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The Chickasaws a Highly Advanced Tribe Finds a New Home

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The Chickasaws a Highly Advanced Tribe Finds a New Home The Chickasaws A highly advanced tribe finds a new home By DR . A. M. GIBSON ederal Indian policy during the except for dialectical differences was tact was with the Spanish. During Fnineteenth century was inextrica- identical, and the same was true for 1541, Hernando De Soto and his men bly tied in with Federal land policy. the written language which mission- spent a season with the Chickasaws, Eternally it seemed the national gov- aries developed for these two tribes. imposing on tribal hospitality while ernment was involved in negotiating The historic Chickasaw range ex- resting from their travels. When De land surrender treaties with the Indian tended along the western frontiers of Soto was ready to resume his search tribes to make room for the settlers . At three states, Mississippi, Tennessee, for the fabled Cale, he demanded first these cession treaties provided for and Kentucky. porters and women. This insulted diminution of tribal domain ; later as tribal leaders and they sent warriors the frontier settlements intruded to to attack De Soto's camp, and their This is the third in a series of arti- the very edge of the diminished tribal fierce assault drove the Spaniards cles on the Five Civilized Tribes of ranges, the policy of relocation de- from the Chickasaw country. Oklahoma, written by Dr. A . M. veloped. This was the reason the Gibson, chairman of the depart- national government established the in the European drive for control of Indian country west of Arkansas and ment of history, head of the divi- sion of manuscripts and curator of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, the Missouri . The southern half of this Chickasaws fell into the British orbit. resettlement zone, the future Okla- the Phillips Collection on the His- tory of the West. Reprints are Chickasaw warriors regularly attacked homa, was assigned to the Five Civi- French towns north of the Ohio and lized Tribes. available in a limited quantity from Dr. Gibson's office. preyed like river pirates on French By 1837 the government tally on and Spanish commerce on the Missis- evacuating these tribes from Georgia, sippi . Chickasaws served as agents for Alabama, and Mississippi showed that Like the other nations of the south- British traders, too, and the wide most of the Choctaws and Creeks, and eastern Indian community, the Chick- scope of their trading operations was about one-third of the Cherokees had asaws had achieved an advanced shown by a Chickasaw trader turning been settled in Indian Territory. culture before the coming of the Euro- up in the Wichita villages on the There remained a populous segment pean. Although skilled as hunters and Canadian River in 1719 during Ber- of Cherokees in Georgia, bands of warriors, they developed a sophisti- nard de La Harpe's visit to this region . Seminoles in Florida, and the Chicka- cated village life based on agriculture. British traders came to the Chicka- saws, numbering somewhat over 4,000, The Chickasaw tribe was divided into saw Nation early in the period of in northern Mississippi . clans, each clan ruled by a minor chief, Chickasaw delegation in 1851 : "To The Chickasaws, of Muskhogean and at the head of the nation was a appreciate the situation of the Chicka- linguistic stock, were closely related principal chief, the minoo, chosen for saws, it must be bourne in mind they to the Choctaws ; possibly at one time life by the tribal council from the are only about one-fourth as numerous the Choctaws and Chickasaws had highest ranking clan. as the Choctaws. By the Treaty be- been one tribe . Their spoken language The first substantial European con- tween the two Tribes they are entitled 24 European penetration of the Missis- taws, owning a vast domain in south- Choctaw Nation near Fort Towson, sippi valley . Many took Chickasaw ern Indian Territory, extending from and signed an agreement known as wives and established mixed-blood Arkansas to the 100th meridian and the Treaty of Doaksville. By its terms lines which came to play a leading role flanked by the Canadian and Red, en- the cherished hope of United States in tribal affairs in the East and later in couraged the Chickasaws to settle in officials and Mississippians alike was Indian Territory. Some of the mixed- their country. Chickasaw leaders were satisfied in that finally the Chicka- blood family names conspicuous in reluctant to consider this offer since it saws accepted a western home with Chickasaw history were Adair, Chea- included the requirement that their the Choctaws . John McLish, Pitman dle, Gunn, McGee, Allen, Harris, people unite with the Choctaws in a Colbert, James Brown, and James Pickens, McLaughlin, Love, and Mc- single government . They were aware Perry were the Chickasaw commis- Gillvery . that under such an arrangement the sioners. Thomas LeFlore, Nitakechi, Chickasaws would become a minority and Joseph Kinkaid, Choctaw district chiefs, represented their nation, and s was the case for the Cherokees, group, outnumbered three to one. A William Armstrong, Acting Superin- Creeks, and Choctaws, the Chickasaws Pressure by the state of Mississippi tendent for the Western Territory, was soon were surrounded by American for an early evacuation caused the the principal signer for the United settlements and the federal govern- federal government to assist the Chick- States . ment encouraged tribal leaders sign asaws in their search for a new home. to The Choctaw settlements in Indian a removal treaty . Previous Isaac McCoy, well-known on the In- cession Territory were concentrated in the agreements with the United dian frontier as a Baptist missionary States had eastern third of that nation's domain . drastically reduced Chickasaw terri- and government surveyor, was di- This settled area was divided into tory ; an 1818 treaty cut off their range rected to look over the Osage country three districts, each ruled by a princi- in western Kentucky and Tennessee situated west of Missouri and north of pal chief, the three together compris- and restricted the Chickasaw Nation the Cherokee Nation as a possible ing the executive branch of the Choc- to northern Mississippi and a strip of Chickasaw resettlement area. McCoy taw Nation . In return for payment of land in northwestern Alabama. reported that the Mississippi Indians $530,000 into their national treasury, Government commissioners encour- could be colonized there nicely, but a the Choctaws agreed to establish a aged the chiefs to cede this last vestige visiting Chickasaw delegation was not fourth district, to be called the "Chick- of their eastern domain. The Chicka- impressed with this region as a future asaw District of the Choctaw Nation ." saws suffered harassment from the set- home. Next, the federal government The limits for the Chickasaw District tlers much like the other tribes, and proposed that the Chickasaws settle as eventually worked out represented the Mississippi legislature adopted between the Canadian and North the center third of the Choctaw Na- laws erasing tribal government and Canadian in the western Creek coun- tion, extending west to the 98th meri- making all Chickasaws subject to state try (an area that in 1856 was assigned dian. Chickasaws were to enjoy all the law. Tribal leaders, apparently aware to the Seminoles) . This the Chicka- constitutional rights of Choctaws in- that removal was inevitable, with saws declined, too. A Chickasaw dele- cluding suffrage, equal representation creditable shrewdness and cunning gation reportedly even looked over a on the Choctaw national council, and held out just long enough 4,000,000 acre tract in north Texas to make it holding of public office generally. possible to wring from the government and began preliminary negotiations Chickasaws and Choctaws could settle commissioners by far the best removal with the Mexican government for pur- anyplace in the four districts. Each treaty negotiated with the Five Civi- chase, but interest waned and the nation was to control and keep sep- lized Tribes. project was dropped . arate its annuities and tribal estate. During October, 1832, at the Chick- Meanwhile, settler depredations on asaw council house on Pontotoc Creek, Chickasaw property increased . Home- tribal leaders signed a treaty with seekers, indulged by sympathetic state President Jackson's representatives law enforcement officers and courts, he Chickasaws began preparing to providing for the cession of all Chicka- overran the Chickasaw country, squat- moveT west soon after their delegation saw lands east of the Mississippi as ting on Indian homesteads, and federal returned with the tidings of the Doaks- soon as a suitable home in the west officials refused to protect Chickasaw ville council. The first party of mi- could be found. By the terms of the interests as guaranteed by the Treaty grants departed Pontotoc during the Treaty of Pontotoc, the government of Pontotoc. This deliberate harass- spring of 1837, and by 1840 most of was to survey the Chickasaw Nation, ment convinced tribal leaders that a the Chickasaws had arrived in Indian and after each Indian family had been decision on a new western home was Territory. With a shorter distance to assigned a homestead as a temporary urgent. Thus, in November, 1836, a travel, and due to the wise manage- residence until the western home was delegation went west to resume nego- ment of their removal by tribal leaders, decided upon, the remainder of the tiations with the Choctaws . The the Chickasaw relocation was the most land was to be sold at public sale, the Chickasaw council instructed its rep- peaceful and orderly experienced by proceeds to go into the Chickasaw resentatives to offer to pay the Choc- the Five Civilized Tribes. The Indian national fund. taws no more that $1,000,000 for a families were able to collect most of Between 1832 and 1837, Chicka- new domain .
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