By T. Mayheart Dardar

What are we fighting for?

“I will begin with a recital of the relations of the Creeks with the government of the United States from 1861 and I will explain it so you will understand it. I look to that time- to the treaties of the Creek Nation with the United States- and I abide by the provisions of the treaty made by the Creek Nation with the government in 1861. I would like to enquire what had become of the relations between the Indians and the white people from 1492 down to 1861?” —Chitto Harjo (Crazy Snake), Address to the Special Senate Investigation Committee for the Indian Territory, Nov. 23, 1906

Chitto Harjo, Crazy Snake, was the leader of a dissident band of Creek Indians that stood in opposition to the political leaders of the Creek Nation during the early years of the twentieth century…