Grant Foreman • The Five Civilized Tribes

The habitat of the Chickasaw Indians was the northern part of Mississippi adjoining the Choctaw, to whom they were related. The latter had become notable for their devotion to agricultural pursuits while the former were still a turbulent warlike people. The Chickasaw were noted from remote times for their bravery, independence and warlike disposition. But due to the influence of the missionaries and other associations with the whites, early in the nineteenth century they began to make rapid strides in civilization. An illuminating picture of their progress and condition at the time of the enactment of the famous Indian Removal Bill is furnished by their agent John L. Allen: "The buffalow and Bare are gone, and there are but few Deer, not sufficient to justify an Indian to depend upon for support, or particularly those that have familys. Consequently the Chickasaws are compelled to Subsist by different means than those of the chase. They have plenty of Horses of a superior quality . . . large herds of Cattle, Swine, Sheep, and Goats, and poultry of every description." They raised cotton, corn, wheat, oats, peas, potatoes, and beans. In 1830 they had exported 1,000 bales of cotton and a considerable amount of beef and pork.

"The proceeds from the sales of Cotton, Horses, Beef, Cattle, Hogs &c after retaining a sufficiency for their home consumption is Generally applied to the purchase of necessaries and Luxuries of life; to-wit, Slaves, Shugar, and Coffee, as well as dry goods of various descriptions, which are calculated to render them comfortable and ornament their persons. Every family cultivates the earth more or less, as his thirst for gain, or his imaginary or real wants increases. Much to the honor of the Chickasaws, for the past eight years the practice of the men of requiring the woman to perform all the labors of the field is much changed — the men now, with a few exceptions, cultivate the earth p98 themselves, while the female part of the family is engaged in their household affairs. They spin, weave, make their own cloathing, milch Cows, make butter, Cheese &c. They keep themselves decent and clean and in many instances particular attention is paid to fashions that are in use by the whites. It is their constant practice to appear in their best apparel at their public meetings, also when they visit the Country Villages in the white settlements.

"Many of the Chickasaw Indians profess Christianity; I attended a camp meeting in Novr. last at the Missionarys. Devine worship was performed alternately by white, and red men, in the English and Indian Languages; and for the first time I saw the Sacrament taken by the Indians. Every thing was Conducted with the utmost good order, and decorum. As a Nation the men are brave and honest; the women (the half breeds in particular) are beautiful and virtuous; and I am of the opinion that there has been greater advancement in Civilization in the last eight years than there was in twenty previous."

The chiefs of the tribe desired to improve the facilities for education of their youth which then were enjoyed only by those Indians of part Indian blood.

"There are at this time several white men that have identified themselves with the Indians by Marriage, and Several half breeds that have sufficient education to enable them to transact a considerable portion of the business for the Nation.

"The Municipal laws of the Chickasaws consist in written Laws or resolutions commanding that which is right and prohibiting that which they conceive to be wrong. Their laws are few, easily understood and rigidly enforced and are highly calculated to promote peace and good order among themselves.

"As I have already mentioned the state of agriculture, I have only now to say something on the Subject of the Mechanic arts, the knowledge of which is Generally confined to the white men that have identified themselves with the Indians . . . towit — House Carpenter, wheelright, Mill rights, Blacksmiths &c. All the arts necessary for farming use, Stocking plows, helving axes, does making slides, Truck wheels, draw bars, &c., is Generally confined to the Common Indians and Slaves."⁠1

p99 The Chickasaw people were sending some of their boys away to school. One named James Perry, after spending two years at Elliot Mission, at the age of nineteen was sent to Jefferson College; here he delivered a commencement address September 30, 1824, that was widely copied in the press of the North and East.⁠2 For a number of years they appropriated annually $3,000 for the education of their youth in schools in the North. A school was established at Monroe in the Chickasaw Nation in 1821 by the Missionary Society of the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia, which conducted it until 1829, when it was transferred to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions of Boston. Another school named Charity Hall was established in 1820 three miles from Cotton Gin Port by the Cumberland Missionary Board. Another school was begun January 15, 1827, on Caney Creek, nine miles west of Tuscumbia. Many Chickasaw who later became prominent and useful in the affairs of their tribe were educated at these schools. They were maintained in part by the funds of the tribe and by appropriations made by the Government. However, the Government assistance was withdrawn about 1830 as part of the program of aiding the southern states in driving the Indians from within their borders.

Just as this advanced state of civilization of the tribe had been achieved and with still greater progress within sight, Congress enacted Jackson's Indian Removal Bill and the State of Mississippi extended her laws over the Chickasaw Nation. This hastened and facilitated their oppression of the Indians as it was intended it should, and their country was overrun by the whites. The lives of the Indians were made intolerable and they at last were induced to sign a treaty in 1832 yielding up their lands in Mississippi in return for a promise by the Government to find them a home west of the Mississippi river where they hoped to live in peace.⁠3

The major part of the Choctaw tribe had emigrated west by the end of 1833 and it was then planned to remove the Chickasaw Indians and cause them to be united on the same domain and under one tribal government. The efforts to effect a union of these tribes were responsible for much dissatisfaction on the part of the Chickasaw people and p100 delay in their removal. Thus it was not until 1837 that their emigration began, but it was practically completed within a year.⁠4

Most of the emigrants at first encamped in the vicinity of Fort Coffee where they awaited the construction of a road to their future home.⁠5 A depot for the issuance of their supplies was located in the western part of the Choctaw Nation on Boggy River near a place that became known as Boggy Depot, and a large part of the emigrants settled on Boggy and Blue rivers convenient to this place of issue. Others settled in other parts of the Choctaw country, in many cases purchasing the homes and improvements of the earlier arrivals. Some of the Chickasaw were prosperous and brought with them large numbers of slaves.

The Chickasaw Nation had purchased for a new home the western part of the Choctaw domain, but as it was overrun by wild Indians of the prairies and predatory Indians of other tribes, the newcomers could not occupy it until the Government complied with its promise to establish a military post in the country for their protection. Before the completion of their emigration, in the winter of 1837‑38 the chiefs of this tribe addressed a communication to the officers of the Government asking that a fort be located near the mouth of the Washita River. A large body of wild Indians, who assembled on the south side of the Red River opposite the mouth of the Washita, planned an attack on the white settlers of Texas. Volunteers were organizing to proceed against them and Indian Superintendent Armstrong feared these Indians would take refuge in the Chickasaw country to the great annoyance and injury of the immigrants. And he added his appeal to that of the Chickasaw for military protection. However the Government did nothing about the matter for nearly four years, thereby entailing costly delay to the immigrants in getting settled in their new home.⁠6

Emigration of the tribe had arrested all progress they were making in the East and introduced in its place almost a state of demoralization. After removal this condition was continued and little was done to correct it. For want of adequate protection in their own country the p101 Chickasaw led a restless, unsettled life on the lands of the Choctaw Indians with no incentive nor opportunity to establish their government, schools, and other institutions, nor land upon which they could build their homes. To aggravate the demoralization resulting from their forced migration, the emigrants on their way through Arkansas, contracted smallpox from which between 500 and 600 of their tribe died before the disease was checked by vaccination. Because of the destitution following this epidemic and consequent inability to raise crops that year, Congress authorized an additional issue of rations to them for seven months.⁠7

The largest Chickasaw settlement in the Choctaw country was on Boggy and Blue rivers, reached by them over a road they opened from Fort Coffee on the Arkansas River, from where a large part of their supplies were forwarded.⁠8 Steps were taken at once to ameliorate the condition of the new arrivals by the erection of a gristmill and a sawmill on the Boggy, where but a year or two before the wild Indians roamed. A number of wealthier half-breeds settled on the rich bottom lands near Fort Towson where they engaged on a large scale in raising cotton and other farm products. One of them, Col. George Colbert, the first year after his arrival prepared to plant from three to five hundred acres of cotton with the labor of his 150 slaves.

For many years George Colbert had been a conspicuous and valuable member of the Chickasaw tribe. He lived to see his people through their great crisis, and then died in their new home, honored by all who knew him. The following account is from an army officer:⁠9

"Fort Towson, November 7th, 1839. We this day buried with the honors of war, General George Culvert, the head chief of the Chickasaw Nation, a man of superior intelligence, the greatest of warriors, and the white p102 man's friend. He was a revolutionary veteran; he served under General Washington in our struggle for independence, from whom he received a commission of Major of Militia in the United States Service, and a sword. He served under General Wayne, and also under General Jackson in the Florida War of 1814 against the Seminoles; for his bravery, General Jackson presented him with a Colonel's commission, and afterwards a sword, when President of the United States. He gained the entire confidence of the officers he served under for his integrity and valor; he was physically and mentally a great man; although 95 years of age, he walked as upright as a man of 25.

"The commanding officer, on having received and read the commissions, ordered an escort from the fort, of three officers, a Captain and two subalterns; also all the men doing military duty, to escort his corpse to its last resting place with reversed arms, and buried with the customary salute due his rank; he was interred with his saddle and bridle, the swords presented to him by Generals Washington and Jackson, and a United States flag. He was of great importance to the cause of civilization among his people by his examples of industry; he was a planter, his fields of cotton whitened the hills and dales near the fort. He educated his sons⁠10 and located them on plantations among his people, which worked moral influence among them; he was looked up to as a father, and exercised a father's influence over his people."

"He was born in the Chickasaw country, now north Mississippi, near Tennessee river, and was a half-breed. Early becoming attached to the whites, he united himself and nation to their interests and was regularly commissioned a Colonel by President Washington. At St. Clair's defeat he was taken prisoner and after his release, accompanied Gen. Wayne to the western frontier. He was with Jackson in all his campaigns; and in all situations on all occasions, proved himself the devoted friend, the sagacious counsellor, the gallant soldier, uniting in a happy combination, the ennobling qualities of the Indian and the white man. His unwavering firmness, unbending integrity, immaculate truth, noble generosity, and amiable frankness, were proverbial with all who knew him."

p103 Soon after Colbert passed away another conspicuous member of this tribe, old Chief Tish-o‑mingo, died in his western home. The high sense of appreciation of his tribesmen is indicated by the twelfth section of the treaty of Pontotoc:⁠12

"The Chickasaws feel grateful to their old chiefs, for their long and faithful services, in attending to the business of the nation. They believe it a duty, to keep them from want in their old and declining age — with these feelings, they have looked upon their old and beloved chief Tish-o‑mingo, who is now grown old, and is poor and not able to live in that comfort which his valuable life and great merit deserve. It is therefore determined to give him out of the national funds, one hundred dollars a year during the balance of his life, and the nation request him to receive it, as a token of their feelings for him, on account of his long and valuable services."

Old Chief Tish-o‑mingo lived for several years after the removal of the tribe and died May 5, 1841.⁠13 The following touching account of the beloved chief was contributed to the press⁠14 by a Choctaw:

Choctaw Nation May 6, 1841; Captain Tish-o‑mingo, a veteran warrior of the Chickasaws departed this life on the 5th inst. Although but little known beyond the limits of his nation, yet he was a man that had seen wars and fought battles — stood high among his own people as a brave and good man. He served under General Wayne in the Revolutionary War, for which he received a pension from the Government of the United States; and in the late war with England, he served under General Jackson and did many deeds of valor. He had fought in 9 battles for the United States. As a friend, he has served the white man faithfully. His last words were: 'When I am gone, beat the drum and fire the guns.'

"I hear the sound of the drum — the report of 'Death guns'⁠15 is roaring in our valley — a warrior spirit is passing away. The brave Tish-o‑mingo, the veteran warrior of our tribe, is gone. His clansmen p104 are gathering around his corpse. Long years have passed away since first his native hills re-echoed his war whoop — when gray headed warriors gathered around his war dance, and said, 'Go, young warrior, go. It is the beloved Washington who calls for help.' Our aged warriors and chieftains are all gone. Tish-o‑mingo, the last of the braves is gone. They are all gone. (Signed) Pitchlynn."

The disposition of the Chickasaw to industry and progress was very similar to that of the Choctaw, but the former suffered from a demoralizing influence for some time after their arrival; many of the members of the tribe had large sums of money received from the sale of their land in the East and were but little disposed to work while the money lasted. However, many others used these funds for purchasing horses, cattle and hogs from the Choctaw and starting herds of live stock, which brought prosperity to individuals of both tribes. For years few of the Chickasaw dared locate on the land ceded them by the Choctaw. There they would have been much exposed by their frontier location, with Texas immediately opposite them. That state was engaged in constant warfare with the western prairie Indians who frequently took refuge in the Chickasaw country whence they were hunted out by Texas troops and between the two opposing forces the Chickasaw were the sufferers, losing lives of their citizens and much livestock.

The Chickasaw had been annoyed by roving bands of Delaware, Shawnee, Kickapoo, Cherokee, Caddo, Yuchi and Koasati, who claimed to be hunting but were also engaged in stealing the livestock of the Chickasaw and trafficking with the Comanche for the horses the latter had stolen from white people in Texas. They became so threatening and hostile towards the Chickasaw that the agent called on the commanding officer at Fort Gibson for assistance; three companies from that post were sent into the Chickasaw country during April and May, 1841,⁠16 and they drove the troublesome Indians out; after the troops departed, however, some of the Indians returned, and continued to steal horses and Negroes. In August an armed band of whites from Texas crossed to the north side of Red River and killed two Indians, a man and a woman; the other Indians made their escape, but their property was destroyed. Two or three weeks later a company of sixty p105 or eighty armed Texans crossed Red River above the mouth of the Washita and scoured the country between the Washita and Red rivers, committing depredations on the property of the Chickasaw.⁠17 This situation hastened the establishment in 1842 by General Taylor of Fort Washita;⁠18 a portion of the Chickasaw tribe were then encouraged to settle in the limited extent of country under the protection of this post.

On these fertile lands the Chickasaw raised considerable corn and other produce, part of which they were able to dispose of to the garrison; they still had a surplus of corn, however, which was of little value to them, as Red River did not provide navigation and they had no other facilities for shipping it. They had need for this market for their produce, as the remote white settlements offered little; the merchants at Fort Smith and Van Buren advertised Choctaw stripes, red and blue stroudings, flour, coffee, sugar, and other supplies in exchange for hides, peltries, coon skins, beeswax, tallow, chickens, eggs, and such produce.⁠19 And while flour, sugar, and coffee sold for prices not much different from those obtaining in modern times, the merchant retailed the farmer's produce very cheaply indeed; beef, one and one-half to two cents a pound, tallow, four to six cents; beeswax, twenty-two to twenty-five cents; mutton and veal, four to five cents; butter, six to eight cents a pound; eggs, six to eight cents per dozen; chickens, seventy-five cents to a dollar a dozen;⁠20 and whisky of a kind, at thirty cents a gallon lured the Indians to market many miles from home and accounted for much unhappiness and disorder among them.

Berthelet, Heald & Co. were advertising that they had coming up the Arkansas 500 packages, casks, and bales of merchandise, which ". . . will be swapped on very accommodating terms for peltries, furs, skins, cotton or cash."⁠21 A lot of buffalo tongues was just received and offered for sale by Austin Clegg.⁠22 Another advertised "Buffalo and p106 horse dressing combs and horse tuck combs," and announced the highest market price for ginseng and snake root.⁠23

In 1843 individual Chickasaw Indians had as much as 500 acres in corn, besides cotton, wheat, oats, and rye which they were able to cultivate with the labor of a large number of slaves. There were three fine cotton gins owned by Chickasaw, and a horse-mill for grinding corn owned and operated by a Chickasaw woman. Early in 1845 William R. Guy, a white man married to a Chickasaw, started a saw- and gristmill on Boggy Creek operated by water power.⁠24 "Several of the Chickasaws have spinning-machines, and are making cloth to clothe their negroes." The Chickasaw still clung to their old custom of permitting an old chief to select his successor.⁠25 They were annoyed by Indians between Washita and Red Rivers who harbored their runaway negroes and sold them to the Comanche; Shawnee and Delaware Indians would then bring the negroes into the Chickasaw country and compel the owners to pay large sums for their return. In the summer of 1843, a negro belonging to Sloan Love, a Chickasaw commissioner living near the mouth of the Washita, was attacked and wounded with arrows by Kichai Indians, who carried off a number of Love's horses; the latter pursued them across Red River in vain. Maj. Benjamin L. Beall, with forty-one troops from Fort Washita, then took up the chase, but as the Indians were well mounted and the troops on foot, naturally the former escaped.⁠26 These Indians were included among remnants of several tribes that menaced the peace of the immigrant Indians and prevented their settlement farther west. There were 900 Wichita and 300 Kichai who were intermarried and living together in a village on Rush Creek, sixty miles west of Fort Arbuckle, near the site of the present town of Rush Springs, Oklahoma.

p107 Col. Joel H. Nail, an intelligent and enterprising Choctaw, was building a fine saw- and gristmill on Blue River and Col. Sloan Love was beginning a horse-mill and cotton gin on his farm.⁠27 The desire to improve their condition persisted with the leaders of the tribe. They ventured tentatively on the eastern part of their own land under the protection of Fort Washita, and began to build houses as the menace of wild Indians seemed to diminish and they looked forward to setting up their schools and churches. They had elected a body of commissioners with some powers of government, composed of Isaac Alberson, Benjamin Love, Sloan Love, James Gamble, Joseph Colbert, James Wolf, Winchester Colbert, Capt. Chickasaw Nah nubby, Ish hit tata, E bah ma tubby, New berry, and William Barnett. The commissioners on November 15, 1844, passed an act providing for the establishment of a manual labor school in the Chickasaw district, to be conducted by the missionary society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. An appropriation of $3,600 annually for the operation of the school was made.

There had been many distractions during the year. The great flood of 1844, the greatest perhaps in the history of the country next to that of 1833, had caused much loss to the Indians living on the streams where most of them had settled. Agent Upshaw accompanied a number of Dragoons from Fort Washita and some Chickasaw Indians to the Wichita town in an effort to recover some boys captured in Texas. The agent was having trouble with white men who were intruding in the Chickasaw country. Greasy Ballard had been killing the hogs of Captain Caudle, the public smith near Doaksville. The Chickasaw commissioners took a census of their tribe and July 23, 1844 reported they had found the number to be 4,111, the most of whom were still living in the Choctaw Nation.⁠28 Upshaw warned his friend Major Armstrong that Pierce Butler planned to succeed him as Indian superintendent as soon as Clay was elected president; so sure was Butler of this issue of the impending election that he had offered to wager four mules on the result. And when it was found that Polk was the winner Upshaw proposed to meet Armstrong and his brother Robert p108 in Washington, where they would "eat oysters and drink a glass of wine." In January one of Mrs. McDonnel's negroes and Pitman Colbert's nephew broke open Mr. Anderson's trunk and extracted $300. Upshaw thought the culprits should be handed over to the United States marshal, as the greatest punishment prescribed by the Choctaw laws for theft was only thirty-nine lashes on the bare back.

The Author's Notes:

1 John L. Allen to Indian Commissioner, February 7, 1830, OIA, "Chickasaw sub-agency;" Report of secretary of war for 1830; The Arkansas Advocate, June 23, 1830, p3, col. 3.

2 Pittsburg Recorder, copied in Western Citizen (Paris, Kentucky), November 13, 1824, cols. 4 and 5; Jackson ('Tenn.') Gazette, January 8, 1825, p3, col. 3.

6 Armstrong to Harris September 4, 1838, OIA, Western Superintendency File A 456; Report of commissioner of Indian affairs for 1838; Armstrong to Harris, December 26, 1837, OIA.

8 Corn for the immigrants was shipped by the contractors up Red River to Boggy and boated up that stream to where a depot was established, and then hauled thirty miles to the place of issue. The beef part of the ration was driven from Arkansas and delivered on the hoof (Report of commissioner of Indian affairs, 1838). Here at Boggy Depot were Saffarans & Lewis and Berthelet Heald & Co., merchants who kept large stocks of goods for sale to the Chickasaw, including "blankets, domestics, calicoes, with various other dry goods, sugar, coffee, axes, hoes, chains, augurs,"º and other commodities (William Armstrong to commissioner of Indian affairs, January 9, 1841, OIA).

15 There was a custom among the Choctaw and Chickasaw people to fire a gun to announce the death of a member of the tribe. Cyrus Byington's son the next day wrote from Eagletown of Tishomingo's death in that neighborhood. He said they painted the dead chief's face black and red. Referring to another death in the vicinity he says they "shot the gun, blew the horn" (Byington letters, Oklahoma Historical Society).

18 Fort Washita was located about twelve miles east of what was called the small Cross Timbers on the route followed by wild western tribes crossing the Chickasaw country on their way between Texas and the country to the north.

20 Ibid., July 19, 1845, p1, cols. 3 and 4; ibid., July 12, 1845, p2, col. 1.

24 William R. Guy came west with the Chickasaw in 1837 as commissary and assistant conductor.

25 Their agent reported difficulty in taking the Chickasaw census: "The rule that the Chickasaw have adopted is to leave out a great number that lived with them in the old nation, and all those who have married amongst them, whose mother is not a Chickasaw. For instance, an Indian may be half Choctaw and half Chickasaw; but if his mother was not a Chickasaw, he is not to be taken in the census, nor is he to draw an annuity" (Report of commissioner of Indian affairs for 1845).

27 Arkansas Intelligencer, March 15, 1845, p1, col. 1; Report of commissioner of Indian affairs for 1844.

28 Isaac Alberson and other commissioners to Upshaw, July 23, 1844, OIA, "I. T. Misc. Upshaw."

[ Chickasaw ]

p97 Chapter six
Chickasaw Description

The Author's Notes:

[ Chickasaw ]

p97 Chapter six Chickasaw Description

The Author's Notes:

p97 Chapter six
Chickasaw Description