THE CHOCTAWS The story o f a resourceful tribe in its Oklahoma homeYakni Achnukma the Good Land By DR, A, M. GI BSON I HE EASTERN fringe of the signed, were of Muskhogean linguistic n second ('toss-Timber :, sandwiched be- This is the of a series on the Five Civilized Tribes of Okla- stock. Early in the history of tween the Canadian River and the homa by DR . ;l , M. G l BSON, Ameri-can discoveryandexplorationthey Red River is the Choctaw Country. curator of the Phillips Collection, caught the notice of Spanish, Freneh '['here nature ran riot . Tumblers land head of the manscripts division and British adventurers for their forms distorted the orderly prairie and assoc iate prof essor of history, re-markableeconomicdevelolmient,tri- plains and from the geological scram- In cooperation with Dr. Crhson, bal valor and integrity, sand their in- ble t , the Kiamichi range. the Jack F4 irk . Sooner Magazine is making re-printsavailable To obtainone, trigulng folklore. De Soto's gulf ex- Winding Stair and pine-clad Sans Bois pedition in 1540 found the Choctaws humped above theChoc taw hats. write l}r. Gibson, Manuscripts the fortified town of Division, f)1'. Sparkling waters tumbled from high- occupying Mau-bila(Mobile)andrangingacross land springs . fused into tributaries Alabama and Mississippi . Thr Choc- and in lowlands formed the Mountain trapper's paradise . taws managed to stay free of Spanish Fork, the Kiamichi and the flue. In the Choctaw language there are involvement . These rivers cut deep and their banks two words: Alukko, meaning haven Before the impact of Western civil- were lacers with oak . walnut, maple and Y akni Achnukma for good land, ization made heavy inroad : am Choc- and hickory forests. which blended These were the most common terms taw culture, this tribe had a most with pine and cedar stands on the used to describe this domain in earlier intriguing set of customs and folklore . summits. times, Small wonder the Choctaws The Choctaws lived it) villages and Bison . (deer. bears. fur-bearing were so enthusiastic over this Coun- farmed adjacent lands. The lands animals, turkeys try, and wild horses willingly exchanging theirswamp-riddenMississippihomeforYakni were held in common . ownership be- on and abounded its prairies in the ing in the tribe and not in individual forest glades, Rich beaver harvests on .l Achnukma. title. The Choctaws were regarded as the Fork . and muskrat The Choctaws . Mountain . to whom the the best agriculturalists of the Five raccoon and in the try bobcat Kiamichi coun- betweentheCanadianandtheRed Civilized heir Mississippi Valley made the Choctaw Country a Mid west of Arkansas had been as- and Alabama cornfields yielded boun- tiful harvests, which were traded ire CHEROKEE OUTLET neighboring tribes . In addition, Choc- r law farmers produced CHEROKEE NATION melons. pump-ins. sunllower seed.wildfruits,nuts and berries . SEMINOLE NATION Besides t a stable economic lift-, the Choctaws had a rich folklore. The CHEEK NATIoN _. ... ' ' . _ . most basic feature concerned the 'I- . story of Choctaw origin and depicted Leased District a deity who descended into the midst of a muddy plain and erected a high CH OCTAWS NATION hill . This he named Nanih-waya, which means "productive mountain." When the Choctaw CHICKASAW NATION creator had fin- ished this sacred mound . he drew from its vitals the Choctaw people. The native Choctaw religion was an interesting compound of the Nanih- waya and other traditions ; homage to From historical Atlas of Oklahoma, byW. Morris axd Edwin . C. McReynolds. Copyright by the certain elements, especially sun and University of Oklahoma Press. fire ; propitiation of good and evil This map shows the boundaries of the nations of the Five Civilized Tribes from 1855-66. spirits by fasting, dancing and spells; 24 and various superstituttons concern- feated Joseph Bogey's French Cana- Trading towns mushroomed ing witches, demons . and signs . The dians and Osage allies. Encouraged around strategic water and land Choctaw religious lore was preserved by the favorable reports that Pushma- points, F.agletown. Doaksville, Tow- by medicine men, the Alikchi, to whom taha and other leaders brought back, son, Skullyville, Boggy Depot, Tama- were ascribed special powers of con- small parties of Choctaw settlers ha, Perryville and Mayhew served as trolling evil spirits, conjuring and started moving into the southeastern important trade centers before the healing. portion of their new country in the Civil War. Each of these towns had a Choctaw religion included a belief 1820's, post office, a market center for live- in the Great Spirit and in an afterlife . The big movement of the Choctaws, stock and agricultural produce, stores Their funeral customs, reflecting this however, began after 1830 and ex- stocking a variety of commodities . belief, included erection of a burial tended over a period of three years, blacksmith shops and hotels. Several platform near the dwelling of the de- While some Choctaws came by steam- towns published newspapers both in parted one. Upon this was placed, er as far as Little Rock, most of the English and Choctaw . The most not- besides the corpse, his weapons, tools. migrants came on foot in parties of able was the Chorlaw Telegraph- ornaments. food and water, Fires were 500 to 1,000 persons each. Tribal Intelligencer, published at Doaks- built around the scaffold to supply leaders, missionaries, and U.S. agents yille, and edited by David Folsom, a light and comfort for the departed . and officers accompanied each group . Choctaw mixed-blood. The warrior's remains might be on the Blizzards. cholera epidemics, ex- The full-bloods usually settled in platform for half a year "the stench posure and lack of supplies caused the hills and mountains away from . so great that mourners, appearing hundreds to die on the trail, and the the stream of commerce and industry. at frequent intervals . sometimes Choctaw exodus rivaled the Cherokee Living in crude cabins, they farmed fainted." Trail of Tears for misery and hard- small subsistence patches and hunted Caring for the Choctaw dead be- ship. The cost in human life is evi- and fished for a living. The more ag- came an elaborate ritual involving dent from the statistics. Just before gressive mixed-bloods, besides oper- several groups of specialists, including removal in 1831, the Choctaw popu- ating businesses in the towns, estab- bone-pickers. lation numbered 20.000. In 1843, the lished stock ranches. farms and plan- Besides the elaborate care given to missionary, Cyrus Byington, enumer- tations along the fertile river valleys . the Choctaw dead by bone-pickers. ated 12,690 Choctaws in the West. Even on the cotton plantations, the the tribe also had an unusual practice These figures reveal the losses at- curse of the one-crop system was called the funeral cry . Christian mis- tendant to removal. avoided, for besides cotton . they misonaries assailed most of the Choc- Settlers were attracted to three planted orchards. cultivated corn and taw religious beliefs, and one by one areas in the Choctaw Country . One other crops, and ran herds of cattle, these pagan practices were abandoned . big Choctaw settlement was estab- hogs and horses. Each operator sought The funeral cry, however, survived lished northeast along the Poteau to be as self-sufficient as possible. until recent times, Little grief was ex- River in present LeFlore County and As had been their custom in the hibited at time of death, and the fun- along the Arkansas River in Haskell East, lands in the Choctaw Country eral sermon might not be preached County. Another string of settlements were held in common, title being for a year following death. During ran southeast along the tributaries of vested in the tribe . A Choctaw could this interval, the widow sent invita- Little River into the Red in present settle anywhere in the nation and tions to relatives and friends now and McCurtain County. The third settle- take over as much as he chose as long then to come to the grave for a cry. ment area ran west from the Kiamichi as he did not trespass on a fellow This was preceded and followed by a River into present Choctaw County. Continued on the next page feast and was always well attended. The Choctaws' ancestral home in Mississippi was coveted by land-hun- gry planters soon after 1800. By a series of treaties, beginning in 1820 with the Treaty of Doak's Stand and ending in 1930 with the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, the Choctaws surrendered their eastern lands and received title to a vast domain west of Arkansas, extending to the 100th meridian . bounded north by the Canadian and Arkansas, and south by the Red . The Choctaws knew this country fairly well, for hunting parties had ventured up Red River into Oklahoma long before 1800, In 1807 Pushmata- ha led an expedition to the mouth of the Verdigris where he met and de- 1 group of .special law enforcement rangers, the Choctaw "liglhthorsemen," pose in 1843. tribesman's holdings. He could be- tellectual success in the (-'hoctaw offenders, Witchcraft and tribal su- queath or sell all improvements made ('ountrv . missionaries also induced perstition-~ gradually fell before the on the land but not the land, many tribesmen to accept the Chris- enlightenment of mission school edu- Cotton was the most important ex- tian religion, This was done by mis- cation . Polygamy, a long-standing port from the Choctaw nation, and by sions and churches, visitation, circuit practice in the tribe was abolished by 1860. probably as many as 30.000 preaching and the ever-popular camp tribal law in 1849, again showing the bales were shipped to New Orleans meeting, Everyone in the community effects of the incessant campaigning annually, In addition, the Choctaws enjoyed the annual camp meeting; anri of missionaries and Christian teach- exported hides, grain, honey.