The Proph​ecy of the Keeto​owahs​

[Mrs. Sharon B. Hodge]

The Proph​ecy of the Keeto​owahs​

Date: Jan 12, 2009 12:26 AM
Subject: The Prophecy of the Keetoowahs
Body: The Keetoowah people preferred to live in the mountains and along streams in harmony with nature. Searching for food occupied most of their time. They obtained food, shelter, clothing and other needs from nature's bounty by hunting, gathering, and farming.



The Clan Law or Blood Law was the social structure for the Keetoowahs and practiced in a matrilineal arrangement, passing from the mother to the children. If a tribal member committed a crime such as murder, the Clan of the victim would avenge the death under the supervision of the oldest family member. If the slayer could not be found, a brother of the perpetrator could be substituted as a sacrifice to the law of retaliation. If this were not done, the spirit of the victim would not pass into the spirit world and would haunt the family. The Keetoowahs practiced a mixed system of private and public punishment.



When Hernando DeSoto discovered the Keetoowah people in 1540, there were sixty different and independent villages with each having a separate government and leaders. The whole tribe came together only in times of war and ceremonies. The tribal life was unchanged as late as 1710. When the White man's influence arrived, it was slow at first but then spread rapidly. This created major changes with the tribal leadership shifting from priest to warrior. The Whites brought diseases, and many Keetoowah people died of mainly smallpox.



Fur trading was the most instrumental in creating change. The warriors became hunters and served as agents for fur trading. The tribal members pursued material possessions and wealth. They began purchasing farm animals, and equipment. Tribal members understandably were quickly drawn to trade goods. They had always relied on stone, wood, and other essentials. European goods of metal, glass and cloth were truly revolutionary innovations to the Keetoowah people. They saw the advantage of European goods and quickly came to value and demand the new materials.



With the tribe dependent on the European existence, the economic base greatly changed the structure of the Keetoowah life. The people became literate in the English language, attended schools in the east, then returned to assume leadership positions. The U.S. Government began negotiating with only the mixed-bloods, which formulated the United Cherokee Nation in 1777.



Opposition to the rapid changes in the tribal governmental structure resulted in the migration of many traditional groups. Chief Dragging Canoe and one thousand of his fullblood followers migrated to the western part of Tennessee and later to the State of Arkansas. The Keetoowah life was so structured that an opposing political faction was permitted to physically remove themselves from the main tribal government. Such removal occurred several times in the Keetoowah/Cherokee history.



The treaty of 1817 with the United States exchanged the lands in Tennessee for the lands in Arkansas. This gained the Keetoowahs a definite title to a territory. The treaty of 1819 established the boundaries.



In the Spring of 1819 Thomas Nuttall, a Naturalist, came up the Arkansas River, and gave his account of the Keetoowahs as he found them at that time. Quoting Nuttall, "In going up the stream, there were houses and farms on both banks of the River. The houses were decently furnished, and their farms were well fenced and stocked with cattle. They had everything they needed: food, clothes, water and good land.


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By the Treaty of 1828 the Keetoowah people were forced to exchange their lands in Arkansas for lands in Oklahoma. The Keetoowahs moved to Indian Territory in Oklahoma ten years prior to the forced removal (commonly known as the "Trail of Tears") of the Cherokee Nation.



The word "Keetoowah" is the name which my people have always called themselves. The word Cherokee has no meaning in the language of my people. It is derived from a Muscogan Language, and its meaning is the "inhabitant of the cave country." The word "Keetoowah" means "Principal People.


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The following legend of the Keetoowah people, which dates back to the beginning of time, has been passed orally by each generation.



Upon the creation of the Keetoowah people, the Creator gave them mysterious powers and placed them in large settlement on an island located in the Atlantic Ocean. There were other tribes on the island which attacked the Keetoowah people. Another tribe watched the fierce fighting from a mountain top. The leader of the tribe watched the valley ascend toward the Heaven. The smoke divided into three paths midway in the ascension an eagle was seen holding three arrows in its claws. The leader asked his warriors if the smoke and eagle were visible to them and they replied they were. The tribal leader then told his warriors not to attack the Keetoowah people because they were the Creator's people, and they were very powerful. The tribe came down from the mountain and made friends with the Keetoowah people.



In later years, some of the medicine men of the tribe became selfish and used their powers to harm their own people. The Creator gave the powers to the medicine men to be used in the best interest of all the people. Other tribal members prayed to the Creator for direction and the Creator heard their prayers. The instruction was to move their fire away from the island and the medicine men. After the departure, the island sank into the ocean.



The people migrated north and settled in the southeastern part of what is now the United States. Many years later, again the medicine men became selfish and committed crimes against their own tribal members. The people gathered to discuss the solution to this problem, and it was decided that seven medicine men, one from each of the seven clans, would travel to a mountain top and pray. The seven medicine men went up to the mountain top and prayed. Soon a messenger from the Creator appeared and told them the Creator had heard their prayers and had great sympathy for them. The messenger told the medicine men their tribe would be called "Keetoowah" from that day forward.



The messenger revealed to them that a "white ball" would arrive from the east which would be an enemy to the people. The grandchildren of the Keetoowahs would point their feet to the west and great hardship would be placed upon them at the edge of the prairie. Their blood and families would be divided, and the enemy would not respect the Keetoowah people. The messenger revealed that a young leader would lead the Keetoowah people back to the east. However, if the Keetoowah people chose not to follow the Creator's direction, they would continue further west to a sea of water and disappear forever. The Creator said, "If the Keetoowah people are destroyed or become extinct, then the end of the world will follow.


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The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokees are the only landless tribe in this country. This recognition is based on Congressional legislation, Bureau of Indian Affairs policies and the Federal Courts rulings made over the past several years. They have all ruled the Keetoowahs do not have a land base or a jurisdiction area.



The only alternative the Keetoowahs had was to move away from Oklahoma. This is what prompted the Keetoowahs to request the BIA to approve the UKB to establish a land base outside of Oklahoma and back to the east in Arkansas. The BIA central office in Washington DC gave approval on June 23, 1994 to establish a land base outside of Oklahoma into Arkansas. The Keetoowahs now have established a land base and also an office in Waldron, Arkansas.



Now, based on what you have heard, is the move back to the east purely by accident, or is this according to the prophecy?