Rickey Butch Walker

Rickey Butch Walker is a life long native son of the Warrior Mountains. He descends from Cherokee, Creek, and Celtic (Scots Irish) people who migrated into the hills and coves of the mountainous region of north Alabama some 250 years ago. He, as was his father, is a member of the Echota Cherokee Tribe of Alabama. His Indian name is Fish Bird in honor of his fifth, fourth, and third great grandmothers-Catherine Kingfisher, Experience Fish, and Elizabeth Bird; they were some of his Indian ancestors.

The kingfisher and fish bird (osprey) love to fish and so does Butch. In addition, the osprey is of contrasting colors of black and white which identify Butch’s character. Things that rule his life are true or false, yes or no, and black or white with virtually no gray areas; therefore, he lives his life somewhat as an open book. Also, according to Indian legend, the birds of prey soar high in the sky and carry the prayers of the earthly creatures to the great spirit. Fish Bird (Butch) has his entire adult life been an advocate to preserve and protect the environment for all the earthly creatures that are unable to speak for themselves.

As a young boy, Butch was born and raised in the shadows of the Warrior Mountains where he was taught by his grandpa the old ways and the way of the wild before starting school. He squirrel hunted on Brushy Mountain, trapped in Sugar Camp Hollow, searched for ginseng in Indian Tomb Hollow, and fished in West Flint Creek. He walked with his grandparents on old Indian trails including Black Warriors’ Path, Sipsie Trail, High Town Path, and many others. He explored the deep canyons, rolling hills, steep bluff lines, and vast hollows containing beautiful waterfalls where he would stand in the spray to cool off on a hot day. He was nourished by the subsistence of West Flint Creek and surrounding hardwood bottoms, and molded from traveling the trails and paths his people once trod. He grew up with a fierce love for the Warrior Mountains in which his ancestors lived, died, and are buried.

In 1966 because of the love of his mountainous homeland, Butch became an advocate to stop the clear cutting of old growth woodlands that he roamed and hunted as a youngster. He dedicated his efforts to stop the destruction of the ancient forest giant oaks to his ancestors; a war was waged against the U.S. Forest Service clear cutting practices and battles were won but the work is not complete!

On June 2, 1972, Butch graduated from the University of North Alabama and four days later, he was drafted into the United States Army. Since he was already accepted in a graduate school program at Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, Tennessee, his major professor got Butch assigned to the Tennessee Army National Guard on August 12, 1972. On August 18, 1972, Butch was assigned as a member of the 2nd Platoon, Company A, 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade at Fort Jackson, South Carolina where he completed basic and advanced training on December 21, 1972; he was accepted into the Tennessee Military Academy and received a U.S. Army officer's commission as a second lieutenant on June 29, 1974. Butch was assigned to HHC 4-117 Mechanized Infantry in Henderson, TN, and later to the Army Reserve in Decatur, AL; he was honorably discharged August 11, 1978.

Butch worked to help establish the Sipsey Wilderness Area which was dedicated in 1975 and wrote weekly articles about the forest called Bankhead Back Trails for the Moulton Advertiser. In 1992, Butch teamed up with Lamar Marshall and helped begin the Bankhead Monitor to fight the clear cutting and destructive practices by the United States Forest Service taking place in the sacred Indian Tomb Hollow; Indian Tomb, Kinlock Rock Shelter area, and the High Town Path historic districts were eventually designated and protected by the U.S. Forest Service. The Bankhead Monitor became Wild Alabama and later Wild South; Butch served as Chairman of the Board of Directors until Wild South merged with the Southern Appalachain Biodiversity Project in 2006.

Rickey Butch Walker retired after some 35 years with the Lawrence County Board of Education during which he earned post graduate degrees in science, education, and supervision. He taught science at Speake High School for 11 years and served as Director of Lawrence County Schools’ Indian Education Program and Oakville Indian Mounds Education Center until his retirement in 2009.

Rickey Butch Walker is currently a writer and author; in addition to his Masters Thesis, he has written several books including High Town Path, Warrior Mountains Folklore, Indians of the Warrior Mountains, Indian Trails of the Warrior Mountains, Warrior Mountains Indian Heritage, Doublehead: Last Chickamauga Cherokee Chief, and Chickasaw Chief George Colbert: His Family and His Country. Butch is currently working on two new books, "Celtic Indian Boy of Appalachia" and "Soldier's Wife: Alabama Cotton Fields to Tripoli and Berlin."