BISKINIK | June 2014 9 Choctaw resistance to removal from ancient homeland In May 2014, Editor’s Note: This lives by hundreds of joining the Choctaw people month’s Iti Fabvssa is Red Sticks in met at Wheelock part one in a four-part their fight Academy to installment. against the Iti Fabυssa commemorate the Americans. sacrifices made by ancestors who, many Among them generations ago, came to what is now were 30 Choctaw warriors from the Yan- and their warriors to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears. Removing nubbe town who followed Talan Bola, a surround the Fort and from an ancient homeland that literally was Muscogee Red Stick Chief. Later Choctaw wait. As the Muscogee (and continues to be) an important part of warriors from the town of Patchelchovoka surrounded the fort on Choctaw culture and identity was not an easy also joined the Red Sticks (Halbert n.d.). three sides the Fort’s thing for these ancestors to do, nor was Based in the Black Warrior River valley, defenders shot back, but surviving the Trail of Tears itself. While these small Choctaw forces raided local without effect; they did not walking the Trail of Tears commemorative American frontier settlements. have the training to walk, and placing oneself in the footsteps of The motivation of these Choctaw people to properly aim and fire the those who walked the original Trail of Tears, join the Red Sticks and fight against other cannons that lined the fort. it would be difficult to not reflect on the Choctaws has not been recorded. However, Clinch sent McIntosh to thoughts, motivations, and feelings that were based on Tecumseh’s recorded speeches at demand the surrender. The carried by those people 180 years ago. As the Choctaw villages, it would seem that they fort’s leaders refused and miles wore on, one may wonder things like: took up arms to proactively face a foe that hoisted a red flag with an Did any Choctaw people come to Oklahoma was steadily pushing Native American English jack on it, indicat- willingly? How much coercion was involved? groups out of their homelands. The feelings ing that they would die Did any Choctaw people resist removal, and of these Choctaw individuals were strong rather than surrender. The if so, how did they? enough that they were willing to go against next morning, soon after The answers to all of these questions are their own leaders in taking up arms against artillery fire began, complex and almost as varied as the different the United States. It was an early and very America forces fired a personalities of the families and individuals direct form of resistance against Removal. round of heated shot over who found themselves living in the very Pro-American Choctaw forces entered the the wall and hit the Fort’s challenging and uncertain time of Removal. Black Warrior area, and cleared it of Red magazine. The magazine A few individuals came to Oklahoma Sticks, both Muscogee and Choctaw. exploded destroying most willingly; many faced the hardships of the Ultimately, the Americans were victorious in of the fort and killing 270 Trail of Tears because they saw no other both the Creek War and in the War of 1812. of the inhabitants (Forbes option for the future of the Choctaw people, However, for some Choctaw families, the war 1821:200-205, Heidler and a few Choctaw individuals profiteered off against the United States did not end with 1996:74). The leader of the of the Removal of their friends and families. these defeats. black militia the Choctaw Most Choctaw individuals did resist Removal Late in the war, Lt. Col. Edward Nicholls of chief somehow survived, on some level, but the level varied from the British Royal Marines and Muscogee but were soon captured. words, to passive resistance, to taking up allies built a fort at Prospect Bluff along the They were both tortured arms and fighting to the death. Over the next waters of the Apalachicola River, in Spanish and executed by the four installments, Iti Fabvssa will explore territory, in what is now the state of Florida. Muscogee warriors four different ways in which Choctaw In 1815, Nicholls transferred the fort and its (Heidler 1996:74) individuals and communities resisted arms to a local resistance group of black This battle is said to be one of the main Removal and the Trail of Tears. militiamen and a few Seminole warriors catalyst events that led up to what would be Armed Resistance (Forbes 1821:200-205). During this time an called the Seminole Wars. The Choctaws that Choctaw people are not widely known to unnamed Choctaw Chief and 25 of his fought in this battle did so as an act of have used force to oppose removal. In warriors came to live at the Fort. It is likely resistance to policy of removal of their people speeches to American representatives in the that they were some of the Choctaw people under the American banner of manifest 1820s Choctaw Chiefs often emphasized that who had fought on the side of the Red Sticks destiny. Later documents indicate that some the Tribe had never taken up arms against during the recent Creek War. of them did survive the battle, but their the United States. While the tribe as a whole In the spring of 1816, Col. Andrew ultimate fate is unknown. never faced the United States on a battlefield Jackson was ordered to destroy the Fort at Works Cited some groups of Choctaw people actually did Prospect Bluff, even though it was on Forbes, James Grant exactly that in hopes of preventing removal. Spanish soil. Jackson corresponded with the 1821 Sketches, Historical and Topo- In the fall of 1811, Shawnee leader Tecum- Spanish Governor in Pensacola asking for graphical, of the Floridas. Electronic seh toured Choctaw villages, encouraging the permission to attack the Fort, but the document Choctaw people to join with the Shawnee and Governor stalled the talks fearing the https://ia600300.us.archive.org/18/ other Native American Tribes in fighting possible counter attacks from the Seminoles. items/sketcheshistoric01forb/sketcheshis- against the newly established United States. Jackson instead devised a plan to have his toric01forb.pdf Choctaw leaders, particularly Pushmataha, Lt. Col. Duncan Lamont Clinch take a supply Halbert , Henry S. debated Tecumseh at each speech, and led convoy by the fort in hopes that it would be 1902 Story of the Treaty of Dancing the Choctaw people away from war. After fired upon, giving a cause for the United Rabbit. Publications of the Mississippi leaving Choctaw country, Tecumseh traveled States to destroy it. That plan was successful. Historical Society vol. 6 pp. 373-402 to Muscogee towns, where his message As American forces moved into the area, they n.d Unpublished Manuscript on file at the received a more welcome reception. came upon a pro-American Muscogee force Alabama State Archives In the summer of 1813, principle Choctaw of 150 warriors, lead by Chief McIntosh, Heidler, David Stephen & Jeanne T. leaders met in council for several days with Captain Isaacs, and Koteha-haigo. Chief Heidler. Muscogee leaders, who represented the Red McIntosh had been tasked by Jackson, prior 1996 Old Hickory’s War: Andrew Jackson Sticks, on the issue of whether or not to go to to these events, to raid the fort. In exchange and the Quest for Empire. Electronic war with the United States. The council McIntosh would be rewarded $50 per slave document. ended with the Muscogee Red Sticks firmly captured, and would be given the fort’s in favor of war and the Choctaw leaders fully armaments and supplies. The Chiefs met against it (Halbert n.d.). with Clinch that night and agreed to help Later that year when the Creek War began, Clinch in his efforts against the Fort (Heidler Choctaw leaders imposed a death penalty on 1996:74). any Choctaw person who joined the Red In the prelude to battle, the Americans Sticks in their attacks against American sent five men on a reconnaissance to find citizens. Hundreds of Choctaw warriors drinking water. In an ambush the Choctaw joined with the Americans fighting against warriors, 40 black militia, and several the Muscogee Red Sticks in the Creek War Seminole warriors killed four of the men and in battles of the broader War of 1812. (Forbes1821:201, Heidler 1996:71). However, some Choctaw families went Clinch, unaware of these events, ordered against their leaders wishes, and risked their McIntosh, Captain Isaacs, and Koteha-haigo .