Southern Towns District

Dotsu’ Unastetsistiya: Southern District – Pending Township.
Texas Counties in Southern Towns District

Aransas, Atascosa, Austin, Bandera, Bastrop, Bee, Bexar, Blanco, Brazoria, Brazos, Brewster, Brooks, Burleson, Caldwell, Calhoun, Cameron, Chambers, Colorado, Comal, DeWitt, Dimmit, Duval, Edwards, Fayette, Fort Bend, Frio, Galveston, Gillespie, Goliad, Gonzales, Grimes, Guadalupe, Hardin, Harris, Hays, Hidalgo, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Jim Hogg, Jim Wells, Karnes, Kendell, Kenedy, Kerr, Kinney, Kleberg, LaSalle, Lavaca, Lee, Liberty, Live Oak, Matagorda, Maverick, McMullen, Medina, Montgomery, Newton, Nueces, Orange, Polk, Presidio, Real, Refugio, San Jacinto, San Patricio, Starr, Terrell, Travis, Tyler, Uvalde, Val Verde, Victoria, Walker, Waller, Washington, Webb, Wharton, Willacy, Wilson, Zapata, Zavala

Chief John K. Garcia - Big Sky

Chief John Garcia – Big Sky

Southern Towns District
Tsalagiyi Nvdagi Tribe
7795 Easley Dr.
Beaumont, Texas 77713

bthicketjkg@twc.com

(936) 371-0905
(please leave a Voicemail message and phone number.)

Southern District Chief, John Big Sky’, is available for inquiry to anyone of Cherokee / Tsalagi heritage, with probable family History, Photographs and Genealogy Information to reinforce Cherokee membership and family identity. He can provide Member Application Forms for those Interested. We are accepting applications for NEW members who are interested in joining this Cultural and American Indian /Indigenous family of People, in the Southern District of Texas.

Solidarity & Support for Leonard Peltier Defense

source – indianz.com

Legal Expense contact & donations, can be sent to
Cgokee999@ gmail.com

source – www.cbc.ca/news

Our History:

Osiyo’ – The Chickamauga Cherokee Band, from the Great Smoky Mountains removed themselves from the Southeastern U.S. region, and Tennessee during the early 1800’s due to White Encroachment in the Appalachian Cherokee lands and warfare with the American Whites. One of Chief Dragging Canoe’s protégé’s Duwali / John Bowles, half Cherokee / half Scots-Irish, became a leader after Dragging Canoe’s death, and lead a number of these Chickamauga people to immigration in the West to Spanish Tejas.

They finally arrived in Eastern Tejas and the Plains near Dallas, in 1819 – and were pushed back to the Piney Woods by conflict with Comanches and other Tribes of the area. Chief Duwali, made a Treaty with Sam Houston, leader of the Texas Revolutionaries, and remained neutral during the Battle for Texas Independence. Afterwards, Houston became President of the Republic of Texas, but the legislature failed to approve or ratify the Treaty towards Bowles and his Cherokee people.

The next President of Texas; Mirabeau Lamar, an ardent Indian Hater, forced Duwali /Bowles out of the Republic by Military Force by the Texas Army after a Notice of Removal from military Envoy’s. At the Battle of the Neches, between Dallas and Tyler, Texas – the Army of Texas engaged and killed many innocent Chickamauga Cherokee Women, children, elderly, and other Allied American Indian tribes who fought and lived with Chief Bowles during the period. Chief Bowles was shot at point-blank, and the surviving Cherokee and Others either fled to Indian Territory, south to Mexico or Southern Texas, or deep into the Eastern Texas woodlands and the Big Thicket in southeast Texas, to reclaim their former land and homesteads, and had to deny and hide their true indigenous Identity and Cherokee culture. Many intermarried with whites or African freedmen, Mexican or Creole-Cajun families as well.

In 1993, the Descendants and active Remnant of these Cherokee renegades, alternative and separately Independent from the Principal Cherokees in Oklahoma and North Carolina, began to re-establish and reorganize the Tsalagiyi Nvdagi / Cherokee in Texas, Tribe, under the leadership of U.S. Marine Veteran & Native Texan D.L. ‘Pappy’ Utsidihi Hicks, and are a recognized American Indian Tribe, by the Republic of Mexico, and The State of Texas, per Governor Greg Abbott., 10/10/2019, as well as a Non-Profit 501(c)3 Organization. These Cherokee are spread out across Texas, and the United States in various regions. 

Topographical Map of Texas Geography

TSALAGIYI NVDAGI: Bicentennial / 1819 – 2019 Historic Snapshot.

In the Summer of 1839, after the July 16 infamous ‘Battle of the Neches’ episode of Texas History, had been concluded in its majority – and the Republic of Texas Military had decimated and defeated the Tsalagiyi Nvdagi’ / Texas Cherokee & Allied Tribes of Eastern Texas near the present-day city of Tyler; Republic of Texas President Mirabeau B. Lamar had seemingly accomplished His Goal of Eradication and Elimination of the Appalachian, Southeastern, and Eastern Atlantic Coastal Immigrant Tribes from the ‘Texas’ Republic and Geography, with the minor Remnant of Creek Alibamo-Kosati Tribes in the Big Thicket near present-day Livingston, still settled and a more difficult Situation of Conflict with the Great Comanche Bands of the vast Western Expanse of the Southern Plains Texas Regions…presenting a problem to Lamar’s Anti-‘Indian’ plans & policies.

Upon the Death of Our Founding Ugu’, DUWALI’ / Chief John Bowles; and of the Texas Military actions of Killing Innocent Chickamauga / Tsagamaki -Tsalagi Elders, Women and Children; Duwali’, the aged-elderly Chickamauga Chief had rode and fought from present-day Alto, Texas all the way up to the stronghold along the Neches River woodlands in present-day Van Zandt, County – near Tyler, Texas. President Lamar, with seriousness and in His notable Bombastic Expressions; for the most part made it Clear to the People and Political Position of the Republic of Texas, ” that the RATS NEST of EASTERN TRIBES, in Eastern Texas HAD BEEN FINALLY CLEANED OUT”.

We Honor All of Those Who Died & Perished with Chief / Ugu Duwali’ on the Battlefields and Woodlands of East Texas, during their fight for Independence, Freedom, and Human Dignity, that WAS PROMISED & MADE A TREATY; with Good Intent, BUT WAS DISHONORED, by those in political power, and that opposed any Habitation of ‘Red Indian’s’ in the Newly formed Nation of Texas, and the much Sought after, former Caddo Lands & then Cherokee Lands by Eager Settlers and Newcomers to the fledgling Texas landscape.

May Our Tsalagiyi Nvdagi Ancestor’s who Died & Shed their Blood, and fought the Good Battle, NEVER BE FORGOTTEN or DISMISSED by the Convenience’s and Commercialism of Our present 21st Century lives and World.

TSIYU GUNSINI – DRAGGING CANOE: CHICKAMAUGA / ANIYUNWIYA TSALAGI

(Dragging Canoe (ᏥᏳ ᎦᏅᏏᏂ, pronounced Tsiyu Gansini, “he is dragging his canoe”) (c. 1738–February 29, 1792) was a Cherokee war chief who led a band of disaffected Cherokee against colonists and United States settlers in the Upper South. During the American Revolution and afterward, Dragging Canoe’s forces were sometimes joined by Upper Muskogee, Chickasaw, Shawnee, and Indians from other tribes/nations, along with British Loyalists, and agents of France and Spain. The series of conflicts lasted a decade after the American Revolutionary War. Dragging Canoe became the preeminent war leader among the Indians of the southeast of his time. He served as war chief of the Chickamauga Cherokee (or “Lower Cherokee”) from 1777 until his death in 1792, when he was succeeded by John Watts, in the Tennessee / Great Smoky Mountains and John Bowles who led immigrant Chickamauga’s to Spanish Tejas in the early 19th Century.)

TSIYU GUNSINI – DRAGGING CANOE: CHICKAMAUGA / ANIYUNWIYA TSALAGI

Sam Houston was a friend to Cherokee people

By WILL CHAVEZ Assistant Editor @cp_wchavez / 7-10-2020;

TAHLEQUAH — As a young man, Samuel Houston developed a relationship with Cherokee people that would last most of his life. He was given the Cherokee name, Kolana or Raven.

Born in Rockbridge County, Virginia, on March 2, 1793, Houston and his family migrated to Maryville, Tennessee, when he was 16. After this, Houston became acquainted with the Cherokee and began a life-long relationship with them.

He served under Gen. Andrew Jackson & in the War of 1812. With Jackson’s support, Houston won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1823 and then served as the Tennessee governor from October 1827 to April 1829. In 1829, after divorcing, Houston resigned from office and joined his Cherokee friends in Arkansas Territory.

“Sam Houston’s time with the Cherokee changed him for the better. He was an officially adopted Cherokee,” said Joy Montgomery who co-authored the book “Sam Houston’s Quest: The Cherokee and African-American Virtue Agenda” with her father Robin Montgomery. “From growing up with the Cherokee he, like few of his time, could walk between two worlds in full understanding of both. It made him see the world through a different lens — he was both a part of and part ‘foreign’ to both worlds. I would like to think he gained the best of both worlds and could also better see the flaws — most importantly he was an ambassador for the Cherokee.”

Houston may be best known as a Texan and a soldier. He settled in Texas in 1832 and played a pivotal role in the Texas Revolution to gain independence from Mexico. He served as the first and third President of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two individuals to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate in 1846. He was elected the seventh governor of Texas in December 1859, becoming the only American to be elected governor of two states.

After the Battle of Gonzales between Mexican and Texas forces in October 1835, he helped organize Texas’s provisional government and was selected as the top-ranking official in the Texan army. He led that army to victory at the Battle of San Jacinto in April 1836, the decisive battle in Texas’s war for independence against Mexico.

“On the eve of the Texas Revolution, just prior to the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence, he went to be with the Cherokee,” Montgomery said. “Looking at his strategy at the battle of San Jacinto — I would claim that it was due to his time with the Cherokee that he won that battle, and that Texas owes a great deal of gratitude to the Cherokee. I do (claim) as well as 13 of my family members who were at that battle.”

She said when Texas was looking to secede from Mexico, Houston was declaring that if Texas must secede it secede back to a Republic and claim Mexico as a protectorate. He was still trying to find lands for the Cherokee, and she said Principal Chief John Ross and Houston tried to work with Mexico for lands for the Cherokee

“The time that he enjoyed most was being with the Cherokee. It was where he felt most at home and most himself,” she said. “He was constantly fighting for rights of the Cherokee and Native Americans. He fought against corrupt Indian agents and broken treaties.”

Later, Houston played a key role in the annexation of Texas by the United States in 1845. He also joined the Democratic Party and supported President James K. Polk’s prosecution of the Mexican–American War.

As the governor of Texas, he opposed secession and unsuccessfully sought to keep Texas out of the Confederate States of America. He was forced out of office in 1861 and afterwards his health declined. He died on July 26, 1863, at age 70. A Cherokee village was located near his home where he died in Huntsville, Texas, Montgomery said.

The fourth most populous city in the United States; Houston, Texas is named in his honor.

Source: Cherokee Phoenix News / cherokeephoenix.org – 2020.

Other sources: Haley, James L. (2002) “Sam Houston,” University of Oklahoma Press; Williams, John H. (1994) “Sam Houston: Life and Times of Liberator of Texas an Authentic American Hero,” Simon and Schuster

source photos; Sam Houston – SHSU Sam Houston Memorial Museum – Archives
source photos; Sam Houston – SHSU Sam Houston Memorial Museum – Archives
source photos; Sam Houston – SHSU Sam Houston Memorial Museum – Archives
source photos; Jack Jackson comic novel – 1999 MoJo Press, mojopress.com / The Austin Chronicle
source photos; Jack Jackson comic novel – 1999 MoJo Press, mojopress.com / The Austin Chronicle
source: courtesy of amazon. com

NATIVE IDENTITY; Walking 2 Roads in the Modern World – Colonialism, Conformity, Quantum, & Destiny.

It is understandable, concerning the ancestry and history of Indigenous American’ peoples…, that because of various actions, behaviors, and legal policy of the various Non-Indigenous People, who immigrated, or that were brought to the shores of North America either by force, or free-will; have no genuine sense of the meanings, and seriousness’ of the numerable American Indian nations and tribes that once dominated and populated the landscape and regions of the North American continent.

Because of this backdrop reason and the episodes of ‘United States’ history; most 20th & 21st Century Native American’ communities or individuals have been inundated with conflict, factionalism, separation, and vilification between themselves, their families, leadership, and also between generations, of Elders and Youth, between Full blood, & Mixed-blood American Indian populations.

Because of the colonial and commercialized intent of both Spanish, English as well as French explorers and migratory settlers from those Nations during the 17th Century, and the eventual conflicts that lead to the creation of the U.S. Government; and all that followed during the 1800’s between Presidents, states, religious groups and missionaries, and the Industrial & Capital owning business interest and railroad system – American Indian peoples, had to deal with a stark reality of either fighting to the death, against such invasion and negativity towards their Indigenous cultures OR/ to slowly accept and accommodate, assimilate, and appropriate these European, and ‘American’ forms of culture, living, and working to survive in the society that came upon them, uninvited to the reality that caused certain instances of inter-racial marriages, rape & violations, or separation from Tribal families into ‘Non-Indian’, white culture to a point that lead to a denial, and dismissal of any former or family Identities of being, of an American Indian heritage or proudness and continual practice of Indigenous culture, languages.

As the Modern Age emerged, with electricity and World Wars; the U.S. Federal government began to increase policies that reduced dependence and independence as American Indian People with one another and their Tribes, communities and towards individualism, material survival and trauma in an ever increasing, technological reality for the entire human citizenry of North America.

With consumerism, lack of legal status and religious liberty and rights as American Indian people; more and more American Indian youth and adults forgot their cultural past and heritage that defined the realities of their Ancestors and of the Seven Generations to come.

There were however; some older generations who kept the secrets and heritage of their Tribal past’s alive and well, in spite of having to hide or only practice when no one else was around, or when going into mainstream society, etc. Due to religious ideas, indoctrinations, and notions of a predominant white Catholic or Protestant Christian world-view, and reality…, in mainstream society of the United States during the 20th Century – most American Indian people, had lost all ability to speak their traditional language, or think in their traditional psychology and to pursue relationships with the Divine Creator’ and practice ancestral Spirituality.

Before & after the end of the ‘Indian Wars’ period, and with federal recognitions of certain remaining American Indian nations – the U.S. government began qualifying members of these Indigenous Peoples, with certain criteria that would allow only the documented, enrolled, and familial record holding members of these remaining American

Indian Nations; as the ONLY TRUE, accepted American Indian Peoples’ of the United States and within the said Tribal jurisdictions and qualifications for Identity.

Eventually; this concept and it’s results would cause even more identity crisis, trauma, and uncertainties regarding many individuals with Indigenous heritage, or those with partial American Indian demographics and genetics.

With the end of World War II, and into the Cold War period between the U.S. and Soviet Union of Russia; the emerging resurgence of American Indian identity and organizations would increase during the Post-World War II Era. During the 1960’s, the National Indian Youth Council  emerged and contributed to the increase in awareness of American Indian identity, and also as a forerunner of the American Indian Movement, or A.I.M.

As the American Indian Movement engaged the federal government, and increased in membership, alliances among Young generations of Tribal communities; at the same time, an environmental awareness was also emerging within the U.S. and among non-‘Indian’ Americans.

Perhaps as a by-product, of all of this – more and more families, individuals, and youth became interested in Genealogy and seeking out the answers to questions, or to open-up old-family secrets, of an American Indian past, ancestors, and heritage that had been covered up, and hidden on purpose within those families. This Particular dilemma, provided a doorway to knowledge, learning…., and also as a starting path for many people, of mixed-bloodlines, ethnicity, racial backgrounds, upon what would become known, in a symbolic sense of the word, THE RED ROAD.

As the 1970’s, 80’s, & 90’s moved onward and into the 21st Century of today – there were & are probably more individuals examining and searching their familial past and records, etc. to confirm and present themselves as part of, or to become affiliated with present-day American Indian tribes and nations across the United States. With the success of genuine portrayals, and participation in the Arts’ & Film of Native American heroes, characters, songwriters, musicians, poets, performance artist and writers – during the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s; the pursuits of identifying ancestors and finding factual evidence of American Indian Heritage – continued to fuel an increase in Indigenous identity and reorganizing previous communities, that had been dismissed or negated by the Federal Govt. or other federally recognized tribes and nations.

This reality can become difficult at times due to the previous discussion I have presented earlier in this commentary. While being born into the modern way of life, and society, technology-based world of today…, what some would call THE WHITE ROAD, and depending on all of material culture, commercial production / supply of all human needs, and life in the U.S., with all comforts and entertainment amenities that are provided and so on – those who are determined and resolute to follow their path’ of discovery and reassertion into the realms of Identity and Reconciliation to an American Indian ethos’ and way of life as best they can…, can continue to educate & learn themselves, from resources, various Tribal Elders and teachers, as well as finding local Indigenous groups and sovereign communities that are committed to THE RED ROAD, to an Indigenous / Native American path for their communities and as individuals as the World and 21st Century continues to move on, unravel with all the uncertainties and unseen good and dangers to come?!*

Wado Equa.

Red Road / Hand – Source: https://redroadradio.com ; Red Road Radio Show.
Brown Eagle / Native American Heritage Month – Illustration courtesy of, Smoker Marchand ( Colville Confederated Tribes ).
Sepia Brown Indian / Modern Native Veteran – Source: Warrior Tradition PBS.org
The White Road
The White Road – Author: John Connolly / Simon & Schuster Publisher.

Cherokee Syllabary & Language

source photo; science.unctv.org

Charity & Humanitarian Opportunities:

Osiyo’ – the following internet links, are local / national charities that pertain to helping the severely needy and destitute within Tsalagiyi Nvdagi – Southern District counties, in Latin America’, and across Indian Country in the United States. Please feel free to read, donate or participate in any of these Charities.

Wado Equa’ ~ Chief Big Sky’

Tsani Galvloi Equa’ Y Mahpiyato Tonka’: BIG SKY Current Commentary On Turtle Island / 2022.

Osiyo’, Tsalagiyi Nvdagi Tribe…, it is with soberness & solemnity that I offer a few words, commentary on the state of reality upon Turtle Island., during this Time in the Western World’s year of 2022′.

Most or some of You, know me from Tribal Gatherings or other meetings in recent years. My first name is John, and I was also given the Ani-Tsalagi name, of Galvloi Equa’, or Big Sky some years ago by a Tribal leader, and knowledge keeper. In the Oglala Lakota culture, language that name would sound as Mahpiyato Tonka, as I also have Oglala Lakota relatives, from my Fathers’ family in South Dakota., and honor their relations to myself, and family heritage.

To address a few of the concerns and controversy, that are affecting and going on upon Turtle Island, North America, in the United States – I would say that the society and system that eventually was built, and reinforced thru colonialism, commercialism, capitalism, and political collectivism, and organized religion’ (Catholicism/ Protestantism) and Industrialism after the theft and broken Treaties of American Indian lands, and territories from the 16th thru the 20th Centuries – radically altered and aggravated the traditional Indigenous ways of life, beliefs, and survival of not only Our Ani -Tsalagi ancestors, but all of the other Tribes and Nations who lived and governed themselves for centuries prior to any foreign governments, immigrants, or manipulative power structures.

It seems, that many of these previously named forces – have done their part and share, in shaping life and realities in the United States, and upon Turtle Island, that many Indigenous Tribes live and survive with continually, as well as the majority of Non-Native, Non-American Indian citizens of the U.S., since the eras and periods of the previous 20th Century.

With being given the name of ‘Big Sky’, and of its meaning – it is with a heavy weight and opportunity, that I live with observing, seeing, and weighing all that I see happening in the World, seeing the bigger picture’ of Life and of the greater humanity across Turtle Island, throughout the Modern society that continues, and circles in Chaos & Competition to the point of Conquest or Criminalizing various communities, and peoples against each other. With the loss of civility, compassion, common sense, on a daily basis, and with little discipline to work for the greater good, and benefit of all the People that exist and live upon It.

There are many things, and many words I could say, share, and survey-summarize, about the current conflicts, and issues affecting the world, and life on Turtle Island… at this time, but those are many and turbulent perhaps, and best left to another time, and in private reflections, etc.

With many ‘Taboos’ and issues that intersect, various beliefs, politics, and values of the mass population, – Sadly – it is observed that One side, is always working with intent to impose or take away freedoms, liberties, and legal rights of the Other side’s adherents, followers, or base of support and demographic blocs.

Unfortunately, arguments and re-examinations often shine the light of evidence, facts, and historic realities on many of the issues that are dividing & polarizing the United States’ citizenry, and population at this moment in Time of 2022. With very little compromise, civil communications, considerations and civic legislative or legal concerns – from Either Side of the perceived Conflicts happening?

It seems dreadfully dark, and demeaning that the government, nation, and citizens of the U.S. will ever find balance and righteous reasoning to end the Unrest and Unsustainable reality that continues and perpetuates a never-ending cultural, social, Civil war that surely the Enemies of the United States are waiting, watching, and weighing their Interest, for the Future – and may have an advantage, or victory and usher some defeat or worse against the United States and It’s people?