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The History of the Western Cherokee Nation of Arkansas & Missouri

Our people settled all over the western water shed of the Mississippi; our forbearers multiplied so that today we estimate our Cherokee people to number over two hundred thousand. We still call our tribe the Western Cherokee Nation of Arkansas and Missouri. Our effort today is to make our people aware of the fact that our nation is here. We had over 15,000 people on the 1990 census of Arkansas and Missouri. We would like for all our sisters and brothers to come back to the nation of their roots.

We have existed here since John Smith arrived with a large group in 1721 during the French and Spanish occupation. We have lived on and near the St. Francis River area and are now spread out over a large area of the states. Twenty years before the Trail of Tears, on November 2, 1819, John Ross wrote of our nation in a letter to James Monroe, the President of the United States. In the letter, Ross referred to our people, west of the Mississippi, as the Cherokee on the St. Francis River, located in southeast Missouri and northeast Arkansas, who had moved here many years ago. John Ross later became chief of the Old Cherokee Nation in the southeast. It should be mentioned that the government recognized our nation until 1840.

Indian Agents, Samuel Treat and WM I Lovely, were assigned to our forefathers. After the Louisiana Purchase and Trail of Tears in 1838-1839, the government chose to ignore or forget our people. Our effort today is to recover that lost or forgotten federal recognition of our nation.

In 1825, four years after statehood, Missouri passed legislation which outlawed American Indians in Missouri. Many Indians came back to Arkansas, many passed as white so they could stay in Missouri. Our people in Arkansas also hid out. For many years, until 1924, we were not citizens. Much suffering has been on our people, it is time to stand up and be counted. All together we can be strong, we are a nation, and if we are politically strong, we can get our federal recognition back and be our own people. All together, all Cherokee people standing together, the Cherokee Nation will rise again, from the ashes of the past.