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77-630: Soon after forming, the Keetoowah Nighthawk Society grew to as many as 5,500 members, but they could not forestall the changes made by the Dawes Commission. In 1900 its representatives came to an allotment agreement with Cherokee leaders. After doing so, the Commission enrolled the generally non-compliant Nighthawks in the tribe without obtaining their consents, and registered them for allotments. In 1902, Redbird Smith

154-584: A homestead , which was untaxable and inalienable (ineligible to be sold) for twenty-one years, and seventy acres of surplus land which was inalienable for five years. In response to these actions, the leaders of the Five Civilized Tribes sought to gain approval for a new State of Sequoyah in 1905 that would have a Native American constitution and government. The proposal received a cool reception in Congress and failed. The tribal government of

231-557: A federal act (31 Stat. 1447) of March 3, 1901. The Cherokee called themselves the Ani-Yun' wiya . In their language ; this meant "leading" or "principal" people. Before 1794, the Cherokee had no standing national government. Its people were highly decentralized and lived in bands and clans according to a matrilineal kinship system. The people lived in towns located in scattered autonomous tribal areas related by kinship throughout

308-494: A great design for my people, the Cherokees. I have been taught that from my childhood up and now in my mature manhood I recognize it as a great truth. Our forces have been dissipated by the external forces, perhaps it has been just a training, but we must now get together as a race and render our contribution to mankind. We are endowed with intelligence, we are industrious, we are loyal, and we are spiritual but we are overlooking

385-643: A mountainous area in what later became the northeastern part of the future state of Alabama . U.S. president George Washington sought to " civilize " the southeastern American Indians, through programs overseen by US Indian Agent Benjamin Hawkins . Facilitated by the destruction of many Indian towns during the American Revolutionary War , U.S. land agents encouraged Native Americans to abandon their historic communal-land tenure and settle on isolated subsistence farmsteads. Over-harvesting by

462-658: A new peace treaty after the American Civil War, which also provided for emancipation of Cherokee slaves. The territory was partially occupied by United States. In the late 19th century, Congress passed the Dawes Act , intended to promote assimilation and extinguish Indian governments, but it exempted the Five Civilized Tribes . The Curtis Act of 1898 extended the provisions of the Dawes Act to

539-598: A place called Tahlonteskee (Tahlontuskey), near the present town of Gore, Oklahoma . Tahlonteskee remained the capital until 1839, when it was superseded by Tahlequah . It continued as a meeting place for the "Old Settlers," as the Western Cherokee were known. This area, then known as the Sequoyah District, was dominated by Cherokee who were Confederate sympathizers during the Civil War, as were

616-488: A racial awakening. Our pride in our ancestral heritage is our great incentive for handing something worth while to our posterity. It is this pride in ancestry that makes men strong and loyal for their principle in life. It is this same pride that makes men give up their all for their Government. His goal was to retain all that was lost from the Keetoowah. He was eventually jailed, along with some followers, for resistance to

693-542: A religious or social gathering of the people. Honoring the mother city was analogous to honoring Selu , the Cherokee Corn Mother of the ancient Green Corn Ceremony , a concept that pervades Cherokee culture. During the Green Corn Ceremony as practiced by the Cherokee, one of the two social dances performed is of ancient origin, and originated from the mother city of Keetoowah. The dance

770-494: A renewed and modernized Keetoowah Society that was more political, holding meetings at the ceremonial areas known as gatiyo (stomp grounds). Descendants of the late chief John Ross reintroduced Cherokee wampum belts to the Keetoowah. Although the Keetoowah Nighthawks were unsuccessful in forestalling the allotment of communal lands, they strongly opposed the program of allotment of the Cherokee tribal lands that

847-694: A state and the Civil War ended, European-American settlers pushed out the Native Americans. Like the Delaware, the two Chippewa bands were relocated to the Cherokee Nation in 1866. They were so few in number that they eventually merged with the Cherokee. The Cherokee Freedmen were former African American slaves who had been owned by citizens of the Cherokee Nation during the Antebellum Period . In 1863, President Lincoln issued

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924-518: Is called ye-lu-le which means "to the center". During this dance, all of the dancers shout ye-lu-le and move towards the fire in the center of the sacred dance circle . The dance symbolizes the dispersal of the sacred fire given to the Keetoowah people by the Creator and the Thunder Beings in their ancient legends. During traditional Green Corn ceremonies, the Cherokee carried the coals of

1001-461: Is fractured and is not affiliated with any particular Cherokee Nation, Band, or Tribe. Members of the fragments of the original society are affiliated with many Cherokee communities in Oklahoma. Some of the modern groups claiming to represent the original Keetoowah culture have integrated Christianity and various new age beliefs into their religious practices. The KJRH-TV documentary , Spirit of

1078-517: The Curtis Act which extended the Dawes Act of 1887 over the Five Civilized Tribes , forcing dissolution of tribally held lands in favor of individual allotments of private property . It terminated the tribal courts, made tribal members subject to federal legislation, and gave the federal government the authority to determine tribal membership. The Curtis Act provided that residents of Indian Territory had voting rights in local elections and gave

1155-684: The Emancipation Proclamation which granted citizenship to all freedmen in the Confederate States, including those held by the Cherokee. In reaching peace with the Cherokee, the U.S. government required the freedom of their slaves and full Cherokee citizenship for those who wanted to stay with the nation. This was later guaranteed in 1866 under a treaty with the United States. This list of historic people includes only documented Cherokee living in, or born into,

1232-517: The Five Civilized Tribes . All Five Tribes acknowledged "in writing that, because of the agreements they had made with the Confederate States during the Civil War, previous treaties made with the United States would no longer be upheld, thus prompting the need for a new treaty and an opportunity for the United States to fulfill its goal of wrenching more land" from their grasp. The new treaty established peace and requiring them to emancipate their slaves and to offer them citizenship and territory within

1309-551: The Great Lakes and Ozark Plateau Regions of the United States 3,000 years ago, based upon cultural and archaeological evidence. There is also evidence in the modern culture to suggest that the ancient Keetoowah developed an ancient hereditary priesthood called the Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni , who were a religious ruling class of the Keetoowah people and Cherokee Society for thousands of years. According to Cherokee legend, when

1386-510: The Illinois River and Robert S. Kerr Reservoir . Interstate 40 runs east and west through Sequoyah County, while U.S. 59 runs north and south through the county. As of the census of 2000, there were 38,972 people, 14,761 households, and 10,982 families residing in the county. The population density was 22/km (57/sq mi). There were 16,940 housing units at an average density of 10/km (26/sq mi). The racial makeup of

1463-571: The National Register of Historic Places : 35°30′N 94°45′W  /  35.50°N 94.75°W  / 35.50; -94.75 Cherokee Nation (19th century) The Cherokee Nation ( Cherokee : ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ, pronounced Tsalagihi Ayeli ) was a legal, autonomous , tribal government in North America recognized from 1794 to 1907. It was often referred to simply as " The Nation " by its inhabitants. The government

1540-554: The U.S. federal government promised representatives of the state of Georgia to extinguish Native American titles to internal Georgia lands in return for the state's formal cession of its unincorporated western claim (which was made part of the Mississippi Territory ). Negotiating with states to give up western claims was part of the unfinished business from the American Revolution and establishing of

1617-527: The War of 1812 against Great Britain. He was the de facto principal chief from 1813–1827. The Cherokee Nation—East had first created electoral districts in 1817. By 1822, the Cherokee Supreme Court was founded. Lastly, the Cherokee Nation adopted a written constitution in 1827 that created a government with three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. The Principal Chief was elected by

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1694-406: The deerskin trade had brought white-tailed deer in the region to the brink of extinction. Americans introduced pig and cattle raising, and these animals replaced deer as the principal sources of meat. The Americans supplied the tribes with spinning wheels and cotton -seed, and men were taught to fence and plow the land. (In the Cherokee traditional division of labor, most cultivation for farming

1771-639: The 'arts of civilized life.' The Moravian, and later Congregationalist , missionaries also ran boarding schools. A select few students were chosen to be educated at the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions school in Connecticut . These men continued to be leaders in the tribe. Hicks participated in the Red Stick War , a civil war between traditional and progressive Creek factions. This coincided with part of US involvement in

1848-599: The 1700s, as they had posts in neighboring present-day Arkansas, part of their La Louisiane colony. Spain claimed the area until 1800, when France under Napoleon re-asserted control. He was making a last effort for French colonization in North America. But he ceded control by selling the Louisiana in 1803, when the United States purchased all French territory west of the Mississippi River. Until 1816

1925-640: The 20th century. In 1866, some Delaware ( Lenape ) were relocated to the Cherokee Nation from Kansas, where they had been sent in the 1830s. Assigned to the northeast area of the Indian Territory, they united with the Cherokee Nation in 1867. The Delaware Tribes operated autonomously within the lands of the Cherokee Nation. The Natchez are a Native American people who originally lived in the Natchez Bluffs area. The present-day city of Natchez, Mississippi developed in their former territory. By

2002-468: The Cherokee Nation was dissolved in 1906. After this, the structure and function of the tribal government were not formally defined. The federal government occasionally designated chiefs of a provisional "Cherokee Nation", but usually just long enough to sign treaties. As the shortcomings of the arrangement became increasingly evident to the Cherokee, a demand arose for the formation of a more permanent and accountable tribal government. New administrations at

2079-549: The Cherokee Nation–West. There were seven officially recognized battles involving Native American units, who were either allied with the Confederate States of America or loyal to the United States government. 3,000 out of 21,000 members served as a soldier in the Confederacy. Several prominent members of the Cherokee Nation made contributions during the war: After the war, the United States negotiated new treaties with

2156-475: The Cherokee Outlet to cattlemen . The lease income had supported the Cherokee Nation in its efforts to prevent further encroachments on tribal lands. All Native people residing in Indian Territory were granted US citizenship under an act (31 Stat. 1447) of March 3, 1901. The Cherokee Nation entered an allotment agreement in 1902, which provided that each tribal citizen would receive forty acres as

2233-461: The Cherokee culture was lost. The remaining Cherokee during this period in history begin to adopt and integrate cultural practices of other tribes who were being forcibly removed into Oklahoma Territory. To resist the cultural erosion, Redbird Smith and other Cherokee leaders and elders formed a secret society, the Keetoowah Nighthawk Society, where they secretly practiced the traditional ceremonies and gatherings. This group aimed to preserve much of

2310-857: The Cherokee exchanged remaining communal lands in Georgia (north of the Hiwassee River ), Tennessee, and North Carolina for lands in the Arkansaw Territory west of the Mississippi River . A majority of the remaining Cherokee resisted these treaties and refused to leave their lands east of the Mississippi. Finally, in 1830, the United States Congress enacted the Indian Removal Act to bolster

2387-519: The Cherokee mission on earth, for no man nor race is endowed with these qualifications without a designed purpose. Work and right training is the solution of my following. We as a group are still groping in darkness in many things, but this we know, we must work. A kindly man cannot help his neighbor in need unless he have a surplus and he cannot have a surplus unless he works. It is so simple and yet we have to continually remind our people of this. Our Mixed-bloods should not be overlooked in this program of

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2464-603: The Cherokee reunification council of 1809. Three important veterans of the Cherokee–American wars, James Vann (a successful businessman) and his two protégés, The Ridge (also called Ganundalegi or "Major" Ridge) and Charles R. Hicks , made up the younger 'Cherokee Triumvirate.' These leaders advocated acculturation of the people, formal education of the young, and introduction of European-American farming methods. In 1801 they invited Moravian missionaries to their territory from North Carolina to teach Christianity and

2541-595: The Cherokee to move there voluntarily. The reservation boundaries extended from north of the Arkansas River to the southern bank of the White River . The Cherokee who moved to this reservation became known as the "Old Settlers" or Western Cherokee. By additional treaties signed with the U.S., in 1817 ( Treaty of the Cherokee Agency, 8 July 1817 ) and 1819 ( Treaty of Washington, 27 February 1819 ),

2618-592: The Cherokee to side with the Confederacy, while Ross thought it better to remain neutral. This split was due to the Union's and Southern state's involvement of the Trail of Tears, which complicated the nation's political outlook. Within the first year of the war, general consensus in the nation moved towards siding with the Confederacy. Numerous skirmishes took place in the Trans-Mississippi area, which included

2695-461: The Confederacy free land. The study found that even though levels of inequality in 1860 were similar in the Cherokee Nation and the Confederacy, former black slaves prospered in the Cherokee Nation over the next decades. The Cherokee Nation had lower levels of racial inequality where blacks saw higher incomes, higher literacy rates, and greater school attendance. In 1898, the US Congress passed

2772-611: The Dawes Commission programs, the Cherokee culture and society was destabilized and strictly controlled. The federal government appointed chiefs of the tribe, who were reduced to administrators and carried out government programs intended to force assimilation of the Cherokee. As part of assimilation, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the government sponsored Indian boarding schools, where Cherokee and other Native American children attended away from their families. They were prohibited from speaking their own languages or practicing their own religions and cultures. Over time, much of

2849-467: The Fire (1984) documented the history of the Keetoowah Nighthawk Society, recounting their preservation of traditional ceremonies and rituals practiced and by the early Oklahoma Cherokee people. Sequoyah County, Oklahoma Sequoyah County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma . As of the 2020 census , the population was 39,281. The county seat is Sallisaw . Sequoyah County

2926-513: The Five Tribes, in preparation for the admission of Oklahoma as a state in 1907. It provided for the distribution of tribal lands to individuals and also gave the federal government the authority to determine who were members of each tribe. The Curtis Act provided that residents of Indian Territory had voting rights in local elections. Cherokee people, who were living in Indian Territory in 1901, were granted United States citizenship by virtue of

3003-510: The Keetoowah Nighthawk Society became, alongside the original Keetoowah Society , a spiritual core of the Cherokee people during the years of the early 1900s, in the Indian Territory that would eventually become a part of Oklahoma. The word "Keetoowah" is the name of the ancient Cherokee township of Kituwa in the Eastern Homeland of the Cherokee, where all Cherokee originated after the migration and integration of various groups from

3080-556: The Long House's group of eastern Indians' ancient rituals, customs and practices. His mother, Lizzie Hildebrand Smith, was from a prominent Cherokee family. During Redbird's childhood, his father committed him to the service of the Cherokee people in harmony with the ancient customs, and eventually he became chairman of the council. In 1889 the Redbird Movement began, splitting from Keetoowah to create Keetoowah Nighthawk,

3157-666: The National Council, which was the legislature of the Nation. A similar constitution was adopted by the Cherokee Nation—West in 1833. The Constitution of the reunited Cherokee Nation was ratified at Tahlequah, Oklahoma on September 6, 1839, at the conclusion of " The Removal ". The signing is commemorated every Labor Day weekend with the celebration of the Cherokee National Holiday . In 1802,

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3234-605: The US Department of Interior designated it a National Historic Landmark . The Nation was made up of scattered peoples mostly living in the Cherokee Nation–West and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians (both residing in the Indian Territory by the 1840s), and the Cherokee Nation–East ( Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians ); these became the three federally recognized tribes of Cherokee in

3311-611: The Union army during the American Civil War . European Americans encroached and settled on their lands after the war. In 1869, the Cherokee Nation and Loyal Shawnee agreed that 722 of the Shawnee would be granted Cherokee citizenship. They settled in Craig and Rogers counties . The Anishinaabe -speaking Swan Creek and Black River Chippewa bands were removed from southeast Michigan to Kansas in 1839. After Kansas became

3388-631: The United States to relocate (through the Indian Removal Act ) by way of the Trail of Tears (1830s); and descendants of the Natchez , the Lenape and the Shawnee peoples, and, after the Civil War and emancipation of slaves, Cherokee Freedmen and their descendants. The nation was recognized as a sovereign government; because the majority of its leaders allied with the Confederacy, the United States required

3465-672: The United States. European Americans were seeking more land in what became known as the Deep South because of the expansion of cotton plantations. Invention of the cotton gin had made short-staple cotton profitable, and it could be cultivated in the uplands of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. In 1815, the US government established a Cherokee Reservation in the Arkansaw district of the Missouri Territory and tried to convince

3542-427: The age of 18 living with them, 58.20% were married couples living together, 11.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.60% were non-families. 22.40% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.20% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.05. In the county, the population was spread out, with 27.40% under

3619-477: The age of 18, 8.20% from 18 to 24, 26.90% from 25 to 44, 24.00% from 45 to 64, and 13.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.50 males. In 2000, the median income for a household in the county was $ 27,615, and the median income for a family was $ 32,673. Males had a median income of $ 26,613 versus $ 19,751 for females. The per capita income for

3696-526: The central earthwork mound is still visible at the ancient townsite. Moundbuilding was not confined to the Cherokee, but was a common construction method of various Mississippian cultures and earlier peoples for thousands of years throughout the Mississippi Basin . Some Cherokee traditionalists refer to themselves as Ah-ni-ki-tu-wa-gi (spelled variously in local Oklahoma dialects as Ki-tu-wa or Gi-du-wa ), Keetoowah People. The addition of

3773-551: The central fire in Keetoowah to all the Cherokee communities; the coals were used to kindle the ceremonial fires for the dances in each Cherokee City or township. The home fires in outlying Cherokee communities were extinguished before the ceremonies and re-lit from the coals of the fire kindled during the Green Corn dances. The Cherokee Nation was divided by the Dawes Commission in the 1890s. The Dawes commission

3850-542: The county has a total area of 714 square miles (1,850 km ), of which 673 square miles (1,740 km ) is land and 41 square miles (110 km ) (5.7%) is water. The county is divided between the Ozark Plateau in the north and the Ouachita Mountains in the south. The Cookson Hills are in the northwest part of the county. The Arkansas River forms the southern border. Other major waterways are

3927-601: The county was $ 13,405. About 16.10% of families and 19.80% of the population were below the poverty line , including 24.80% of those under age 18 and 18.10% of those age 65 or over. The county law enforcement is the Sequoyah County Sheriff's Office . The department patrols all of the county's rural areas and provides at least three investigators in the department. The current sheriff is Larry Lane. The following sites in Sequoyah County are listed on

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4004-509: The county was 68.12% White , 1.86% Black or African American , 19.64% Native American , 0.22% Asian , 0.03% Pacific Islander , 0.74% from other races , and 9.39% from two or more races. 2.03% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 95.8% spoke English , 2.1% Cherokee and 1.7% Spanish as their first language. In 2020, its population grew to 39,281, though it was a decline from 2010's 42,391. As of 2000, there were 14,761 households, out of which 34.20% had children under

4081-527: The federal government the right to incorporate towns and establish public educational facilities. Under its terms tribal governments of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole Nations would be abolished on March 6, 1906 in preparation for uniting Indian and Oklahoma Territories into the State of Oklahoma. President Benjamin Harrison September 19, 1890, stopped the leasing of land in

4158-663: The federal level also recognized this issue, and the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration gained passage of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, encouraging tribes to re-establish governments and supporting more self-determination. The Cherokee convened a general convention on 8 August 1938 in Fairfield, Oklahoma , to elect a new Chief and reconstitute the Cherokee Nation . The Cherokee Nation

4235-407: The government had agreed to do, with much passion. In 1908, the Keetoowah Nighthawk Council held an election. As a result, Redbird Smith was chosen as chief and was known as the leader of the Keetoowah Nighthawk Society. Redbird Smith, great-grandfather of former Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chadwick "Corntassel" Smith, stated in the early 1900s: I have always believed that the Great Creator had

4312-399: The land allotment and registration of tribal members. Smith died in 1918, along with the Redbird Movement. The Keetoowah Nighthawk Society has been revived by the Cherokee in Oklahoma. In Redbird Smith's time, there were more than 20 Cherokee Stomp Grounds; the seven ceremonial dance grounds in Oklahoma today belong either to the Keetoowah tradition or the Four Mothers Society . The society

4389-479: The legal basis for the forcible removal known as the Trail of Tears. Most of the settlements were established in the area around the western capital of Tahlontiskee (near present-day Gore, Oklahoma ). Within the Cherokee Nation, there were advocates for neutrality, a Union alliance, and a Confederate alliance. Two prominent Cherokee, John Ross and Stand Watie were slaveholders and shared some values with Southern plantation owners. Watie thought it best for

4466-409: The majority of the nation. Many of the Cherokee were slaveholders; they also had been told that the Confederates would provide them with a Native American state if victorious in the war. The only combat was on June 15, 1864, when Colonel Stand Watie and his Confederate troops conducted the ambush of the Union steamboat J. R. Williams on the Arkansas River . According to the U.S. Census Bureau ,

4543-459: The mid-eighteenth century, the Natchez people were defeated by French colonists and dispersed from there. Many survivors had been sold (by the French) into slavery in the West Indies. Others took refuge with allied tribes, one of which was the Cherokee. Known as the Loyal Shawnee or Cherokee Shawnee, one band of Shawnee people relocated to Indian Territory with the Seneca people (Iroquois) in July 1831. The term "Loyal" came from their serving in

4620-408: The population grew too large to sustain the Mother city, groups moved to new areas and created new Cherokee Communities and Mound Cities. The residents of the city of Keetoowah called themselves "the Keetoowah People". The ancient site of the Mother City of Keetoowah is still visible in Western North Carolina in the same general area as the Qualla Boundary . Keetoowah was an ancient "Mound" city and

4697-506: The powerful Osage Nation dominated this and a much larger territory, reaching to the Mississippi River. With Lovely's Purchase , the US bought some of their land. Under pressure in the Southeast, some Cherokee migrated to the west early, and settled here on land granted by the US. The area was then known as Lovely County, Arkansas Territory . The US forced removal of the Western Cherokee from Arkansas in 1829, resettling them in Indian Territory: present-day Sequoyah County, Oklahoma. Sequoyah

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4774-415: The pre-removal culture, ceremonies, and beliefs of the Cherokee. Redbird Smith was an influential Nighthawk member who revitalized traditional spirituality among Cherokees, beginning in the late 19th century. He was born July 19, 1850, near the city of Fort Smith, Arkansas to parents traveling with other Cherokee to the Indian Territory from Georgia. His father, Pig Redbird Smith, was a devoted supporter of

4851-424: The reservation if the freedmen chose to stay with the tribe, as the US had done for enslaved African Americans. The area was made part of the reconstruction of the former Confederate States overseen by military officers and governors appointed by the federal government. A 2020 study contrasted the successful distribution of free land to former slaves in the Cherokee Nation with the failure to give former slaves in

4928-438: The site. Indications of Cherokee influence found in and about Tahlequah. For example, street signs appear in both the Cherokee language—in the syllabary alphabet created by Sequoyah (ca. 1767–1843) —and in English. Designed by architect C. W. Goodlander in the 'late Italianate' style, the Cherokee National Capitol was constructed between 1867 and 1869. Originally, it housed the nation's court as well as other offices. In 1961,

5005-438: The southern Appalachia region. Various leaders were periodically appointed (by mutual consent of the towns) to represent the towns or bands to French, British and, later, United States authorities as was needed. The Cherokee knew this leader as "First Beloved Man" —or Uku. The English had translated this as " chief ". The chief's function was to serve as focal point for negotiations with the encroaching Europeans. Hanging Maw

5082-437: The strength of their commitment and numbers—and using the record of Cherokee and Keetoowah history of a sacred wampum belt that they had located—the remaining Nighthawks "strove to preserve the ancient Cherokee culture;" in 1908 they elected Smith as chief for life. But, as Michael Lee Weber notes, "his movement had already declined," and by the end of 1918, "Redbird Smith, 'the moving spirit'" of their society, had died. Hence,

5159-431: The treaties and forcibly free up title to the lands desired by the states. At this time, one-third of the remaining Native Americans left voluntarily, especially because the act was being enforced by use of government troops and the Georgia militia. Although The Treaty of New Echota was not approved by the Cherokee National Council nor signed by Principal Chief John Ross, it was amended and ratified in March 1836, and became

5236-448: The verb stem modifier "gi" indicates the word Ki-tu'-wa-gi means, "a gathering or putting together of the Ki-tu'-wa people", since "gi" means "to combine" in the Cherokee Language . Most modern Cherokee speakers can no longer translate the word "Ki-tu-wa," as the meaning of the word has been lost. Ki-tu-wa means "the mother city" or "the center (spiritual center)" in the ancient Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni dialect. The word Ki-tu'-wa-gi , implies

5313-404: The years before allotment and Oklahoma Statehood. The Cherokee Nation consisted of the Cherokee (ᏣᎳᎩ —pronounced Tsalagi or Cha-la-gee ) people of the Qualla Boundary and the southeastern United States; those who relocated voluntarily from the southeastern United States to the Indian Territory (circa 1820 —known as the "Old Settlers"); those who were forced by the Federal government of

5390-518: Was among the Cherokee who moved into this area, where he built a cabin that still stands. The Dwight Mission was moved to a site on Sallisaw Creek, and it still stands. In the late 1830s, the US forced Indian Removal of most of the Cherokee in the Southeast from the remainder of their lands. They had to trek under Army escort to Indian Territory , a passage they called the Trail of Tears for its high fatalities and sorrows of leaving their homelands. The Cherokee Nation established its first capital at

5467-406: Was arrested and also compelled to enroll for allotment. The Nighthawks would not acknowledge these forced commitments, and as other Cherokee become citizens of Oklahoma (statehood, November 16, 1907), the traditionalists, believing that "acculturation represented the greatest threat to [their] people," fled to hilly areas near Blackgum Mountain (in present-day Sequoyah County, Oklahoma ). There, on

5544-710: Was created in 1907 when Oklahoma became a state. It was named after Sequoyah , who created the Cherokee syllabary and its written language. Sequoyah County is part of the Fort Smith , AR-OK metropolitan statistical area . Archaeological sites within the borders of the present county date to the Archaic Period (6000 BC to 1 AD). A slightly smaller number of sites date to the Plains Village period (1000 to 1500 AD). French traders came to this area in

5621-502: Was divided into nine districts [1] named Canadian, Cooweescoowee, Delaware, Flint, Goingsnake, Illinois, Saline, Sequoyah, and Tahlequah (capital). Founded in 1838, Tahlequah was developed as the new capital of a united Cherokee Nation. It was named after the historic Great Tellico , an important Cherokee town and cultural center in present-day Tennessee that was one of the largest Cherokee towns ever established. The mostly European-American settlement of Tellico Plains later developed at

5698-569: Was done by women.) Women were instructed in weaving. Eventually, blacksmiths, gristmills and cotton plantations (along with slave labor) were established. Succeeding Little Turkey as Principal Chief were Black Fox (1801–1811) and Pathkiller (1811–1827), both former warriors of Dragging Canoe. "The separation", a phrase which the Cherokee used to describe the period after 1776, when the Chickamauga had left other bands that were in close proximity to Anglo-American settlements, officially ended at

5775-640: Was effectively disbanded in 1907, after its land rights had been extinguished, prior to the admission of Oklahoma as a state. During the late 20th century, the Cherokee people reorganized, instituting a government with sovereign jurisdiction known as the Cherokee Nation . On July 9, 2020, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Muscogee (Creek) Nation (and by extension the Cherokee Nation) had never been disestablished in

5852-709: Was recognized as a chief by the United States government, but not by the majority of Cherokee peoples. At the end of the Cherokee–American wars (1794), Little Turkey was recognized as " Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation " by all the towns. At that time, Cherokee communities were on lands claimed by the states of North Carolina , South Carolina , Georgia , and the Overhill area, located in present-day eastern Tennessee . The break-away Chickamauga band (or Lower Cherokee), under War Chief Dragging Canoe ( Tsiyugunsini , 1738–1792), had retreated to and inhabited

5929-400: Was tasked to force assimilation and breakup of tribal governments within Oklahoma by instilling the concept of land ownership among individual households of the Five Civilized Tribes . The commission divided large sections of land into household allotments to eliminate the traditional governments of the Cherokee and other tribes, which were based on communal holding of land. As a consequence of

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