The 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 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 of ranges, the policy of relocation de- from the Chickasaw country. , 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 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 . 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- Nation near , 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 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 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 . their personal possessions, slaves, and saw delegations regularly visited the On January 17, 1837, a Choctaw- livestock for transfer to Indian Terri- western frontiers of the United States Chickasaw council convened at Doaks- tory. The migration stream for the In searching for a new home. The Choc- ville, a leading town in the southern Continued on the next page

25 The Chickasaws

After enduring the rigors of removal, the their absorption into the Choctaw Nation

than Territory settlers was principally taw settlements to rest from their Choctaw leaders encouraged the by river steamer up the Arkansas to ordeal and adjust to the new land. Chickasaws to emigrate to their dis- Fort Coffee. Some families came over- The principal Chickasaw concentra- trict at an early date. There was some land by wagon. But even with their tions were at Eagletown, Doaksville, local resentment at the personal well-organized removal, they did not Brushy Creek, Fort Coffee, and on wealth of the Chickasaws . And the escape suffering and disease . Boggy River. A road was cut from fact that many of the new arrivals The Chickasaws were to pay for the Fort Coffee on the Arkansas through from Mississippi were spending their cost of their removal, primarily trans- the wilderness to the Boggy. There money on whiskey, gambling, and a portation and subsistence costs, from government contractors established an good time generally, creating disorder, their national fund . It was the practice issue station and the new settlement and debauching Choctaws, gave the of the government to let contracts to took on the name of Boggy Depot, host officials a sound argument. Also, companies and individuals who agreed later a principal town in the western the Choctaw constitution had been re- to supply transportation and rations Choctaw Nation . Misfortune seemed vised to include the Chickasaw Dis- for the emigrant Indians at so much to stalk the migrants. While crossing trict and the Choctaw chiefs and per head . Chickasaw chiefs, aware of Arkansas, several Chickasaws were council were eager to have it settled in the hardships suffered by Creek, Choc- stricken and died from smallpox. The order that political organization could taw, and other migrant groups due in disease persisted and several of their be carried out. In addition, while the part to dereliction on the part of Indian Territory camps were ravaged . Choctaws were silent on this matter, callous contractors, sought to no avail Removal officials at the Chickasaw it is very likely that one of their prime to manage this important phase of camp near Fort Coffee reported the motivations for pressuring the Chick- their relocation . In the early stages of disease was "progressing rapidly" in- asaws to settle their district was to making preparations to move they fecting also the Choctaws, thirty In- establish a populous buffer zone in the wrote President Jackson of their "fear dians had died since arrival, and sol- center of their vast territory to protect that our comfort will be neglected by diers from forts Coffee and Gibson their settlements from attack by the the contractors." were coming to the villages to vacci- wild tribes roaming the western bor- On the trail to Indian Territory, nate the survivors. ders. cholera and smallpox struck their The Chickasaws, apprehensive over camps, but most of their suffering moving to their district as long as life was due to gastro-intestinal disorders and property were unsafe there, exer- caused by spoiled meat and grain ra- Many of the Chickasaws carried cised their rights under the Treaty of tions issued them by unscrupulous substantial sums of money from the Doaksville whereby they could settle government contractors. For the re- sale of improvements on their Missis- in any of the four districts, and re- moval the tribe divided into four com- sippi allotments. While some used mained east of their assigned consti- panies, each headed by a Chickasaw their grubstake to finance idleness and tuency. Apparently civilization had leader. Chiefs Tishomingo, McGill- occasional drunken sprees, many in- pacified the Chickasaws, for there was very, Alberson, and Sealy were the vested their personal funds in live- no indication that the warriors felt migration captains. These units di- stock, seeds, and slaves. The latter obliged to fulfill the great martial tra- vided into smaller groups at different were eager to move into their district ditions of their ancestors, who in points on the trail. The government and open new farms, plantations, and colonial times were the terrors of the staff accompanying each migration ranches. But disturbing reports from Mississippi valley . This caused the party consisted of a physician, whose traders and trappers, recently arrived Choctaws to turn to the federal gov- duties included supervising the sani- from the Washita, telling of eastward ernment for help in making the Chick- tation of the camps and certifying the thrusts by savage bands of , asaw District safe for settlement. Mili- quality of the rations issued, and a , and Kickapoos discour- tary posts were recommended, and number of guides or conductors . aged the Chickasaw settlers, and as an until these were constructed, troops Upon arrival in Indian Territory, Indian agent put it, they were "settling from Fort Gibson ranged over the the Chickasaws stopped in the Choc- promiscuously" among the Choctaws. Chickasaw District in an attempt to Z6 Chickasaws soon became dissatisfied with and the tribe began pressing for secession

clear the area of Indian intruders. As was plenty of land for all ; the man- well-informed on local, national, and late as 1841 two companies of dra- land ratio or population density in the world events. goons under Captain B. 1). Moore, Chickasaw District was low-less than With all their prosperity and ad- patrolled the Chickasaw District, two persons per square mile. And since vances in the arts of civilization, the making contact with renegade bands it was public land, there were no taxes. Chickasaws were restive. Their princi- and ordering them out. An Indian citizen could clear, im- pal complaint was the Treaty of Finally, in 1842, Fort Washita was prove, and cultivate as much land as Doaksville which erased their national established. General , he wished, provided he did not en- identity by integrating them into the commander of the Second Military croach on his neighbor. Tribal law Choctaw Nation. After the ordeal of District which included Indian Terri- permitted a citizen to sell his improve- removal had passed, Chickasaw lead- tory, selected a site for this Chickasaw ments or pass them on to his heirs. ers began to express their resentment District post on the uplands about fif- While full-blood subsistence patches at this arrangement. t^en miles above the mouth of the ranged from three to ten acres, mixed- Washita. Wide ranging troopers from blood developments were generally Fort Washita kept constant surveil- considerably larger. The most exten- lance for intruders and helped tame sive plantations in the Chickasaw As a minority group in the Choctaw this raw frontier. Additional protec- District were in the valleys of the Red Nation the Chickasaws shared in the tion for the Chickasaw District was and Washita where Chickasaw plant- rights of the Choctaw constitution, provided in 1851 with the construction ers often had single fields for cotton including active participation in the of , situated north of and corn of 500 acres. Robert Love, a Choctaw government . They were en- Fort Washita on Wild Horse Creek. Chickasaw mixed-blood, operated two titled to elect one of the four district large plantations on the Red and chiefs, and were allocated thirteen owned 200 slaves . Each autumn he seats in the Choctaw national council. traveled to New Orleans and char- The Chickasaws first participated in Under the patronage of the garrison tered a steamer to come up-river and Choctaw Nation politics in the fall of at Fort Washita, Chickasaws began carry out his crop which generally ran 1841 by electing a district chief and moving to their district with confi- from 300 to 500 bales of cotton . their quota of council members. The dence, and before 1842 ended, even In the Chickasaw District the tradi- Chickasaw chief, members of the coun- tribal leaders, "among them some of tional Indian town declined as old cil, and local officers were required to the largest planters" in the nation . tribal forms were altered and the In- live in the Chickasaw District and the were venturing into the rich valleys dians came to follow the familiar presence of troops at Fort Washita of the Washita, Boggy, and Blue. American rural pattern-dispersing beginning in 1842 made it safe to The mixed-blood Chickasaw planters and settling on detached, separate settle that area. found the custom of holding lands in family farms and plantations . Towns By 1845 the Chickasaws regarded common advantageous to their in- thereby became trade, political, and their absorption into the Choctaw Na- terests. All members had equal rights educational centers. A blacksmith tion with such misgivings that a seces- to share in the tribal domain . A tribal shop, gin, grist and saw mill, stores, sion movement got underway. Chicka- citizen could hunt, fish, and cut timber warehouses for traders, schools and saw leaders wrote the President and in all places not occupied by towns, churches, postoffice, often a hotel, trib- Commissioner of Indian Affairs ex- farms, and plantations. The Chicka- al government buildings, and a stage pressing their resentment at what they saws, in common with the other mem- office were the ordinary components termed the "inevitable domination by bers of the Five Civilized Tribes of the early Chickasaw towns. The the more numerous Choctaws ." They community, followed the open-range leading towns in the Chickasaw Dis- claimed competence to handle their practice . Livestock, carrying the own- trict were Tishomingo and Oak Grove . own affairs, and appealed for separa- er's brand or mark, grazed at large on Mail and stage service and newspapers tion . A summary of their grievances the public domain. Cultivated land including the Chickasaw Intelligencer was presented to the President by a was enclosed with rail fence. There kept townspeople and country dwellers Continued on the next page

27 The Chickasaws The Chickasaws paid $150,000 for the center third of the Choctaw Nation

to representation in the Choctaw worked hard to settle all his people in about the unpleasantness of their Council which makes all the laws ; but their constituency and restore tribal satellite role. Apparently Choctaw being in a very small minority their unity by providing Chickasaw laws, leaders tired of the eternal complaints voice is neither felt or heard in that officials, and schools. And in propor- of their adopted community, and in body ; practically they have no par- tion to the growing reluctance of June, 1855, a Choctaw delegation con- ticipation in making the laws to which Choctaw leaders to consider a dissolu- sisting of Peter Pitchlynn, Israel Fol- they are subjected ; and often laws tion of the union, Chickasaw national- som, Samuel Garland, and Dickson W. are enforced upon them to which the ism grew stronger with each attempt Lewis met in Washington with a whole tribe is unanimously opposed. of the Choctaws to discourage the Chickasaw delegation which included They are completely at the mercy of separation. In 1845 at Boiling Springs Edmund Pickens and Sampson Fol- the Choctaws, and every Chickasaw near Fort Washita, a Chickasaw con- som for the purpose of negotiating a feels that he is oppressed by them . The vention met to begin the organization dissolution of the union formed by the people of both tribes are entitled to of a separate tribal government . The Treaty of Doaksville in 1837 . the same privileges everywhere in the following year the convention drafted The Choctaw-Chickasaw Treaty of nation by the Treaty : but the Choc- an outline of government which 1855, negotiated by George W. Many- taws regard and treat the Chickasaws marked the first attempt by the Chick- penny, Commissioner of Indian Af- everywhere out of their own district as asaws to produce a written constitu- fairs, provided for a three-way divi- intruders, and it is frequently thrown tion. Then in 1848 the Chickasaw sion of the old Choctaw Nation . The up to them as a reproach that they convention drafted a more detailed Choctaws retained the eastern third have no rights in the country. This is organic law providing for the organi- of this vast domain as the new Choc- the cause of many private difficulties, zation of executive and legislative taw Nation. The Chickasaws, by pay- frequently ending in the death of one departments, definition of citizenship, ing the Choctaws $150,000, received or the other of the parties, and the bill of rights, and handling of the na- the center third of the old Choctaw number of these is constantly increas- tional fund. Electors were defined as Nation as their own, independent, ing. . . all males sixteen years of age and over. separate domain. The western third, "The impression is becoming preva- Edmund Pickens was elected chief that portion extending from the 98th lent that the existing relations between under this constitution . to the 100th meridian, was leased on the two people cannot submit much By this action, the Chickasaws a perpetual basis to the United States longer in peace. The Chickasaws are were in the curious position of living government for $800,000 ; the Choc- dissatisfied with their present political under two governments, for besides taws received three-fourths of this condition ; nothing but a seperation their own de facto establishment, sum, the Chickasaws one-fourth. from the Choctaws will ever satisfy which was operating on an increasing- Their political union with the Choc- them. The sooner this is effected we ly independent basis, they also con- taws dissolved, the Chickasaws met in believe the better for all parties." tinued to associate politically with the mass convention the following year at Choctaws as required by the Treaty of Good Spring on Pennington Creek, Doaksville, all the while grumbling While Chickasaw leaders were building their case for separation from the Equipment for produc- Choctaws, they also went about \\ on't KNOCK wood, call T establishing a workable district gov- U tion, storage, refining, and ernment which could become a tribal ' L treating of oil, gas, and government once their goal was S water from the well head achieved. Isaac Alberson, Chickasaw *INSURANCE - BONDS A to the consumer. district chief during the 1840's, ATLAS LIFE BLDG . " PHONE L01-5103 PRODUCTS INEERED U W2 TYLER S SIMPSON CO. I Bill Eischeid Pontiac Wholesale Grocers B. A. '50 Norman 514 South Broadway Ardmore, Oklahoma Edmond, Oklahoma NATIONAL TANK CO . Gainesville, Texas 0. C. VI 3-5749 - Edmond PL 4-1170 TULSA, OKLAHOMA

28

this time to write a constitution which senate, the members elected from four porters of education which was re- would establish a de jure government senatorial districts corresponding to flected in their constitution . A super- to replace the de facto operation they the four counties of the nation (Pan- intendent of public instruction, elected had stubbornly maintained through ola, Pickens, Pontotoc, and Tisho- to a four-year term by the national the years. This organic law produced mingo), each district allocated three council was assigned the duty of or- by a convention headed by Jackson senators, these officers elected for two- ganizing a school system for the Kemp, provided for a chief executive year terms ; and a judiciary containing nation . The new Chickasaw govern- called the Governor of the Chickasaw a supreme court, circuit court, and ment met in a hewn-log house until Nation, elected for a two-year term ; four county courts. A bill of rights was 1858 when a brick capitol building a bicameral national council, consist- included, and eligible voters were de- was constructed at Tishomingo City. ing of a house of representatives, the fined as all male citizens nineteen In the first election held under this members apportioned on the basis of years of age and over. For many years constitution, Cyrus Harris was se- population and elected annually; a the Chickasaws had been strong sup- lected governor, and Holmes Colbert won the office of national secretary. Having accomplished at long last their hearts desire, the Chickasaws happily went to work developing their Whoa, Amigo . . . new, independent nation. They had made only a fair start in this direction when the began. Here's Soonerland's The Chickasaws with the other rive Civilized Tribes succumbed to Con- Newest and Most federate promises and signed the fa- mous Pike treaties in 1861 . The war Conveniently and the reconstruction treaties of 1866 Located devastated the Chickasaw Nation . In their embarrassed and weakened state, the Chickasaws were easily imposed MOTOR HOTEL upon by the United States govern- ment, which regularly called upon this Minutes-University of Oklahoma nation to surrender various rights and Minutes-Downtown Oklahoma City privileges culminating in allotment in severalty by the Otoka Agreement in Minutes-Will Rogers Airport 1897, dissolution of the nation as a political entity, and fusion with Okla- homa Territory to form the state of Hospitality in the tradition of the Great Southwest Oklahoma in 1907.

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