The Chakchiuma were a Native American tribe of the upper Yazoo River region of what is today the state of Mississippi .
92-604: In the late 17th century, French explorers identified the Chakchiuma as "a Chicacha nation," indicating that they were related to the Chickasaw and similar Western Muskogean speaking–tribes. They likely shared a common origin as the Chickasaw and Choctaw people and merged into the Chickasaw Nation in the mid-18th century. According to Swanton, the name was originally Sa'ktcihuma "red crawfish," referring to
184-681: A Shawnee Indian, under a promise to him of five thousand dollars, to pilot him and his troops out of the Indian country safely without a collision with the Texas Confederates; which Black Beaver accomplished. By this act the United States abandoned the Choctaws and Chickasaws. . . Then, there being- no other alternative by which to save their country and property, they, as the less of the two evils that confronted them, went with
276-525: A matrilineal system, in which children were considered born into the mother's clan ; and they gained their status in the tribe from her family. Property and hereditary leadership passed through the maternal line, and the mother's eldest brother was the main male mentor of the children, especially of boys. Because of the status of their mothers, for nearly a century, the Colbert-Chickasaw sons and their descendants provided critical leadership during
368-585: A War Chief and Peace chief oversaw the respective red and white divisions. Over time, the French union would be dictated by the leaders of the white division, while the English relationship was defined by the red. Ultimately, despite French proximity to Chickasaw land, the tribe elected to prioritize their trade routes with the British. The alliance between the British and the Chickasaw was a strategic defense against
460-520: A common history with them. The Chickasaw were divided into two groups ( moieties ): the Imosak Ch a 'a' (chopped hickory) and the Inchokka' Lhipa' (worn out house), though the characteristics of these groups in relation to Chickasaw villages, clans, and house groups is uncertain. They traditionally followed a kinship system of matrilineal descent , in which inheritance and descent are traced through
552-622: A contingent of troops against them while he was staying with the Chickasaw . In 1700, English colonists from the Province of Carolina convinced Quapaw warriors to attack the Chakchiuma to capture members of their tribe to sell into slavery in the Carolinas . The ensuing attack was unsuccessful. Historian Alan Gallay suggests the colonists turned to the Quapaw because their usual partners in
644-587: A home, in a country suited to their wants and condition, provided they had the means to contract and pay for the same, they have determined to sell their country and hunt a new home. The President has heard the complaints of the Chickasaws and like them believes they cannot be happy, and prosper as a nation, in their present situation and condition, and being desirous to relieve them from the great calamity that seems to await them, if they remain as they are - He has sent his Commissioner General John Coffee, who has met
736-676: A land west of the Mississippi River to reach present-day northeast Mississippi, northwest Alabama, and into Lawrence County, Tennessee . They had interaction with French, English, and Spanish colonists during the colonial period . The United States considered the Chickasaw one of the Five Civilized Tribes of the Southeast, as they adopted numerous practices of European Americans. Resisting European-American settlers encroaching on their territory, they were forced by
828-563: A nation of Indians who inhabit the country on the east side of the Mississippi, on the head branches of the Tombeckbe [ sic ], Mobille, and Yazoo rivers. Their country is an extensive plain, tolerably well watered from springs, and a pretty good soil. They have seven towns, and their number of fighting men is estimated at 575. George Washington (first U.S. President) and Henry Knox (first U.S. Secretary of War) proposed
920-744: A new peace treaty in 1866. It included the provision that they emancipate the enslaved African Americans and provide full citizenship to those who wanted to stay in the Chickasaw Nation. These people and their descendants became known as the Chickasaw Freedmen . Descendants of the Freedmen continue to live in Oklahoma. Today, the Choctaw-Chickasaw Freedmen Association of Oklahoma represents
1012-750: A stratified society, with centers throughout the Mississippi and Ohio River Valleys and their tributaries. In the 15th century, proto-Chickasaw people left the Tombigbee Valley after the collapse of the Moundville chiefdom. Chickasaw culture believe that the foundation of Chickasaw from proto-Chickasaw peoples was determined by the Mississippi River. The Mississippi River is referred to as Sakti Lhafa’ Okhina in Chikashanompa ', which means “scored bluff waterway", known today as
SECTION 10
#17328021391761104-531: Is known of the size of their families. By 1704 their numbers had fallen to 80 families due to war. They likely had fewer than 500 people. Bienville recorded there were only 60 families by 1735. Phillippe de Rigaud de Vaudreuil , governor-general of New France wrote that they had been wiped out in warfare; however, Jerome Courtance, a white trader, wrote in 1757 survivors had settled in Chickasaw villages. Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( / ˈ tʃ ɪ k ə s ɔː / CHIK -ə-saw ) are an Indigenous people of
1196-528: The Chickasaw Bluffs . Settling upon the river provided the people with a symbolic sense of new beginngings, washing away the past of the proto-Chickasaw and entering into a new modern age of the Chickasaw. The migration marked their split from other Native American communities like the Choctaws. They settled into the upper Yazoo and Pearl River valleys in present-day Mississippi. Historian Arrell Gibson and anthropologist John R. Swanton believed
1288-754: The Cross Timbers . The area was subject to continual raiding by the Indians on the Southern Plains. The United States eventually leased the area between the 100th and 98th meridians for the use of the Plains tribes. The area was referred to as the "Leased District". Because the Chickasaw allied with the Confederacy, after the Civil War the United States government required the nation to make
1380-593: The Mississippi River , following routes established by the Choctaw and Creek . During the journey, often referred to as the Trail of Tears , more than 500 Chickasaw died of dysentery and smallpox . When the Chickasaw reached Indian Territory, the United States began to administer to them through the Choctaw Nation, and later merged them for administrative reasons. The Chickasaw wrote their own constitution in
1472-550: The Mississippi River . It was one of several removal treaties signed by the Muscogee , Choctaw , Chickasaw , and Cherokee in the 1830s relocating them to the new territories in present-day Oklahoma and Arkansas. The Chickasaw were essentially doomed to removal with the others when, in 1806, Jefferson promised the southern states that the Federal Government would encourage the migration of all Indians to land west of
1564-526: The Province of Carolina after that colony was established in 1670. After acquiring firearms from colonial merchants in Carolina, Chickasaw raiders began to attack settlements belonging to a rival tribe, the Choctaw , in order to acquire captives which they sold to the colonists . These raids largely subsided after the Choctaw acquired firearms of their own from the French. Allied with British colonists in
1656-803: The Southern Colonies , the Chickasaw were often at war with the French and the Choctaw in the 18th century, such as in the Battle of Ackia on May 26, 1736. Skirmishes continued until France ceded its claims to the region east of the Mississippi River after being defeated by the British in the Seven Years' War (called the French and Indian War in North America). Following the American Revolutionary War , in 1793–94,
1748-656: The Tennessee River , the highly valued land along the Muscle Shoals rapids of the river. The cessions had made a great profit to Jackson, Coffee and James Jackson, the latter of whom built his magnificent Forks of Cypress Plantation on the ceded land in Florence, Alabama. In 1818 Jackson began his attempt to totally remove the Chickasaw in a treaty that ceded everything between the Tennessee River and
1840-628: The Treaty of Tuscaloosa , which ceded all claims to land north of the southern border of Tennessee up to the Ohio River (the southern border of Indiana and the Illinois Territory ). This was known as the " Jackson Purchase ." The Chickasaw were allowed to retain a four-square-mile reservation but were required to lease the land to European immigrants. In the mid-18th century, an American-born trader of Scots and Chickasaw ancestry by
1932-649: The 1850s, an effort contributed to by Holmes Colbert . After several decades of mistrust between the two peoples, in the twentieth century, the Chickasaw re-established their independent government. They are federally recognized as the Chickasaw Nation. The government is headquartered in Ada, Oklahoma . The Chickasaw Nation was the first of the Five Civilized Tribes to become allies of the Confederate States of America . In addition, they resented
SECTION 20
#17328021391762024-530: The American people, but always stood as their faithful allies." Cushman believed the Chickasaw, along with the Choctaw, may have had origins in present-day Mexico and migrated north. Frenchman Le Clerc Milfort , when writing about the Creek Indians, echoed the same view. That theory, however, does not have consensus; archeological research, as noted above, has revealed the peoples had long histories in
2116-458: The Chakchiuma warriors but also every animal found in their villages. But the Chakchiuma were numerous enough to form their own clan (the Crawfish) within the Choctaw when they were incorporated into the latter group in the 1730s. Based on Bienville 's claim that there were 400 families of the Chakchiuma in 1702, historians estimate they numbered around or above 2000 persons in total, given what
2208-844: The Chaloklowa Chickasaw Indian People's later petition for recognition as a State Recognized tribe in October 2005, the Commission of Minority Affairs review committee, upon rereview, found that the indigenous ancestry originally being claimed by the group was incorrect. The organization remains recognized as a group as of 2023. In 2003, they unsuccessfully petitioned the US Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs to try to gain federal recognition as an Indian tribe. For many tribes in
2300-517: The Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muskogee, and Seminole, a history of the Choctaw and Chickasaw was included that was written by R.W. McAdam. McAdam claimed that the word "Chikasha" meant "rebel" in the Choctaw language. Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto had recorded the people as Chicaza when his expedition came into contact with them in 1540; the Spanish were the first known Europeans to explore
2392-531: The Chickasaw Council, representing clans and villages, signed a letter in November 1832 by Levi Colbert to President Andrew Jackson , complaining about treaty negotiations with his appointee General John Coffee . After Levi's death in 1834, the Chickasaw people were forced upon the Trail of Tears . His brother, George Colbert, reluctantly succeeded him as chief and principal negotiator, because he
2484-523: The Chickasaw Nation did not provide citizenship to their freedmen after the Civil War (it would have been akin to formal adoption of individuals into the tribe), they were penalized by the U.S. Government. It took more than half of their territory, with no compensation. They lost territory that had been negotiated in treaties in exchange for their use after removal from the Southeast. The Chaloklowa Chickasaw Indian People , an organization that alleges to be composed of descendants of Chickasaw who did not leave
2576-417: The Chickasaw Nation's borders. The Chickasaw came to Franklin to appeal to Jackson for Federal protection from Mississippi. Jackson, however, successfully talked the chiefs into removal after suggesting that by remaining in Mississippi, the Chickasaw would become subject to Mississippi law and their culture would eventually be extinguished by the incursion of white settlers. He said: "By becoming amalgamated with
2668-583: The Chickasaw Old Fields were in Madison County, Alabama . The Chicasaws [ sic ], they being (although a small tribe) accounted the mother nation on this part of the continent, and their language, universally adopted by most, if not all the western [American Indian] nations. The Choctaws relayed to Bernard Romans their creation myth, saying that they came "out of a hole in the ground, which they shew between their nation and
2760-474: The Chickasaw Old Town (now Tupelo , Mississippi) to talk about the proposed cession. The Chickasaw were greatly influenced by the powerful chiefs James, George and Levi Colbert , landholding Chickasaw who had adopted some of the trappings of plantation society like owning slaves, and who supported removal to the west. With great difficulty, Jackson finally got the Chickasaw chiefs to give in with
2852-402: The Chickasaw and Choctaw split into distinct peoples in the 17th century from the remains of Plaquemine culture and other groups whose ancestors had lived in the lower Mississippi Valley for thousands of years. When Europeans first encountered them, the Chickasaw were living in villages in what is now northeastern Mississippi. The Chickasaw are believed to have migrated into Mississippi from
Chakchiuma - Misplaced Pages Continue
2944-517: The Chickasaw refused to honor after discovering the poor nature of the land they received. Pressured by the aggression of the State of Mississippi to establish its jurisdiction over the Indians, Chickasaw Chiefs relented in 1832 to President Andrew Jackson 's and his representatives offer of relocation in the west. The land was ceded to the U.S. with the understanding that the proceeds made in the sale of
3036-533: The Chickasaw tribe immigrated to its now-home in Oklahoma. While their current residence is far from their native territory, the ancestral remains of many Chickasaw members are still located in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Alabama. Among these remains, many were excavated and stored within the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH). In 2021 the MDAH repatriated 403 Chickasaw ancestors to
3128-400: The Chickasaw under Chief Piomingo fought as allies of the new United States under General Anthony Wayne against the Indians of the old Northwest Territory . The Shawnee and other, allied Northwest Indians were defeated in the Battle of Fallen Timbers on August 20, 1794. A 19th-century historian, Horatio Cushman , wrote, "Neither the Choctaws nor Chicksaws ever engaged in war against
3220-452: The Chickasaws." Another version of the Chickasaw creation story is that they arose at Nanih Waiya , a great earthwork mound built about 300 CE by Woodland peoples. It is also sacred to the Choctaw, who share a similar story. The mound was built about 1400 years before the coalescence of each of these peoples as ethnic groups. The first European contact with the Chickasaw was in 1540 when Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto encountered
3312-560: The Choctaw Chief Greenwood LeFlore furiously refused any meeting with the president. However, the Chickasaw agreed to meet him in Franklin, Tennessee in the summer of 1830. By this point, the State of Mississippi had taken the same measures in dealing with the Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians as Georgia had with the Cherokee, essentially forbidding any exercise of tribal governance and extending state law over
3404-572: The Civil War. The Chickasaw passed a resolution allying with the Confederacy, which was signed by Governor Cyrus Harris on May 25, 1861. Up to this time, our protection was in the United States troops stationed at Fort Washita, under the command of Colonel Emory. But he, as soon as the Confederate troops had entered our country, at once abandoned us and the Fort; and, to make his flight more expeditious and his escape more sure, employed Black Beaver,
3496-428: The French and their native allies. Supported by the slave trade, the Chickasaw sought weapons in exchange for captured members of rival tribes. As they were smaller than the Choctaw and other abutting indigenous groups, the weapons were critical to the defense of their native land. In 1797, a general appraisal of the tribe and its territorial bounds was made by Abraham Bishop of New Haven, who wrote: The Chickasaws are
3588-641: The House of Representatives of the Confederate States of America. Because the Chickasaw sided with the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War , they had to forfeit some of their land afterward. In addition, the US renegotiated their treaty, insisting on their emancipation of slaves and offering citizenship to those who wanted to stay in the Chickasaw Nation. If they returned to
3680-499: The Indian slave trade, the Chickasaw, may have resisted attacking their own people. The Chakchiuma participated on the French side in the Yazoo War . In about 1739 the Chakchiuma were involved in hostilities, primarily with the Chickasaw, that led to their destruction as an independent tribe and their being incorporated into the Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes. The Chickasaw and Choctaw had become so incensed that they not only killed all
3772-550: The Mississippi Chickasaw and said that the new land was unacceptable for their people. The Senate refused to ratify the Franklin treaty and the Chickasaw refused to leave their territory in Mississippi. For two additional years, the Chickasaws remained in Mississippi. Increasingly, however, the resolve of the Chickasaw people began to wane due to increasing numbers of non-Chickasaw squatters on Chickasaw lands and
Chakchiuma - Misplaced Pages Continue
3864-577: The Mississippi River. In 1836 after a bitter five-year debate within the tribe, the Chickasaw had reached an agreement to purchase land in Indian Territory from the previously removed Choctaw. They paid the Choctaw $ 530,000 for the westernmost part of their land. The first group of Chickasaw moved in 1837. The Chickasaw gathered at Memphis, Tennessee , on July 4, 1837, with all of their portable assets: belongings, livestock, and enslaved African Americans . Three thousand and one Chickasaw crossed
3956-552: The Mississippi area and independently developed complex cultures. Despite being smaller than many surrounding tribes, the Chickasaw established themselves as a trade power within the region. Aided by their strategic location on the Mississippi, the tribe was able to exchange goods with neighboring parties. The tactical importance of the Chickasaw was not lost on the British; in 1755, the Imperial Indian Superintendent Edmund Atkin recognized
4048-483: The Mississippi. John C. Calhoun , President Monroe's Secretary of War, had told Jackson that "The President is very anxious to remove the Indians on this side to the west of the Mississippi, and if the Chickasaws could be brought to an exchange of territory, it would be preferred." This land was very valuable on account of its fertile land and salt licks, and the Chickasaw were aware of this value. Jackson persuaded James Colbert and other Chickasaw chiefs to meet him at
4140-509: The Mississippi. The other factor underlying the removal of the Indians was land speculation, one of the primary sources of money for the landed aristocracy of the South since the early days of the Virginia colony . The trio of Andrew Jackson, John Coffee and James Jackson (unrelated), were each land speculators, militiamen and politicians who worked the cessions of huge tracts of Indians lands,
4232-559: The North American Southeast. The suffix -mingo (Chickasaw: minko ) is used to identify a chief. For example, Tishomingo was the name of a famous Chickasaw chief. The towns of Tishomingo in Mississippi and Oklahoma were named for him, as was Tishomingo County in Mississippi. The origin of the Chickasaw is uncertain; 20th-century scholars, such as the archaeologist Patricia Galloway, theorize that
4324-707: The Southeast, were recognized as a "state-recognized group" in 2005 by South Carolina . They are headquartered in Hemingway, South Carolina . Historian Edward J. Cashin , a professor of colonial era history and Director of the Center for the Study of Georgia History at Augusta State University , was unable to ascertain the organization's connection to the Savannah River Chickasaws or other bands of Chickasaw. After receiving letters of complaint concerning
4416-424: The Southeastern Woodlands , United States . Their traditional territory was in northern Mississippi , northwestern and northern Alabama , western Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky . Their language is classified as a member of the Muskogean language family. In the present day, they are organized as the federally recognized Chickasaw Nation . Chickasaw people have a migration story in which they moved from
4508-457: The Southern Confederacy. At the beginning of the American Civil War , Albert Pike was appointed as Confederate envoy to Native Americans. In this capacity, he negotiated several treaties, including the Treaty with Choctaws and Chickasaws in July 1861. The treaty covered sixty-four terms, covering many subjects such as Choctaw and Chickasaw nation sovereignty , Confederate States of America citizenship possibilities and an entitled delegate in
4600-514: The Spanish entering their territory. In the winter of 1540, conflict finally struck between Chickasaw warriors and the Spanish Explorers. The reasonings for the battle vary from Spanish looting Chickasaw food storages, to general heated animosity between the two groups. After various disagreements, the Chickasaw attacked the De Soto expedition in a nighttime raid, nearly destroying the force. The Spanish moved on quickly. The Chickasaw began to establish trading relationships with English colonists in
4692-407: The U.S. finding suitable land for resettlement –revealing the chiefs' desperation to regain Chickasaw sovereignty from the aggressions of the state of Mississippi. Chickasaw landholders were to be compensated for the improvements made on their lands, and all the proceeds made by the Federal government in the sale of the land were to be turned over to the Chickasaw to pay for finding new territory and
SECTION 50
#17328021391764784-408: The U.S. and agreeing to find land and relocate west of the Mississippi River. Between 1832 and 1837, the Chickasaw would make further negotiations and arrangements for their removal. Unlike other tribes who received land grants in exchange for ceding territory, the Chickasaw held out for financial compensation: they were to receive $ 3 million U.S. dollars from the United States for their lands east of
4876-412: The U.S. government to sell their traditional lands in the 1832 Treaty of Pontotoc Creek and move to Indian Territory ( Oklahoma ) during the era of Indian removal in the 1830s. Most of their descendants remain as residents of what is now Oklahoma. The Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma is the 13th-largest federally recognized tribe in the United States. Its members are related to the Choctaw and share
4968-427: The United States and the Chiefs of the Chickasaw Nation assembled at the National Council House on Pontotoc Creek in Pontotoc, Mississippi . The treaty ceded the 6,283,804 million acres of the remaining Chickasaw homeland in Mississippi in return for Chickasaw relocation on an equal amount of land west of the Mississippi River . The treaty followed an earlier agreement to move west of the Mississippi in 1830 which
5060-417: The United States constructed Fort Hampton in 1810 in present-day Limestone County, Alabama . The fort was designed to keep settlers out of Chickasaw territory and was one of the few forts constructed in the United States to protect Native American land claims. The Chickasaw signed the Treaty of Hopewell in 1786. Article 11 of that treaty states: "The hatchet shall be forever buried, and the peace given by
5152-422: The United States government, which had forced them off their lands and failed to protect them against the Plains tribes in the West. In 1861, as tensions rose related to the sectional conflict, the US Army abandoned Fort Washita , leaving the Chickasaw Nation defenseless against the Plains tribes. Confederate officials recruited the American Indian tribes with suggestions of an Indian state if they were victorious in
5244-411: The United States of America, and friendship re-established between the said States on the one part, and the Chickasaw nation on the other part, shall be universal, and the contracting parties shall use their utmost endeavors to maintain the peace given as aforesaid, and friendship re-established." Benjamin Hawkins attended this signing. In 1818, leaders of the Chickasaw signed several treaties, including
5336-406: The United States, they would have US citizenship. This was the first time in history the Chickasaws have ever made war against an English speaking people. The Chickasaws were first combined with the Choctaw Nation and their area was called the Chickasaw District. Although originally the western boundary of the Choctaw Nation extended to the 100th meridian , virtually no Chickasaw lived west of
5428-410: The United States. In addition, the two each served as interpreters and negotiators for chiefs of the tribe during the period of removal. Levi Colbert served as principal chief, which may have been a designation by the Americans, who did not understand the decentralized nature of the chiefs' council, based on the tribe reaching broad consensus for major decisions. An example is that more than 40 chiefs from
5520-413: The actual removal of the tribe. Unlike in other removal treaties, the Chickasaw would pay for their own migration. The treaty also provided for protection the Chickasaw in Mississippi until they emigrated with the allotment of "temporary homesteads." This meant that the Chickasaws were allotted the land they were living on in Mississippi, to be protected by the Federal government from squatters; this benefit
5612-412: The best deal in terms of sale and of acquiring new land for the Chickasaw people. After Pontotoc, Chickasaw sent delegations to search for the new land in the Arkansas Territory, reaching an agreement with the Choctaw in 1837. The Chickasaw decided to buy a part of the Choctaw tribe's new western land under what became known as the Treaty of Doaksville for $ 530,000. Although the treaty was really between
SECTION 60
#17328021391765704-898: The cultural transformation of Native Americans. Washington believed that Native Americans were equals, but that their society was inferior. He formulated a policy to encourage the "civilizing" process, and Thomas Jefferson continued it. Historian Robert Remini wrote, "They presumed that once the Indians adopted the practice of private property, built homes, farmed, educated their children, and embraced Christianity, these Native Americans would win acceptance from white Americans." Washington's six-point plan included impartial justice toward Indians; regulated buying of Indian lands; promotion of commerce; promotion of experiments to civilize or improve Indian society; presidential authority to give presents; and punishing those who violated Indian rights. The government-appointed Indian agents , such as Benjamin Hawkins , who became Superintendent of Indian Affairs for all
5796-408: The defeat of Indian resistance and eventually the complete removal of the Chickasaw, as well as the rest of the Five Civilized Tribes, to make way for white settlers –often at great personal profit. A series of land cessions preceded this final cession of Chickasaw land at Pontotoc Creek. The Chickasaws made two significant cessions in 1805 and 1816, ceding their land in Alabama and Tennessee along
5888-469: The diverse culture of the Chickasaw. The Chikasha Inchokka' Traditional Village features a Council House, two winter and summer houses, a replica mound, a corn crib and a stickball field. There are often stomp dances or stickball demonstrations, and cultural performers often display traditional Chickasaw culture, including art, cooking, language and storytelling. To the Chickasaw, the Mississippi River helped "define their geographic homeland and history", and
5980-432: The family member of the man would return with the news of approval. The man would put on his finest clothing and apply vermilion , a paint associated with love, power, and purity. The man would go to the house of the woman he wanted to marry, and would have supper alone with his future father-in-law, without the company of the wife or mother-in-law. The bed of the wife would be prepared, and the bride would go to sleep before
6072-412: The groom joined. Once they were both in the same bed, they were officially married. The Chickasaw people held ancient beliefs about four "Beloved Things": the sun, the clouds, the sky and Aba' Binni'li , also known as "He that lives in the clear sky". He was believed to be the sole creator of light, life, and warmth. He was believed to reside both in the clouds and in the holy fire, and due to this, fire
6164-434: The interests of freedmen descendants in both of these tribes. But the Chickasaw Nation never granted citizenship to the Chickasaw freedmen. The only way that African Americans could become citizens at that time was to have one or more Chickasaw parents or to petition for citizenship and go through the process available to other non-Natives, even if they were of known partial Chickasaw descent in an earlier generation. Because
6256-454: The land to white settlers would go to the Chickasaw. The treaty led to the Chickasaw Trail of Tears, by which the entire Chickasaw Nation emigrated to new territory in present-day Oklahoma in 1837-1838. The treaty was part of the greater Indian Removal policy, originally proposed by President Thomas Jefferson , by which the Five Civilized Tribes were to allow for white settlement in the south by ceding their territory and relocating west of
6348-503: The maternal line. Children are considered born into the mother's family and clan , and gain their social status from her. Women controlled most property and hereditary leadership in the tribe passed through the maternal line. The name Chickasaw, as noted by anthropologist John Swanton , belonged to a Chickasaw minko', or leader. "Chickasaw" is the English spelling of Chikashsha ( Creek pronunciation: [tʃikaʃːa] ), meaning "comes from Chicsa". In an 1890 extra census bulletin on
6440-547: The name of James Logan Colbert settled in the Muscle Shoals area of Alabama. He lived there for the next 40 years, where he married three high-ranking Chickasaw women in succession. Chickasaw chiefs and high-status women found such marriages of strategic benefit to the tribe, as it gave them advantages with traders over other groups. Colbert and his wives had numerous children, including seven sons: William, Jonathan, George, Levi, Samuel, Joseph, and Pittman (or James). Six survived to adulthood (Jonathan died young.) The Chickasaw had
6532-422: The passage of Mississippi state laws which challenged Chickasaw self-governance. In 1832, the Chickasaw National Council agreed to meet with John Coffee to negotiate a land transfer treaty. On October 20, 1832, during a meeting at the Council House on Pontotoc Creek, Chickasaw leaders signed a treaty allowing for the sale of Chickasaw lands within the state of Mississippi, in exchange for the surveying of new lands in
6624-500: The promise of $ 20,000 paid annually to the chiefs for fifteen years. A deed was drawn up in the name of James Jackson, revealing the corrupt nature of these cessions later pointed out by Andrew Jackson's adversaries, and the Chickasaw lost everything north of the Mississippi border with Tennessee. Andrew Jackson achieved a massive land cession but not the total western removal that was wanted. The Chickasaw carefully guarded their remaining land until Jackson became President. After Jackson
6716-403: The region, corn was one of the most important foods. The Green Corn Ceremony , which occurs annually and starts when the corn crops begin to develop, usually in late June or early July, ties corn into the culture of the Chickasaw. This ceremony celebrated both the crop and the sense of community in the tribe. It was also a time of starting from scratch in a sense. Villages were cleaned, old pottery
6808-460: The reluctance of the Senate to confirm Pontotoc and in part because of the Chickasaws' dissatisfaction with finding new land. The Treaty of Washington in 1834 confirmed Pontotoc. In addition it allowed for the enlargement of the Chickasaw temporary homesteads to be sold, and guaranteed the right of the Chickasaw to receive the revenue for each improved homestead sold. The chiefs were concerned to make
6900-592: The territory south of the Ohio River. He and other agents lived among the Indians to teach them, through example and instruction, how to live like whites. Hawkins married a Muscogee Creek woman and lived with her people for decades. In the 19th century, the Chickasaw increasingly adopted European-American practices, as they established schools, adopted yeoman farming practices, converted to Christianity, and built homes in styles like their European-American neighbors. Due to settlers encroaching into Chickasaw territory,
6992-480: The tribal totem . This name is cognate with the Choctaw shakchi humma "red crawfish". It has appeared in European language sources in a variety of ways, including as Sacchuma and Saquechuma in records of de Soto's travels, and as Choquichoumans by d'Iberville. Swanton argued that the name Houma derives from Chakchiuma . The first historical reference to the Chakchiuma is found when Hernando de Soto sent
7084-399: The tribe and stayed in one of their towns, most likely near present-day Starkville, Mississippi . The Chickasaw were alert around the Spanish, placing war banners implying their intentions for when they would meet the Spanish. The Chickasaw additionally gathered intel that the Spanish recently fought a nearly-lost battle in the town of Mabila, led by leader Tascalusa, only a few months prior to
7176-693: The tribe's greatest challenges. They had the advantage of growing up bilingual. Of these six sons, William "Chooshemataha" Colbert (named after James Logan's father, Chief/Major William d'Blainville "Piomingo" Colbert ) served with General Andrew Jackson during the Creek Wars of 1813–14. He also had served during the Revolutionary wars and received a commission from President George Washington in 1786 along with his namesake grandfather. His brothers Levi ("Itawamba Mingo") and George Colbert ("Tootesmastube") also had military service in support of
7268-473: The tribe. The organizations director of archaeology, Meg Cook, addressed the MDAH’s efforts: “We’re doing everything that we can to reconcile the past and move forward, in a very transparent way. It’s our responsibility to tell the Mississippi story. And that means all of the bad parts, too." Treaty of Pontotoc Creek The Treaty of Pontotoc Creek was a treaty signed on October 20, 1832 by representatives of
7360-488: The tribe’s position: "It is not possible to cast an Eye ever so lightly over a Map, without being struck with the Importance of the [Chickasaws'] situation." The Chickasaw made their first formal contact with the British shortly after the founding of Charles Town in 1670; this occurred when Dr. Woordward of Carolina attempted to establish trade ties while on course to Alabama. Although the British outpost of Charles Town
7452-502: The two Indian nations, Andrew Jackson persuaded the Senate to ratify the treaty. Essentially, the Chickasaw had ceded their eastern land with the Treaty of Pontotoc Creek and acquired western land from the Choctaw in the Treaty of Doaksville. In 1837-38, with their western lands having been purchased from the Choctaw, 4,914 Chickasaws and their 1,156 slaves emigrated to the new, western Chickasaw Nation. They received over $ 3 million from
7544-517: The west, as their oral history attests. They and the Choctaw were once one people and migrated from west of the Mississippi River into present-day Mississippi in prehistoric times; the Chickasaw and Choctaw split along the way. The Mississippian Ideological Interaction Sphere spanned the Eastern Woodlands . The Mississippian cultures emerged from previous moundbuilding societies by 880 CE. They built complex, dense villages supporting
7636-532: The west. The preamble written by the Chickasaw chiefs read: The Chickasaw Nation find themselves oppressed in their present situation, by being made subject to the laws of the States in which they reside. Being ignorant of the laws of the white man, they cannot understand or obey them. Rather than submit to this great evil, they prefer to seek a home in the west, where they may live and be governed by their own laws. And believing that they can procure for themselves
7728-418: The whites, your national character will be lost... you must disappear and be forgotten." On August 27, 1830, after four days of deliberation, the Chickasaw chiefs agreed to exchange their land in Mississippi and relocate to the west. A Chickasaw delegation assigned to explore the new Chickasaw territory west of the Mississippi stalled removal, much to Jackson's distress, for another two years. They returned to
7820-532: The whole Chickasaw nation in Council, and after mature deliberation, they have entered into the following articles... Although further complications had to be resolved, Arrell M. Gibson writes that the Pontotoc Creek Treaty "was the basic Chickasaw removal document providing for the cession of all tribal land east of the Mississippi River." In the treaty, the Chickasaw land was ceded in return for
7912-524: Was elected President in 1828 he resolved to finish the drawn-out question of removal for good. The Indian Removal Act was passed in May, 1830, giving the President direct authority to negotiate the removal treaties for the Five Civilized Tribes still clinging to their southeastern homelands. After the act, Jackson received strong legal and judicial resistance from the more law-savvy Creeks and Cherokees, and
8004-535: Was bilingual and bicultural. George "Tootesmastube" Colbert never reached the Chickasaw's "Oka Homa" (red waters); he died on Choctaw territory, Fort Towson , en route. In 1832 after the state of Mississippi declared its jurisdiction over the Chickasaw Indians, outlawing tribal self-governance, Chickasaw chiefs assembled at the national council house on October 20, 1832 and signed the Treaty of Pontotoc Creek , ceding their remaining Mississippi territory to
8096-643: Was broken, and most old fires were put out. Fasting was done by most tribes to obtain purity, and the Chickasaw specifically would fast from the afternoon of the first day of the ceremony until the second sunrise. In 2010, the tribe opened the Chickasaw Cultural Center in Sulphur, Oklahoma . It includes the Chikasha Inchokka’ Traditional Village, Honor Garden, Sky and Water pavilion, and several in-depth exhibits about
8188-400: Was important for trade, transportation, and irrigation. Referred to as "scored bluff waterway", Chickasaw warriors limited the movement of Europeans along the river. Before marriage, a Chickasaw man would send a gift with his mother or sister to be given to the parents of the woman he would like to marry. If the parents consented, they would offer the gift to the woman. If the woman accepted,
8280-515: Was located over 850 km from Chickasaw territory, the two groups managed to engage initially in an exchange of deerskin. Shortly after making contact with the British, the Chickasaw began to trade with the French as the Europeans established themselves within Louisiana. Within Chickasaw society, trade was categorized under either white (peace) or red (war) routes. To maintain this duality,
8372-546: Was not given to the Cherokee when later the Federal government relied on the influx of squatters in Georgia to pressure the Cherokee into removal. Immediately following the treaty, unallotted Chickasaw land was quickly occupied by white settlers, although they were not supposed to enter, under the treaty, until the Chickasaw relocated. Between 1832 and 1837, the Chickasaw made several further negotiations, in part because of
8464-490: Was respected. It became unlawful to extinguish any fire, even a small cooking fire, with water, as this was considered to be the work of evil spirits. Bad weather such as rain, thunder and heavy wind was thought to be holy people at war above the clouds. Warriors would fire their guns at the sky to show that they were willing to die if they could aid the holy spirits above. After they signed the treaty of Pontotoc Creek in 1832 and were forced from their native land in Mississippi,
#175824