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University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--Geography Geography 2015 REDISCOVERY OF A NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURAL LANDSCAPE: THE CHICKASAW HOMELAND AT REMOVAL Michael D. Walls University of Kentucky, [email protected] Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Walls, Michael D., "REDISCOVERY OF A NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURAL LANDSCAPE: THE CHICKASAW HOMELAND AT REMOVAL" (2015). Theses and Dissertations--Geography. 37. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/geography_etds/37 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Geography at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--Geography by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STUDENT AGREEMENT: I represent that my thesis or dissertation and abstract are my original work. Proper attribution has been given to all outside sources. I understand that I am solely responsible for obtaining any needed copyright permissions. I have obtained needed written permission statement(s) from the owner(s) of each third-party copyrighted matter to be included in my work, allowing electronic distribution (if such use is not permitted by the fair use doctrine) which will be submitted to UKnowledge as Additional File. I hereby grant to The University of Kentucky and its agents the irrevocable, non-exclusive, and royalty-free license to archive and make accessible my work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I agree that the document mentioned above may be made available immediately for worldwide access unless an embargo applies. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of my work. I understand that I am free to register the copyright to my work. REVIEW, APPROVAL AND ACCEPTANCE The document mentioned above has been reviewed and accepted by the student’s advisor, on behalf of the advisory committee, and by the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), on behalf of the program; we verify that this is the final, approved version of the student’s thesis including all changes required by the advisory committee. The undersigned agree to abide by the statements above. Michael D. Walls, Student Dr. Richard H. Schein, Major Professor Dr. Patricia Ehrkamp, Director of Graduate Studies REDISCOVERY OF A NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURAL LANDSCAPE: THE CHICKASAW HOMELAND AT REMOVAL _______________________________________ DISSERTATION _______________________________________ A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky By Michael David Walls Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Richard H. Schein, Professor of Geography Lexington, Kentucky 2015 © Michael D. Walls 2015 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION REDISCOVERY OF A NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURAL LANDSCAPE: THE CHICKASAW HOMELAND AT REMOVAL Little information beyond generalities exists regarding the cultural landscape of the Chickasaw Indians in their ancestral homelands prior to Removal in the late 1830s. This dissertation evaluates one possible archival source for specifics of Chickasaw land use, the field notes and survey plats compiled as part of the Public Land Survey System (PLSS). The process of original survey following land cession treaty divided the ceded area up into the familiar square-mile rectangular system of townships and ranges that extends from the Mississippi Territory westwards, in the so-called public land states. The research compiles all cultural observations made by the surveyors within a fourteen township area (totaling 504 square miles). This study area, generally located on the west bank of Town Creek between present-day Tupelo and Pontotoc MS, was chosen to cover the traditional center of Chickasaw settlement and elements of important roads such as the Natchez Trace. The resulting catalog of observations was compared to similar features on the township plats and to other cultural resource inventories to identify patterns of inscription and possible erasure of Native American cultural activities. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology was used to consolidate and compare these data resources. The PLSS survey documents provide a useful but not complete resource for identifying Chickasaw cultural presence within the study area. No consistent pattern of omission or erasure of Chickasaw activities was identified. The analysis identifies several opportunities and caveats for future researchers who might extend this analysis, including technical challenges in applying GIS technology to this data. KEYWORDS: Chickasaw, GIS, historical geography, cultural landscape, Removal REDISCOVERY OF A NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURAL LANDSCAPE: THE CHICKASAW HOMELAND AT REMOVAL By Michael David Walls ______Richard H. Schein____________ Director of Dissertation _____Patricia Ehrkamp______________ Director of Graduate Studies _________________________________ To my loving wife Gloria and daughter Connie, who have put up with me working on this project for far too long ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to gratefully acknowledge the interest and support provided by my dissertation committee, including: Dr. Richard H. Schein, Geography Dept., Chair Dr. Jonathan Phillips, Geography Dept. Dr. Karl Raitz, Geography Dept. Dr. Tracy Campbell, History Dept. I also would like to acknowledge the attention provided by my external committee member, Dr. Derek Lane. Dr. Ronald Eller also provided significant input into early stages of my work, prior to retiring from the History Department. Mr. Kirk Perry, Division Administrator in the Department of Homeland Affairs, The Chickasaw Nation, was of significant help in providing access to GIS and other cultural resource materials held by the Nation. He coordinated contacts with other scholars, including Ms. Wendy Cegielski and Dr. Brad R. Lieb, whose published research and data files were of critical value in this research project. He also shared his research on Chickasaw land patents. Mr. Paul M. Johnson, Special Project Officer in the Public Lands Division, Mississippi Secretary of State's Office, was of great assistance in locating and acquiring digital copies of PLSS documents for the study area. The Mississippi Department of Archives and History graciously granted permission for my use of their digital copy of Henry Lusher’s Map of Mississippi. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................... iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................. iv LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................... vii LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................... viii INTRODUCTION ............................................................... 1 Scope Of Project ...................................................................... 3 Research Questions ................................................................. 5 Overview Of Research Design ................................................. 8 Plan Of Approach ..................................................................... 9 Locations of Known Chickasaw Concentration ................... 9 Selection of Study Area ..................................................... 12 Utilization of PLSS Survey Data ........................................ 14 Approach to Interpreting Materials .................................... 27 Concerns With Survey Data As Historical Record .................. 29 Elaborating an Evidential Framework ................................ 30 Implications of Using the Framework ................................ 32 A Conceptual Toolkit For The Research ................................. 36 The Concept of Cultural Landscape .................................. 38 The Concept of Frontier .................................................... 60 METHODOLOGY ............................................................ 72 Working With PLSS Source Documents ................................. 72 Field Notes ........................................................................ 73 Township Plats .................................................................. 76 Assembling Images of the Source Documents .................. 78 Building A Digital Archive ....................................................... 78 Utilization of Observations from PLSS Field Notes ........... 80 Utilization of Scanned Plats ............................................... 82 Utilization of Base Map Data ............................................. 85 Working With Comparable Cultural Inventories ...................... 90 CONTEXT OF THE SURVEY ......................................... 91 Shifts Of Sovereignty Claims Over The Area.......................... 91 Physical Limits .................................................................. 94 Administrative Fiat ............................................................. 95 Shifting Rationales For Dispossessing Natives ...................... 97 Euro-American Concepts of “The Indian” ........................ 100 Euro-American Concepts of “Unimproved Wilderness” ... 111 Indians’ Place in Nature .................................................. 113 Recent Challenges to the Nature-Society Dichotomy

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