Located in the eastern portions of Muskogee County is a cemetery that is both a national historic landmark and final resting place for Trail of Tears survivors, outlaws and Cherokee Nation dignitaries.
The Cherokee National Cemetery was designated by the tribe as a national cemetery before the Civil War and maintained until 1906. That year it was transferred to the town of Fort Gibson in Indian Territory as part of the federal government’s suppression of the Cherokee Nation and implementation of Oklahoma statehood. After the transfer, the cemetery became known as the Citizen’s Cemetery to avoid confusion with the federal government’s Fort Gibson National Cemetery one half-mile north. It is now known as the Cherokee National Cemetery.
“We have a portion of the cemetery that is Cherokee, White and mixed,” said local historian and Cherokee Nation citizen Marcia Blackard Elliott. “More acres have been added on the lower portion and the upper portion, where all the dignitaries are buried. You don’t have to buy a lot if you wish to be buried there if you are descended from any of those people. But on the lower portion, which is also known as the Citizen’s Cemetery, you do have to buy your lot.”
The cemetery was deemed the Cherokee National Cemetery by the Benge and the Willey families, Cherokee families who deeded it over to the town of Fort Gibson when it became the Citizen’s Cemetery for a while.
“We still have a plaque out front that says Cherokee National Cemetery,” Elliott said.
Twelve people buried in the cemetery survived the Trail of Tears. Their graves have been marked with metal plaques by the Oklahoma Trail of Tears Association.
You can read more in an article by Will Chavez published in the cherokeephoenix.org web site at: https://tinyurl.com/na4b2rte.