24

The ChickasawsA highly advanced tribe finds a new home

F ederal Indian policy during thenineteenth century was inextrica-

bly tied in with Federal land policy .Eternally it seemed the national gov-ernment was involved in negotiatingland surrender treaties with the Indiantribes to make room for the settlers . Atfirst these cession treaties provided fordiminution of tribal domain ; later asthe frontier settlements intruded tothe very edge of the diminished tribalranges, the policy of relocation de-veloped. This was the reason thenational government established theIndian country west of Arkansas andMissouri . The southern half of thisresettlement zone, the future Okla-homa, was assigned to the Five Civi-lized Tribes .

By 1837 the government tally onevacuating these tribes from Georgia,Alabama, and Mississippi showed thatmost of the Choctaws and Creeks, andabout one-third of the Cherokees hadbeen settled in Indian Territory.There remained a populous segmentof Cherokees in Georgia, bands ofSeminoles in Florida, and the Chicka-saws, numberingsomewhat over 4,000,in northern Mississippi .The Chickasaws, of Muskhogean

linguistic stock, were closely relatedto the Choctaws ; possibly at one timethe Choctaws and Chickasaws hadbeen one tribe . Their spoken language

except for dialectical differences wasidentical, and the same was true forthe written language which mission-aries developed for these two tribes .The historic Chickasaw range ex-tended along the western frontiers ofthree states, Mississippi, Tennessee,and Kentucky .

This is the third in a series of arti-cles on the Five Civilized Tribes ofOklahoma, written by Dr . A . M.Gibson, chairman of the depart-ment of history, head of the divi-sion of manuscripts and curator ofthe Phillips Collection on the His-tory of the West . Reprints areavailable in a limited quantityfrom Dr . Gibson's office .

Like the other nations of the south-eastern Indian community, the Chick-asaws had achieved an advancedculture before the coming of the Euro-pean . Although skilled as hunters andwarriors, they developed a sophisti-cated village life based on agriculture .The Chickasaw tribe was divided intoclans, each clan ruled by a minor chief,and at the head of the nation was aprincipal chief, the minoo, chosen forlife by the tribal council from thehighest ranking clan .The first substantial European con-

By DR . A. M. GIBSON

tact was with the Spanish. During1541, Hernando De Soto and his menspent a season with the Chickasaws,imposing on tribal hospitality whileresting from their travels. When DeSoto was ready to resume his searchfor the fabled Cale, he demandedporters and women. This insultedtribal leaders and they sent warriorsto attack De Soto's camp, and theirfierce assault drove the Spaniardsfrom the Chickasaw country.

in the European drive for control ofthe Ohio and Mississippi valleys, theChickasaws fell into the British orbit.Chickasaw warriors regularly attackedFrench towns north of the Ohio andpreyed like river pirates on Frenchand Spanish commerce on the Missis-sippi . Chickasaws served as agents forBritish traders, too, and the widescope of their trading operations wasshown by a Chickasaw trader turningup in the Wichita villages on theCanadian River in 1719 during Ber-nard de La Harpe's visit to this region .

British traders came to the Chicka-saw Nation early in the period ofChickasaw delegation in 1851 : "Toappreciate the situation of the Chicka-saws, it must be bourne in mind theyare only about one-fourth as numerousas the Choctaws . By the Treaty be-tween the two Tribes they are entitled

European penetration of the Missis-sippi valley . Many took Chickasawwives and established mixed-bloodlines which came to play a leading rolein tribal affairs in the East and later inIndian Territory. Some of the mixed-blood family names conspicuous inChickasaw history were Adair, Chea-dle, Gunn, McGee, Allen, Harris,Pickens, McLaughlin, Love, and Mc-Gillvery .

As was the case for the Cherokees,Creeks, and Choctaws, the Chickasawssoon were surrounded by Americansettlements and the federal govern-ment encouraged tribal leaders to signa removal treaty . Previous cessionagreements with the United States haddrastically reduced Chickasaw terri-tory ; an 1818 treaty cut off their rangein western Kentucky and Tennesseeand restricted the Chickasaw Nationto northern Mississippi and a strip ofland in northwestern Alabama.

Government commissioners encour-aged the chiefs to cede this last vestigeof their eastern domain . The Chicka-saws suffered harassment from the set-tlers much like the other tribes, andthe Mississippi legislature adoptedlaws erasing tribal government andmaking all Chickasaws subject to statelaw. Tribal leaders, apparently awarethat removal was inevitable, withcreditable shrewdness and cunningheld out just long enough to make itpossible to wring from the governmentcommissioners by far the best removaltreaty negotiated with the Five Civi-lized Tribes .

During October, 1832, at the Chick-asaw council house on Pontotoc Creek,tribal leaders signed a treaty withPresident Jackson's representativesproviding for the cession of all Chicka-saw lands east of the Mississippi assoon as a suitable home in the westcould be found. By the terms of theTreaty of Pontotoc, the governmentwas to survey the Chickasaw Nation,and after each Indian family had beenassigned a homestead as a temporaryresidence until the western home wasdecided upon, the remainder of theland was to be sold at public sale, theproceeds to go into the Chickasawnational fund.

Between 1832 and 1837, Chicka-saw delegations regularly visited thewestern frontiers of the United Statessearching for a new home . The Choc-

taws, owning a vast domain in south-ern Indian Territory, extending fromArkansas to the 100th meridian andflanked by the Canadian and Red, en-couraged the Chickasaws to settle intheir country. Chickasaw leaders werereluctant to consider this offer since itincluded the requirement that theirpeople unite with the Choctaws in asingle government . They were awarethat under such an arrangement theChickasaws would become a minoritygroup, outnumbered three to one.

Pressure by the state of Mississippifor an early evacuation caused thefederal government to assist the Chick-asaws in their search for a new home .Isaac McCoy, well-known on the In-dian frontier as a Baptist missionaryand government surveyor, was di-rected to look over the Osage countrysituated west of Missouri and north ofthe Cherokee Nation as a possibleChickasaw resettlement area . McCoyreported that the Mississippi Indianscould be colonized there nicely, but avisiting Chickasaw delegation was notimpressed with this region as a futurehome . Next, the federal governmentproposed that the Chickasaws settlebetween the Canadian and NorthCanadian in the western Creek coun-try (an area that in 1856 was assignedto the Seminoles) . This the Chicka-saws declined, too. A Chickasaw dele-gation reportedly even looked over a4,000,000 acre tract in north Texasand began preliminary negotiationswith the Mexican government for pur-chase, but interest waned and theproject was dropped .

Meanwhile, settler depredations onChickasaw property increased . Home-seekers, indulged by sympathetic statelaw enforcement officers and courts,overran the Chickasaw country, squat-ting on Indian homesteads, and federalofficials refused to protect Chickasawinterests as guaranteed by the Treatyof Pontotoc . This deliberate harass-ment convinced tribal leaders that adecision on a new western home wasurgent. Thus, in November, 1836, adelegation went west to resume nego-tiations with the Choctaws . TheChickasaw council instructed its rep-resentatives to offer to pay the Choc-taws no more that $1,000,000 for anew domain .On January 17, 1837, a Choctaw-

Chickasaw council convened at Doaks-ville, a leading town in the southern

Choctaw Nation near Fort Towson,and signed an agreement known asthe Treaty of Doaksville. By its termsthe cherished hope of United Statesofficials and Mississippians alike wassatisfied in that finally the Chicka-saws accepted a western home withthe Choctaws . John McLish, PitmanColbert, James Brown, and JamesPerry were the Chickasaw commis-sioners. Thomas LeFlore, Nitakechi,and Joseph Kinkaid, Choctaw districtchiefs, represented their nation, andWilliam Armstrong, Acting Superin-tendent for the Western Territory, wasthe principal signer for the UnitedStates .The Choctaw settlements in Indian

Territory were concentrated in theeastern third of that nation's domain .This settled area was divided intothree districts, each ruled by a princi-pal chief, the three together compris-ing the executive branch of the Choc-taw Nation . In return for payment of$530,000 into their national treasury,the Choctaws agreed to establish afourth district, to be called the "Chick-asaw District of the Choctaw Nation."The limits for the Chickasaw Districtas eventually worked out representedthe center third of the Choctaw Na-tion, extending west to the 98th meri-dian . Chickasaws were to enjoy all theconstitutional rights of Choctaws in-cluding suffrage, equal representationon the Choctaw national council, andholding of public office generally.Chickasaws and Choctaws could settleanyplace in the four districts. Eachnation was to control and keep sep-arate its annuities and tribal estate .

The Chickasaws began preparing tomove west soon after their delegationreturned with the tidings of the Doaks-ville council. The first party of mi-grants departed Pontotoc during thespring of 1837, and by 1840 most ofthe Chickasaws had arrived in IndianTerritory. With a shorter distance totravel, and due to the wise manage-ment of their removal by tribal leaders,the Chickasaw relocation was the mostpeaceful and orderly experienced bythe Five Civilized Tribes . The Indianfamilies were able to collect most oftheir personal possessions, slaves, andlivestock for transfer to Indian Terri-tory . The migration stream for the In

Continued on the next page

25

The Chickasaws

than Territory settlers was principallyby river steamer up the Arkansas toFort Coffee . Some families came over-land by wagon. But even with theirwell-organized removal, they did notescape suffering and disease .The Chickasaws were to pay for the

cost of their removal, primarily trans-portation and subsistence costs, fromtheir national fund . It was the practiceof the government to let contracts tocompanies and individuals who agreedto supply transportation and rationsfor the emigrant Indians at so muchper head . Chickasaw chiefs, aware ofthe hardships suffered by Creek, Choc-taw, and other migrant groups due inpart to dereliction on the part ofcallous contractors, sought to no availto manage this important phase oftheir relocation . In the early stages ofmaking preparations to move theywrote President Jackson of their "fearthat our comfort will be neglected bythe contractors."On the trail to Indian Territory,

cholera and smallpox struck theircamps, but most of their sufferingwas due to gastro-intestinal disorderscaused by spoiled meat and grain ra-tions issued them by unscrupulousgovernment contractors . For the re-moval the tribe divided into four com-panies, each headed by a Chickasawleader . Chiefs Tishomingo, McGill-very, Alberson, and Sealy were themigration captains . These units di-vided into smaller groups at differentpoints on the trail . The governmentstaff accompanying each migrationparty consisted of a physician, whoseduties included supervising the sani-tation of the camps and certifying thequality of the rations issued, and anumber of guides or conductors .Upon arrival in Indian Territory,

the Chickasaws stopped in the Choc-

Z6

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

taw settlements to rest from theirordeal and adjust to the new land .The principal Chickasaw concentra-tions were at Eagletown, Doaksville,Brushy Creek, Fort Coffee, and onBoggy River. A road was cut fromFort Coffee on the Arkansas throughthe wilderness to the Boggy. Theregovernment contractors established anissue station and the new settlementtook on the name of Boggy Depot,later a principal town in the westernChoctaw Nation . Misfortune seemedto stalk the migrants . While crossingArkansas, several Chickasaws werestricken and died from smallpox . Thedisease persisted and several of theirIndian Territory camps were ravaged .Removal officials at the Chickasawcamp near Fort Coffee reported thedisease was "progressing rapidly" in-fecting also the Choctaws, thirty In-dians had died since arrival, and sol-diers from forts Coffee and Gibsonwere coming to the villages to vacci-nate the survivors.

Many of the Chickasaws carriedsubstantial sums of money from thesale of improvements on their Missis-sippi allotments . While some usedtheir grubstake to finance idleness andoccasional drunken sprees, many in-vested their personal funds in live-stock, seeds, and slaves . The latterwere eager to move into their districtand open new farms, plantations, andranches. But disturbing reports fromtraders and trappers, recently arrivedfrom the Washita, telling of eastwardthrusts by savage bands of Kiowas,Comanches, and Kickapoos discour-aged the Chickasaw settlers, and as anIndian agent put it, they were "settlingpromiscuously" among the Choctaws .

Choctaw leaders encouraged theChickasaws to emigrate to their dis-trict at an early date . There was somelocal resentment at the personalwealth of the Chickasaws . And thefact that many of the new arrivalsfrom Mississippi were spending theirmoney on whiskey, gambling, and agood time generally, creating disorder,and debauching Choctaws, gave thehost officials a sound argument. Also,the Choctaw constitution had been re-vised to include the Chickasaw Dis-trict and the Choctaw chiefs andcouncil were eager to have it settled inorder that political organization couldbe carried out. In addition, while theChoctaws were silent on this matter,it is very likely that one of their primemotivations for pressuring the Chick-asaws to settle their district was toestablish a populous buffer zone in thecenter of their vast territory to protecttheir settlements from attack by thewild tribes roaming the western bor-ders .The Chickasaws, apprehensive over

moving to their district as long as lifeand property were unsafe there, exer-cised their rights under the Treaty ofDoaksville whereby they could settlein any of the four districts, and re-mained east of their assigned consti-tuency . Apparently civilization hadpacified the Chickasaws, for there wasno indication that the warriors feltobliged to fulfill the great martial tra-ditions of their ancestors, who incolonial times were the terrors of theMississippi valley . This caused theChoctaws to turn to the federal gov-ernment for help in making the Chick-asaw District safe for settlement . Mili-tary posts were recommended, anduntil these were constructed, troopsfrom Fort Gibson ranged over theChickasaw District in an attempt to

Chickasaws soon became dissatisfied withand the tribe began pressing for secession

clear the area of Indian intruders. Aslate as 1841 two companies of dra-goons under Captain B. 1) . Moore,patrolled the Chickasaw District,making contact with renegade bandsand ordering them out.

Finally, in 1842, Fort Washita wasestablished . General Zachary Taylor,commander of the Second MilitaryDistrict which included Indian Terri-tory, selected a site for this ChickasawDistrict post on the uplands about fif-t^en miles above the mouth of theWashita. Wide ranging troopers fromFort Washita kept constant surveil-lance for intruders and helped tamethis raw frontier . Additional protec-tion for the Chickasaw District wasprovided in 1851 with the constructionof Fort Arbuckle, situated north ofFort Washita on Wild Horse Creek.

Under the patronage of the garrisonat Fort Washita, Chickasaws beganmoving to their district with confi-dence, and before 1842 ended, eventribal leaders, "among them some ofthe largest planters" in the nation .were venturing into the rich valleysof the Washita, Boggy, and Blue .The mixed-blood Chickasaw plantersfound the custom of holding lands incommon advantageous to their in-terests. All members had equal rightsto share in the tribal domain . A tribalcitizen could hunt, fish, and cut timberin all places not occupied by towns,farms, and plantations. The Chicka-saws, in common with the other mem-bers of the Five Civilized Tribescommunity, followed the open-rangepractice . Livestock, carrying the own-er's brand or mark, grazed at large onthe public domain . Cultivated landwas enclosed with rail fence. There

was plenty of land for all ; the man-land ratio or population density in theChickasaw District was low-less thantwo persons per square mile . And sinceit was public land, there were no taxes.An Indian citizen could clear, im-prove, and cultivate as much land ashe wished, provided he did not en-croach on his neighbor . Tribal lawpermitted a citizen to sell his improve-ments or pass them on to his heirs.While full-blood subsistence patchesranged from three to ten acres, mixed-blood developments were generallyconsiderably larger . The most exten-sive plantations in the ChickasawDistrict were in the valleys of the Redand Washita where Chickasaw plant-ers often had single fields for cottonand corn of 500 acres. Robert Love, aChickasaw mixed-blood, operated twolarge plantations on the Red andowned 200 slaves . Each autumn hetraveled to New Orleans and char-tered a steamer to come up-river andcarry out his crop which generally ranfrom 300 to 500 bales of cotton .

In the Chickasaw District the tradi-tional Indian town declined as oldtribal forms were altered and the In-dians came to follow the familiarAmerican rural pattern-dispersingand settling on detached, separatefamily farms and plantations . Townsthereby became trade, political, andeducational centers. A blacksmithshop, gin, grist and saw mill, stores,warehouses for traders, schools andchurches, postoffice, often a hotel, trib-al government buildings, and a stageoffice were the ordinary componentsof the early Chickasaw towns. Theleading towns in the Chickasaw Dis-trict were Tishomingo and Oak Grove .Mail and stage service and newspapersincluding the Chickasaw Intelligencerkept townspeople and country dwellers

well-informed on local, national, andworld events .

With all their prosperity and ad-vances in the arts of civilization, theChickasaws were restive. Their princi-pal complaint was the Treaty ofDoaksville which erased their nationalidentity by integrating them into theChoctaw Nation . After the ordeal ofremoval had passed, Chickasaw lead-ers began to express their resentmentat this arrangement.

As a minority group in the ChoctawNation the Chickasaws shared in therights of the Choctaw constitution,including active participation in theChoctaw government . They were en-titled to elect one of the four districtchiefs, and were allocated thirteenseats in the Choctaw national council.The Chickasaws first participated inChoctaw Nation politics in the fall of1841 by electing a district chief andtheir quota of council members. TheChickasaw chief, members of the coun-cil, and local officers were required tolive in the Chickasaw District and thepresence of troops at Fort Washitabeginning in 1842 made it safe tosettle that area .By 1845 the Chickasaws regarded

their absorption into the Choctaw Na-tion with such misgivings that a seces-sion movement got underway . Chicka-saw leaders wrote the President andCommissioner of Indian Affairs ex-pressing their resentment at what theytermed the "inevitable domination bythe more numerous Choctaws." Theyclaimed competence to handle theirown affairs, and appealed for separa-tion . A summary of their grievanceswas presented to the President by a

Continued on the next page

27

The Chickasaws

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

to representation in the ChoctawCouncil which makes all the laws ; butbeing in a very small minority theirvoice is neither felt or heard in thatbody ; practically they have no par-ticipation in making the laws to whichthey are subjected ; and often lawsare enforced upon them to which thewhole tribe is unanimously opposed.They are completely at the mercy ofthe Choctaws, and every Chickasawfeels that he is oppressed by them . Thepeople of both tribes are entitled tothe same privileges everywhere in thenation by the Treaty : but the Choc-taws regard and treat the Chickasawseverywhere out of their own district asintruders, and it is frequently thrownup to them as a reproach that theyhave no rights in the country. This isthe cause of many private difficulties,frequently ending in the death of oneor the other of the parties, and thenumber of these is constantly increas-ing. . .

"The impression is becoming preva-lent that the existing relations betweenthe two people cannot submit muchlonger in peace. The Chickasaws aredissatisfied with their present politicalcondition ; nothing but a seperationfrom the Choctaws will ever satisfythem. The sooner this is effected webelieve the better for all parties."

While Chickasaw leaders werebuilding their case for separation fromthe Choctaws, they also went aboutestablishing a workable district gov-ernment which could become a tribalgovernment once their goal wasachieved . Isaac Alberson, Chickasawdistrict chief during the 1840's,

28

Bill Eischeid PontiacB . A . '50

514 South BroadwayEdmond, Oklahoma

0. C . VI 3-5749 - Edmond PL 4-1170

worked hard to settle all his people intheir constituency and restore tribalunity by providing Chickasaw laws,officials, and schools. And in propor-tion to the growing reluctance ofChoctaw leaders to consider a dissolu-tion of the union, Chickasaw national-ism grew stronger with each attemptof the Choctaws to discourage theseparation . In 1845 at Boiling Springsnear Fort Washita, a Chickasaw con-vention met to begin the organizationof a separate tribal government . Thefollowing year the convention draftedan outline of government whichmarked the first attempt by the Chick-asaws to produce a written constitu-tion . Then in 1848 the Chickasawconvention drafted a more detailedorganic law providing for the organi-zation of executive and legislativedepartments, definition of citizenship,bill of rights, and handling of the na-tional fund . Electors were defined asall males sixteen years of age and over .Edmund Pickens was elected chiefunder this constitution .

By this action, the Chickasawswere in the curious position of livingunder two governments, for besidestheir own de facto establishment,which was operating on an increasing-ly independent basis, they also con-tinued to associate politically with theChoctaws as required by the Treaty ofDoaksville, all the while grumbling

TYLER S SIMPSON CO.Wholesale Grocers

Norman

Ardmore, Oklahoma

Gainesville, Texas

about the unpleasantness of theirsatellite role . Apparently Choctawleaders tired of the eternal complaintsof their adopted community, and inJune, 1855, a Choctaw delegation con-sisting of Peter Pitchlynn, Israel Fol-som, Samuel Garland, and DicksonW.Lewis met in Washington with aChickasaw delegation which includedEdmund Pickens and Sampson Fol-som for the purpose of negotiating adissolution of the union formed by theTreaty of Doaksville in 1837 .The Choctaw-Chickasaw Treaty of

1855, negotiated by GeorgeW. Many-penny, Commissioner of Indian Af-fairs, provided for a three-way divi-sion of the old Choctaw Nation . TheChoctaws retained the eastern thirdof this vast domain as the new Choc-taw Nation . The Chickasaws, by pay-ing the Choctaws $150,000, receivedthe center third of the old ChoctawNation as their own, independent,separate domain . The western third,that portion extending from the 98thto the 100th meridian, was leased ona perpetual basis to the United Statesgovernment for $800,000 ; the Choc-taws received three-fourths of thissum, the Chickasaws one-fourth .Their political union with the Choc-

taws dissolved, the Chickasaws met inmass convention the following year atGood Spring on Pennington Creek,

Equipment for produc-tion, storage, refining, andtreating of oil, gas, andwater from the well headto the consumer.

INEEREDPRODUCTS

UW2

I

NATIONAL TANK CO .TULSA, OKLAHOMA

\\ on't KNOCK wood, call T

U' L

S*INSURANCE - BONDS AATLAS LIFE BLDG . " PHONE L01-5103

this time to write a constitution whichwould establish a de jure governmentto replace the de facto operation theyhad stubbornly maintained throughthe years. This organic law producedby a convention headed by JacksonKemp, provided for a chief executivecalled the Governor of the ChickasawNation, elected for a two-year term ;a bicameral national council, consist-ing of a house of representatives, themembers apportioned on the basis ofpopulation and elected annually; a

Whoa, Amigo . . .

senate, the members elected from foursenatorial districts corresponding tothe four counties of the nation (Pan-ola, Pickens, Pontotoc, and Tisho-mingo), each district allocated threesenators, these officers elected for two-year terms ; andajudiciary containinga supreme court, circuit court, andfour county courts . A bill of rights wasincluded, and eligible voters were de-fined as all male citizens nineteenyears of age and over . For many yearsthe Chickasaws had been strong sup-

Here's Soonerland'sNewest and MostConveniently Located

MOTOR HOTELMinutes-University of Oklahoma

Minutes-Downtown Oklahoma City

Minutes-Will Rogers Airport

Hospitality in the tradition of the Great Southwest

MAKE YOUR RESERVATIONSNOW-O.U . FOOTBALL HOME GAMES

6/ Dorado Restaurant

Cortez Club

FIESTA INNCALL SWift 4-6611 IN OKLAHOMA CITY

Interstate 35 and 27th Street, Moore, Oklahoma(I-State 35 and S E INth, Oklahoma City)

-Just North of Norman-

porters of education which was re-flected in their constitution . A super-intendent of public instruction, electedto a four-year term by the nationalcouncil was assigned the duty of or-ganizing a school system for thenation . The new Chickasaw govern-ment met in a hewn-log house until1858 when a brick capitol buildingwas constructed at Tishomingo City .In the first election held under thisconstitution, Cyrus Harris was se-lected governor, and Holmes Colbertwon the office of national secretary.

Having accomplished at long lasttheir hearts desire, the Chickasawshappily went to work developing theirnew, independent nation . They hadmade only a fair start in this directionwhen the American Civil War began.The Chickasaws with the other riveCivilized Tribes succumbed to Con-federate promises and signed the fa-mous Pike treaties in 1861 . The warand the reconstruction treaties of 1866devastated the Chickasaw Nation . Intheir embarrassed andweakened state,the Chickasaws were easily imposedupon by the United States govern-ment, which regularly called upon thisnation to surrender various rights andprivileges culminating in allotment inseveralty by the Otoka Agreement in1897, dissolution of the nation as apolitical entity, and fusion with Okla-homa Territory to form the state ofOklahoma in 1907.

CompletePRINTINGService

* Commercial and Creative Printing* Publication Specialists

TRANSCRIPT PRESS"Since 1889"PHONES :

Norman-JE 4-1800

Oklahoma City-SW 4-4488

222 E. Eufaula St., Norman, Okla.

Hal Muldrow Agency'28

Insurance of All KindsBonds

117 E . Comanche

Norman