothers of the West, a permanent home, and which shall,"
This would have been understood as the Lower Town Chickamauga (Cherokee) families living east of the Mississippi being welcomed in the west. It would never have been seen as an open invitation to the John Ross Cherokee Nation because that Cherokee Nation was not ethnically, culturally, or historically related to the Lower Town Chickamauga (Cherokee Nation) west of the Mississippi River or their ancestors.
If this was not bad enough for the wanton abandonment of the reality of the facts by the United States, it is even more so established with 1835 7 Stat 478, the New Echota Treaty being signed only by those who are correctly identified as having Lower Town or Chickamauga ancestry. The Preamble is clear as to who this treaty is written to in that it states: “securing a permanent home for themselves and their posterity in the country selected by their forefathers.”
“Forefathers” is not a generic term but an identifying term distinguishing the Chickamauga living west of the Mississippi River. The distinction in the 1835 treaty is that it is only for those who are ancestrally related to those “forefathers,” not to the John Ross Cherokee Nation. The reason this is obvious is that John Ross and his Tribe were offered this exact treaty, and they refused it because they did not want to move to the west. They refused to accept this treaty for years into the future, claiming it was not a treaty that they, the Cherokee Nation of John Ross, signed.
On June 22, 1839, John Ross and his merry Cherokee thugs began the process of genocide against the Chickamauga Nation. His Cherokee Nation accepted the wanton murder of Chickamauga leadership for the sole purpose of taking the government and lands of The Chickamauga Nation. The US military, under General Arbuckle, abrogated the treaties of 1828, 1833, and 1835 when he gave the government and lands of The Chickamauga Nation to the John Ross Cherokee Nation. The term abrogated is appropriate in that the Congress never repudiated this genocidal act. In doing so, the reversion of treaty rights must be implemented, and all of the Arkansas lands guaranteed to The Chickamauga Nation by treaty and traded lands must immediately be returned to The Chickamauga Nation and its Citizens. Which still leaves the 1838 Land Patent of 14,374,135 acres of land at current valuation, which must also include all underground minerals and deposits, all water rights, all timber and land rights taken from the land since 1839, which could be worth Trillions of dollars.
It appears the War Department, Department of the Interior, Secretary of the Interior, and Bureau of Indian Affairs all worked with the wrong Tribe on treaty and land rights issues regarding the Chickamauga Nation. How does the US government make things right economically, historically, and culturally for failing to live up to its fiduciary responsibility, which has resulted in a debt with compounding interest for more than 220 years?
The Chiefs concluded, “We are not trying to take one penny that is not owed to our people. We are the victims of genocide, we had open barbarism declared against our people and villages, and we traded lands with the United States in good faith. It is now time for the United States to act in good faith and honor its trust, fiduciary, and moral responsibilities to the Chickamauga Nation.”