Chickamauga Nation reminds state officials tribe will ‘uphold our rights’ to Franklin County land set to be prison site
Medal Chief Flanagan – “The governor of the territory known as Arkansas has declined to acknowledge us, communicate with or recognize us in any way, shape or form.”
Tribe presses state leaders to communicate over Native American ties to site
Oct 9, 2025
by Penny Weaver
CHARLESTON — Members of the Chickamauga Nation tribe have strengthened their resolve to assert their claim to land where the state plans to build a 3,000-bed prison at Mill Creek Mountain in Franklin County.
“We want what was promised to us — promises made by United States presidents to our ancestors — promises made in treaty,” Western Region Medal Chief Justin Flanagan said Thursday night at a press conference held in the Charleston Community Center. “Many Chickamauga remain here in the Arkansas River Valley, including in Franklin County.
“We know and can easily prove that the treaty of 1828 that trades land in Arkansas for land in Oklahoma was signed in duress and by people that were not qualified or authorized by the Grand Council to sign treaties with the United States government,” Flanagan said. “The governor of the territory known as Arkansas has declined to acknowledge us, communicate with or recognize us in any way, shape or form.
“The fiasco that is happening on Mill Creek Mountain in Franklin County has shown me what my elders have warned me about,” he said.
The Chickamauga will “uphold our rights,” Flanagan said.
‘NO EVIDENCE’
Arkansas Department of Corrections officials said earlier this year they have been sensitive to the potential for Native American graves on Franklin County land the state purchased to build a new prison.
“Concerns of a possible Native American gravesite were expressed early in the process,” Communications Director Rand Champion said in the spring. “The Department has been mindful of that as preliminary assessments of the site have been completed. No evidence of a burial site has been found to date.”
The Chickamauga have said a cultural impact study and three-phase archaeological study are needed at the site.
State officials also have expressed skepticism regarding the assertions of the Chickamauga, whose leaders say the tribe is federally recognized but not federally serviced.
“This is an absurd claim based on a group that is not recognized by the state or federal government, and this claim’s only purpose is to try and derail the Franklin County prison,” Sam Dubke, spokesman for Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s office, said earlier this year.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL CLAIMS
Flanagan and Chief Jimmie Kersh, national executive chief of the West Treaty Region for the Chickamauga Nation, first spoke publicly in mid-March about the tribe’s claims in Arkansas and specifically in the Mill Creek Mountain area.
They asserted it’s likely there are graves of tribal ancestors on the now state-owned Franklin County land and posted signs at the future prison entrance declaring the location a “Chickamauga Archaeological Site.” The signs were removed shortly after they were placed.
Prison construction on the 815 acres at 6310 Arkansas 215, located about seven miles north of Charleston, could disturb physical Native American ancestry links on the site, according to the Chickamauga.
Kersh and Flanagan first brought attention to this as Kersh insisted a stone wall at the entrance to the state land includes stone box grave tops indicative of his tribe.
On land near the proposed correctional facility location, the tribe has found a possible geoglyph, which is a larger-scale design made of rock arrangements on the surface of the land; petroglyphs, which are carvings on rock surfaces; and more.
Chickamauga leaders cite living members of the tribe, numerous graves and cemeteries, artifacts, shelters with rock art and ceremonial structures in the area of the land proposed for construction of a new prison as reasons to believe there are physical Native American ancestry links on the site.
‘WE WILL STAY ENGAGED’
The Chickamauga are sometimes erroneously referred to as Cherokee, according to Kersh, although the tribe previously was part of the Cherokee Nation.
Flanagan said Thursday night the tribe will assert its rights to the Franklin County land and protect and defend its citizens but wants to work with state leaders on the issues they have uncovered.
“Let this serve as notice that the Chickamauga nation intends to defend its federally guaranteed treaty, constitution and civil rights,” he said. “We will stay engaged.
“We just hope to have better communication,” Flanagan said, adding the tribe’s next steps hinge on state leaders’ moves.
“It depends on the state’s course of action,” he said.
