2010 Gathering and Powwow Dates

Out of respect for the Cherokees of Georgia and their celebrating their 30th Anniversary Powwow, the Eagle's Nest of Alabama, Inc., is adjusted our gathering and powwow dates to avoid conflict.

The 2010 dates will be:

Friday, October 1st, 2010 through Sunday, October 3rd, 2010

New Pictures of CMH Monument

For those who choose to continue to scoff and comment about 1/4 or 1/8 or 1/16 Indian, etc., we have made our home, the land we share with the deer, wild turkey, etc., available to Native American organizations, and Veterans and Warriors; and we hosted our first gathering and powwow in October 2008 on that land, and continue to work for the good of the People. We are not rich by any definition of the term except for one: Grandfather has blessed us by making this land available. For those who wish to continue to criticize, what have you done for the People? Have you given your time? Have you volunteered to help the Elders, or teach the Young? Have you collected food for distribution to the families of our Warriors? Have you collected toys for distribution to Our Children in Need?

Rest assured, we are not out to make a buck like so many other gatherings and powwows. We did not even come close to breaking even for 2008, though we paid our expenses for staff and the give aways.

Over fourteen years ago, the United States Congress approved the National Congress of the American Indian, to collect funds, design, develop and establish a Native American Veterans Memorial. When the above monument was designed, nothing had yet been done. When the above monument was dedicated, we had representatives of Brothers and Sisters from many nations here, though not one representative of local, state or federal government. This monument was paid for by donations from private individuals and a couple local corporations.

To some, they question the need for a monument saying "It is not our way, we remember them in our hearts." I agree totally, but when our Elders and the ones who keep the traditions alive are gone, who will remember these Warriors who fought to protect the People and Turtle Island?

Others have questioned our membership in the Echota Cherokee of Florida, so what! Why is it that the Native American People are the only race in this country that must prove their ancestry? Do we require the Irish to be certified to participate in St. Patrick's Day? Do we require the Hispanics to certify their ancestry to participate in Cinco de Mayo?

Oh they say it's about receiving federal aid from the trust monies managed (LOL) by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Hmm, that last adds thoughts, why is there no Bureau of African Affairs, or Italian Affairs, or Polish Affairs? The Eagle's Nest of Alabama is not about receiving but about giving and providing. Yes, since 1492 the People, my People, our People, even if only through a great-great grandmother, have been the victims of abuse, neglect, lies and even genocide.

The sooner all our Peoples can get over the "identification" issue and come together as a united People, we might be able to do something about conditions, about health care, etc. But as long as there are those who believe that they have the only claim to being "Indian" and those who aren't ___ % by blood don't count, we will never get anywhere.

In closing, sure there are those so-called "New Age Wannabees". But if you spend enough time around them, their excitement and whatever it is they think they have seems to wear off and they drift away. Yet with a discerning heart and spirit you can identify them rather quickly.

That is all I have to say.

Bill

Indian Country Today - January 21, 2009 article

Commenters questioned because of the photograph used by ICT the validity of our being Indian. We offered the writer of the article a number of photographs to use, from pictures at home preparing the grounds for our powwow, a photograph used by Wiregrass Electric Coopertive in their Alabama Living Magazine. The one they chose was of Teresa and I in our wedding regalia at a powwow. For those who question ... here are some additional photographs.

Taken in our front yard. Yes, there are all five service flags, the American Flag, POW-MIA flag in addition to the one behind us flying daily.

Taken on vacation at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan, July 2008.

Taken Pine Lake State Park in Ohio (I think) after our visit to the Hopewell Culture National Monument.

Native American Veterans Mental Health Care Proposal

The attached document recommends the establishment a program similar to Camp Chaparral on the Yakama Reservation in Washington state at the Eagle’s Nest of Alabama, near Samson, Alabama to serve Native American Veterans of the southeastern United States. Those veterans are predominantly representative of the Cherokee, Choctaw, Muscogee and Seminole people that originally inhabited the region.

This is not a submission for a grant. It is merely a proposal idea, though grant funding would or could be pursued with participation from a suitable Program Director (PD)/Principal Investigator (PI). The Eagle's Nest of Alabama, Inc is registered with CCR and does have a DUNS number for federal contracting and grants. With a suitable PD/PI it may be possible to apply for the funding opportunity RFA-MH-09-079, Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Returning Combat Veterans in the Community issued by the National Institutes of Health.


The Eagle’s Nest of Alabama is located approximately seven (7) miles south-southwest of Samson, Alabama and approximately twenty-four (24) miles north of DeFuniak Springs, Florida. The Eagle’s Nest of Alabama, Inc., is a non-for-profit corporation that is allotted the use of nearly forty (40) acres of rural land, owned by Rev. William M. and Teresa A. Silaghi in southwest Geneva County, Alabama.


The corporation annually hosts on the allotted land, a Native American Intertribal Gathering and Powwow the weekend associated with the second Monday in October, which in the State of Alabama is recognized as American Indian Heritage Day. Also located on the property is the Native American Recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor Monument, with future plans for a Native American Veterans Museum and Native American Veterans Memorials to those who were killed-in-action or died-of-wounds from World War 1 to the present.


Native Americans across the Nation—Indians, Native Alaskans, and Native Hawaiians—have a long, proud and distinguished tradition of service in the Armed Forces of the United States.


Native Americans have historically served in the Armed Forces of the United States in numbers, which far exceed their representation in the population of the United States.


Native American veterans count among themselves thirty-two of the Congressional Medal of Honor recipients. Their numbers are also conspicuous in the ranks of those who have received other decorations for valor and distinguished service.


Native Americans have lost their lives in the service of their Nation and in the cause of peace.


There are only three reported locations in the United States where Native American Veterans could receive help to address American Indian Health and healing within the VA: Camp Chaparral, Washington; The Southern Arizona VA Health Care System in Tucson; and VISN 23’s, the Black Hills Gathering of Healers. All these locations are west of the Mississippi River, resulting in great expense to attend or receiving no service at all.


Further it is a reasonable assumption or conjecture that most VA mental health professionals know little, if anything, about Native American traditions of healing of the spirit. Hence, Native American Veterans become subject to the introduction of anti-depressants, stimulants and other medications that can usually become addictive and mask the condition rather than heal it. Whereas the traditional healing of the spirit comes from a change in the way one lives their life.


The establishment of a program similar to Camp Chaparral at the Eagle’s Nest of Alabama’s allotted lands would provide Native American Veterans with a location in the southeast United States where they could receive treatment or assistance in traditional ways of their ancestry.


The existing mandate or mission of the Veterans Administration to treat, assist or aid Veterans is quite clear. The existence of at least the three aforementioned programs west of the Mississippi River also supports the proposal. In addition there is also a Memorandum of Understanding between the Veterans Administration and the Indian Health Service.


Respectfully,



Rev. William M. Silaghi
President, The Eagle's Nest of Alabama, Inc.

Native American Recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor Monument

NATIVE AMERICAN CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENTS
Sergeant Co-Rux-Te-Chod-Ish, U.S. Army, Pawnee
Scout Nantaje, US Army, Apache
Scout Blanquet, US Army, Apache
Scout Nannasaddie, US Army, Apache
Private Machol, US Army, Apache
Sergeant Jim, US Army, Apache
Sergeant William Alchesay, US Army, Apache
Scout Kelsay, US Army, Apache
Scout Kosoha, US Army, Apache
Corporal Elsatsoosh, US Army, Apache
Scout Chiquito, US Army, Apache
Private Adam Paine, US Army Black Seminole
Sergeant John Ward, US Army, Black Seminole
Private Pompey Factor, US Army, Black Seminole
Trumpeteer Isaac Payne, US Army, Black Seminole
Sergeant Y. B. Rowdy, US Army, Black Seminole
Lieutenant Richard P. Hobson, US Navy, Cherokee
Second Lieutenant Ernest Chief Childers, US Army, Creek
Major Gregory Boyington, US Marine Corps, Sioux
First Lieutenant Jack C. Montgomery, US Army, Cherokee
Technical Sergeant Van Thomas Barfoot, US Army, Choctaw
Sergeant Roy W. Harmon US Army, Cherokee
Commander Ernest Edwin Evans US Navy, Cherokee
Private First Class John N. Reese, Jr. US Army Cherokee
Staff Sergeant John R. Crews, US Army, Choctaw
Corporal Mitchell Red Cloud US Army, Winnebago
Captain Raymond Harvey US Army, Chickasaw
Private First Class Charles George, US Army, Cherokee
Master Sergeant Woodrow W. Keeble, US Army, Sioux
Sergeant First Class Tony K. Burris, US Army, Choctaw
Petty Officer First Class Michael E. Thornton, US Navy, Cherokee
Boatswain's Mate First Class James E. Williams, US Navy, Cherokee

2009 - 2nd Annual Falling Leaves Gathering and Powwow

Friday, October 9th
9:00 AM – 12:00 PM – Kids/Education Day
1:00 PM – Grand Entry – Honoring the Creator
Saturday, October 10th
9:00 AM – 12:00 PM – Exhibition Dancing
1:00 PM – Grand Entry – Honoring our Warriors
Sunday, October 11th
9:00 AM – 12:00 PM – Exhibition Dancing
1:00 PM – Grand Entry – Honoring All Our Relations

Social Gathering and Informal Dancing
6:30 PM until ? ? ?
Nightly
NOTE: TIMES ARE APPROXIMATE

1st Annual Falling Leaves Gathering and Powwow

We are pleased to announce that at least six hundred or more individuals including dignitaries from area Cherokee, Creek and Intertribal Warrior Societies attended the Dedication Ceremony of the Native American Recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor Monument. The surrounding community was extremely supportive providing enough non-perishable food items to stock two wall cabinets for use by the area’s families of Veterans or Active Duty Service members in need. In addition, almost one wall cabinet of new, unwrapped toys was collected and will be distributed to Native American Children with the help of Chief Elsie Benslay of the Echota Cherokee of Florida.

In the four weeks proceeding the 1st Annual Falling Leaves Gathering and Powwow there was a great deal of Internet chatter and rumor claiming this was a "white-man’s powwow", and other such accusations. From those that were present, I can say that even with the few glitches we encountered, the responses we have received was that the entire weekend was not only a success, but also done with dignity and respect.

Some of the purported rumors were attributed to certain individuals who were not invited to participate in the actual dedication ceremony, as well as the misunderstanding of the information provided about the monument and the 1994 US Congressional legislation authorizing the National Museum of the American Indian to develop a Native American Veterans Memorial within the museum in Washington, DC. In what may be a bold, and quite possibly a disrespectful act (or interpreted as such), my wife and I undertook the endeavor to obtain private and corporate donations for the Monument. We felt that the fourteen years since the legislation was passed was enough time to establish some form of memorial.

The Congressional Medal of Honor Monument is the first of three, and possibly four phases of private development that will take place here. The next two phases involve memorials to the Native American Warriors who have either been Killed-in-Action or have Died-of-Wounds from World War I to and beyond the present, and a Museum dedicated to the contributions that Native American Warriors have made to this country for the same period. The fourth possible phase, pending local government approvals as well as applicable archaeological evaluation, is the possible establishment of a small Native American Veterans Memorial Cemetery to be located on about three to five acres of the northeast portion of our property.

It is our hope that with the various reports of the traders, visitors, and special dignitaries in attendance and with the dedication of the Congressional Medal of Honor monument with the names and tribes of these warriors engraved, all Native American People can come together. Teresa, my wife, and I are happy that we were able to host this for all our People, and we pray that all People will accept and recognize this monument of and for the People.

The Monument is open to the public during daylight hours.

Respectfully,
Mitakuye Oyasin – We Are All Related … We Are All One


Rev. William M. Silaghi, Silver Eagle
President, Eagle’s Nest of Alabama, Inc.