CHEROKEES IN ARKANSAS A historical synopsis prepared for the Arkansas State Racing Commission. John Jolly - first elected Chief of the Western OPERATED BY: Cherokee in Arkansas in 1824. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum LegendsArkansas.com For additional information on CNB’s cultural tourism program, go to VisitCherokeeNation.com THE CROSSING OF PATHS TIMELINE OF CHEROKEES IN ARKANSAS Late 1780s: Some Cherokees began to spend winters hunting near the St. Francis, White, and Arkansas Rivers, an area then known as “Spanish Louisiana.” According to Spanish colonial records, Cherokees traded furs with the Spanish at the Arkansas Post. Late 1790s: A small group of Cherokees relocated to the New Madrid settlement. Early 1800s: Cherokees continued to immigrate to the Arkansas and White River valleys. 1805: John B. Treat opened a trading post at Spadra Bluff to serve the incoming Cherokees. 1808: The Osage ceded some of their hunting lands between the Arkansas and White Rivers in the Treaty of Fort Clark. This increased tension between the Osage and Cherokee. 1810: Tahlonteeskee and approximately 1,200 Cherokees arrived to this area. 1811-1812: The New Madrid earthquake destroyed villages along the St. Francis River. Cherokees living there were forced to move further west to join those living between AS HISTORICAL AND MODERN NEIGHBORS, CHEROKEE the Arkansas and White Rivers. Tahlonteeskee settled along Illinois Bayou, near NATION AND ARKANSAS SHARE A DEEP HISTORY AND present-day Russellville. The Arkansas Cherokee petitioned the U.S. government CONNECTION WITH ONE ANOTHER. for an Indian agent. 1813: William Lewis Lovely was appointed as agent and he set up his post on CHEROKEE NATION BUSINESSES RESPECTS AND WILL Illinois Bayou. CONTINUE TO BUILD ON THAT STRONG PARTNERSHIP 1816: Lovely negotiated an Osage land cession benefitting the Cherokee (aka FOR THE GENERATIONS TO COME. “Lovely’s Purchase”). This exacerbated tensions between the Osage and the Cherokee. 1817: Hostilities between the Osage and Cherokee result in the Battle of Clermount/ Claremore Mound/Strawberry Moon. This led to the establishment of Forts Smith and Gibson. Hostilities continued until the mid-1820s. 1817: The Treaty of the Cherokee Agency was signed by Cherokee leaders in both the east and west. Including the western leaders was the first formal recognition of the The 1997 dedication of Western Cherokee. This treaty also created a “Cherokee Reservation” in Arkansas that “Cherokee Crossing” in included what is now Pope County. Russellville, AR. The marker memorializes Cherokees 1821: Dwight Mission was established near present-day Russellville. who called the River Valley 1824: The Western Cherokee formally organized their government. Around home. (left to right) former Cherokee Nation Principal this time, Sequoyah immigrated to Arkansas and established a salt spring near Chief Joe Byrd, President present-day Scottsville (Pope County). of the Russellville Area Ministerial Association 1828: A treaty with the U.S. government ceded the Western Cherokees’ land in Steve Galbo, Miss Cherokee Arkansas for land in what is now Oklahoma. Lindsay Houston and 1838-1839: Cherokees (and members of other tribes) traveled through this area during Cherokee Nation Deputy Chief James Garland Eagle. forced removal from their eastern homelands. There was a water route that traveled the Arkansas River. 1 2 CHEROKEES IN ARKANSAS EARLY CHEROKEE Cherokees migrated from their southeastern homelands to areas of present-day MIGRATIONS TO ARKANSAS Arkansas as early as the mid-to-late 1700s. By the early 1800s, between 2-4,000 Cherokees were living in the Arkansas Territory, near the St. Francis River in In 1788, a group of Cherokees under the leadership of Cherokee headman northeast Arkansas and along the Illinois Bayou and Arkansas River in what is Toquo received permission from the Spanish government to settle in what now Pope County. In 1821, Dwight Mission was established on the west bank was then Spanish Territory. Many of these settlements were initially located of the Illinois Bayou. In 1828, the Western Cherokees, or “Old Settlers,” signed along the St. Francis and White Rivers but some did continue further west a treaty with the U.S. government ceding their land in Arkansas for lands in along the Arkansas River. Following the Louisiana Purchase, Meriwether Lewis what is now Oklahoma. and William Clark were sent to explore the new land acquisition. In 1804, Lewis Throughout the next two centuries, Cherokee Nation’s history continued to reported that there were two Cherokee towns on the St. Francis River. In 1805, be intertwined with the history of Arkansas: from the Cherokees who traveled a trading post at Spadra Bluff (near present-day Clarksville) was established to through Arkansas on their journey to Indian Territory on what became known serve the incoming Cherokees. In 1808, the Osage ceded some of their hunting as the Trail of Tears to Fort Smith, which held legal jurisdiction over federal territory located between the Arkansas and White Rivers in the Treaty of Fort crimes in Indian Territory throughout much of the 19th century. Clark. This land was then occupied by the Cherokee, causing friction Cherokee Nation holds great reverence for historic sites in present-day between the tribes. Arkansas. These sites are often included on motor coach tours that travel through Arkansas on the way to Cherokee, North Carolina, retracing the In 1810, several prominent Cherokees Trail of Tears. led larger emigrant parties to the area. This included leaders such as Duwali (the Bowl), Tahlonteeskee, and Takatoka. A series of earthquakes rattled the region beginning in December 1811 and the Cherokees moved their settlements further west, to an area just north of the Arkansas River. Tahlonteeskee himself settled along the Illinois Bayou, near present-day Russellville. It was during this time that the Duwali, also known as “The Bowl” or John Bowles “Western Cherokees” requested an Indian Agent from the Image courtesy of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission U.S. government. By 1813 a large number of Cherokees were living west of the Mississippi. Estimates of the number of Cherokee residing Map of the Trail of in Arkansas range from 2,000-4,000. The majority of these Cherokee settlements Tears portion of the were on the White and Arkansas Rivers. The Cherokees set up a political Arkansas Heritage Trails System organization independent of their eastern brethren and called their group the Image courtesy of “Cherokee Nation West.” Today, this group is called the Western Cherokee, or the Arkansas Historic Old Settlers. Preservation Program 3 4 William Lewis Lovely was appointed as the area’s first Indian Agent in 1813. This was the first step in recognizing the Western Cherokee as a separate entirety. SEQUOYAH Lovely established his post on the Illinois Bayou and worked to bring peace between the area’s Osage and Cherokee residents. In 1816, Lovely negotiated Famed Cherokee diplomat and scholar Sequoyah moved to Arkansas sometime an Osage land cession (“Lovely’s Purchase”) that would create a 7-million-acre between 1820-1824. He settled along the Illinois Bayou, where he operated a buffer zone between the tribes. Hostilities remained and the Osage killed a war salt-making business. party of about 100 Cherokees the same year. A coalition of Cherokee and other Sequoyah was born in approximately 1765 in the lower Appalachian region tribes affected by Osage hostility gathered at the Cherokee Agency on the of Tennessee. He operated a popular trading post and was known as a skilled Illinois Bayou to plan an attack on Osage Chief Clermont’s village. In October blacksmith and silversmith. 1817, about 600-700 Cherokee, Choctaw, Delaware, and Shawnee warriors traveled west to fight the Osage in what would later be known as the Battle of Around 1809, Sequoyah began to study the syntax and structure of the Cherokee the Strawberry Moon, or the Battle of Claremore Mound. These hostilities led to language, a project he worked on for twelve years. The War of 1812 interrupted his the eventual founding of Forts Smith and Gibson. plans, and he volunteered to fight. After his second term of enlistment ended, he married Sallie Waters and their On July 8, 1817, a treaty was signed in the eastern family spent time in Alabama before settling in Arkansas Cherokee Nation that ceded eastern land for around 1820-1824. Sequoyah once again began to study lands in present-day Arkansas. As many as 4,000 the language. His first attempts were to make a symbol Cherokees planned to move to Arkansas as a result for each word, but that quickly became too much of of this treaty. This included parties under leaders an undertaking. He became more selective and began John Jolly and Walter Webber. The parties and listening more intently to the individual sounds of the their families organized into traditional “towns,” language. Sequoyah realized there were distinct syllables spread out along tributaries from the north used to make up words in the Cherokee language. He side of the Arkansas River, places such as Galla created symbols to match the syllables then used them Creek, Illinois Bayou, Piney Creek, Spadra Creek, Sequoyah, also known as in various combinations to form words. Horsehead Creek, and Mulberry River, as well as George Guess or Gist. Image In 1821, Sequoyah returned from his new home in Dutch Creek and Spring Creek south of the river. courtesy of the Smithsonian Arkansas to the eastern homelands of the Cherokees John Jolly, also known as Col- On September 11, 1824, the Western Cherokee National Portrait Gallery to teach his written language. Only a year after its lee or Jol-lee. Image courtesy formally organized their government along of the Smithsonian American introduction, 90% of the Cherokee people could read democratic lines. Executive power was vested in Art Museum and write the syllabary because it was so logical to the native speaker.