It has been described as the surviving core of the Cherokee movement of religious nationalism originally led by Redbird Smith in the mid-nineteenth century.
After the Cherokee were forced to move to Indian Territory, various groups associated with the Keetoowah Society worked to preserve traditional culture and its teachings.
On ceremonial occasions they frequently speak of themselves as Ani'-Kitu'hwagi, or "people of Kitu'hwa," an ancient settlement on the Tuckasegee River and apparently the original nucleus of the tribe.
They opposed federal plans to break up communal tribal land by allotting it in 160-acre parcels to individual households of Cherokee citizens.
Redbird Smith left the meeting with eleven of his traditionalist supporters to resist enrollment actively, forming the Nighthawk Keetoowah.
While they intended to maintain tribal government and functions regardless of the fate of the Cherokee Nation, the Keetoowah as a body officially acquiesced under protest to the legislative provisions that dissolved the Cherokee Nation's government and allotted communal lands to individual households, extinguishing the tribal land claims.
He had supported Chester Polk Cornelius, an Oneida who had "engaged them in speculative schemes", leading to splintering of the religious group into multiple factions.