Letter from Chief Chuck Allen to Tennessee House Representative Matt Van Epps
Chief Charles B. Allen
November 27, 2024
The Honorable Matt Van Epps
2446 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington DC, 20515
Dear Representative Van Epps,
My name is Chief Charles B. Allen; I am the Central Region Medal Chief of the Chickamauga Nation. I would first like to congratulate you on your election to fill the remainder of the term for the House of Representatives Tennessee District 7, I’m confident you will continue the great work that has been done over the last few years.
Secondly, let me start by telling you about the Chickamauga Nation. The Central Region is one of several regions that exist within the Chickamauga Nation. Every citizen of the Chickamauga Nation are descendants of the Lower Town Chickamauga from the southern Tennessee, Northern Georgia and Northern Alabama borders, and the Chickamauga people that became known as the Old Settlers. The Chickamauga Nation is a federally recognized tribe, recognized by the executive and legislative branches of government, but we are not on the Serviced Tribes Rolls at the Bureau of Indian Affairs. On July 18, 2019 our leadership traveled to the Hart Senate Offices and met with Mr. Simermeyer, Mr. Goodnight, Ms. Aspinwall, and Mr. Allbrooks from the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. The leadership was then told that our information needed to be academically verified before we could go any further with the process. We now have over 600,000 pages of academically verified documentation and can’t seem to get anyone from the Committee on Indian Affairs to answer our request for a meeting. I am therefore writing to ask if you can assist us in getting an appointment with the House Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs so we can present our documentation. I have included The Chickamauga Nation Declaration of Recognition for you to examine at your convenience.
I would like to thank you in advance for your consideration of this request and would also appreciate your reply.
Sincerely,
Chief Charles B. Allen
Central Region Medal Chief
The Chickamauga Nation