| The Choctaws |
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| Questions or comments? E-mail me: robin@redriverhistorian.com |
| RED RIVER ORIGINALS Original inhabitants: Caddos Wichitas Comanches Kiowas Migrant tribes after 1806: Shawnees Osages Tonkawas Removed tribes by 1830: Choctaws Chickasaws End of the Trail |
| According to illustrations drawn in 1777, the Choctaws tattooed their bodies and faces. They abandoned this practice as they were one of the earliest tribes to assimilate to the European culture (LOC). |
Origins
Like the Caddos, the Choctaws originated from the Hopewell, then the Mississippian cultures in the distant past. These cultures
centralized around large cities. Upon decentralization prior to the 15th century, the Choctaws remained an organized tribe but centered
their culture around their ancestral burial mounds in their homelands on the eastern side of the Mississippi River in today's Mississippi,
and into Alabama. Their main mound was "Nanih Waiya" which, according to their origination story, was the mound that gave birth to their
culture. This may also be part of the Chickasaw origination story - the tribes were once together, but separated for some unknown reason.
The Choctaws lived as an agricultural, settled people along the Mississippi River. They conducted both warfare and trade with their
Muskogean linguistic kin, which included the Chickasaws and the Creeks. Like all of the settled tribes, they were matrilineal and relied on
women for food distribution, manufactures, and building their homes.
Siding with the Europeans
While the Choctaws did not like the Spanish, they enjoyed better trading relationships with the French. As a river people, they took part in
the southern fur trade and journeyed into Natchez and New Orleans. Like the Shawnees, they found themselves amid turmoil when the
European powers went to war with each other; after the French lost their foothold in the New World in 1763, the Choctaws traded with the
English. The Proclamation Line of 1763 was also supposed to protect the native tribes from further colonial intrusion, which didn't always
work. This is one reason why they sided with the English and against the colonists during the Revolutionary War.
Although the Choctaws fought American incursion until the 19th century, they also adapted to the culture of the United States. American
missionaries built churches and schools, and a large number of Choctaws converted to Presbyterianism. Their dress and familial
structures changed as well. Some Choctaw women and men married white people, and began to adopt other American practices, such as
the southern slave system. With the forced labor of African-American people, Choctaw plantations prospered in their fertile native soil.
Anglo Americans began to covet the land and the Choctaw plantations. Instead of waging war, Anglos sought governmental assistance
instead. They urged the state of Mississippi to initiate removal treaties, and the federal government complied by providing land to the
Choctaws in Arkansas Territory in 1820.
On the Move
A few hundred Choctaws and African Americans enslaved by them left for Arkansas Territory, though traditionalists in the Choctaw tribe
fought the treaty from the state governments to Washington, D.C. In 1830, the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek put an end to the Choctaws'
wish to stay in their homelands. They were forced to endure the first of many "trail of tears" into Indian Territory, which was carved from
Arkansas Territory in 1824.
When the Choctaws and the people they enslaved first arrived in Arkansas Territory in 1820, they entered at Ultima Thule along the
division line between Arkansas and Indian Territory. Some stayed nearby at Eagletown, while others moved a bit further west to Doaksville
next to Fort Towson, where a trading post centered the tribe. Along with the Presbyterians, the Choctaws also established several
academies for the education of their children after the remainder of the tribe came to Indian Territory after the 1830. Another group of
Choctaws went to Mexican Texas instead to apply for Mexican land grants, as did other displaced people like the Shawnees and
Delawares. Just like the Shawnees and Delawares, they became farmers on their land grants but, after Texas statehood, were coerced to
sell their lands and left Texas for Indian Territory.
Like the Caddos, the Choctaws originated from the Hopewell, then the Mississippian cultures in the distant past. These cultures
centralized around large cities. Upon decentralization prior to the 15th century, the Choctaws remained an organized tribe but centered
their culture around their ancestral burial mounds in their homelands on the eastern side of the Mississippi River in today's Mississippi,
and into Alabama. Their main mound was "Nanih Waiya" which, according to their origination story, was the mound that gave birth to their
culture. This may also be part of the Chickasaw origination story - the tribes were once together, but separated for some unknown reason.
The Choctaws lived as an agricultural, settled people along the Mississippi River. They conducted both warfare and trade with their
Muskogean linguistic kin, which included the Chickasaws and the Creeks. Like all of the settled tribes, they were matrilineal and relied on
women for food distribution, manufactures, and building their homes.
Siding with the Europeans
While the Choctaws did not like the Spanish, they enjoyed better trading relationships with the French. As a river people, they took part in
the southern fur trade and journeyed into Natchez and New Orleans. Like the Shawnees, they found themselves amid turmoil when the
European powers went to war with each other; after the French lost their foothold in the New World in 1763, the Choctaws traded with the
English. The Proclamation Line of 1763 was also supposed to protect the native tribes from further colonial intrusion, which didn't always
work. This is one reason why they sided with the English and against the colonists during the Revolutionary War.
Although the Choctaws fought American incursion until the 19th century, they also adapted to the culture of the United States. American
missionaries built churches and schools, and a large number of Choctaws converted to Presbyterianism. Their dress and familial
structures changed as well. Some Choctaw women and men married white people, and began to adopt other American practices, such as
the southern slave system. With the forced labor of African-American people, Choctaw plantations prospered in their fertile native soil.
Anglo Americans began to covet the land and the Choctaw plantations. Instead of waging war, Anglos sought governmental assistance
instead. They urged the state of Mississippi to initiate removal treaties, and the federal government complied by providing land to the
Choctaws in Arkansas Territory in 1820.
On the Move
A few hundred Choctaws and African Americans enslaved by them left for Arkansas Territory, though traditionalists in the Choctaw tribe
fought the treaty from the state governments to Washington, D.C. In 1830, the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek put an end to the Choctaws'
wish to stay in their homelands. They were forced to endure the first of many "trail of tears" into Indian Territory, which was carved from
Arkansas Territory in 1824.
When the Choctaws and the people they enslaved first arrived in Arkansas Territory in 1820, they entered at Ultima Thule along the
division line between Arkansas and Indian Territory. Some stayed nearby at Eagletown, while others moved a bit further west to Doaksville
next to Fort Towson, where a trading post centered the tribe. Along with the Presbyterians, the Choctaws also established several
academies for the education of their children after the remainder of the tribe came to Indian Territory after the 1830. Another group of
Choctaws went to Mexican Texas instead to apply for Mexican land grants, as did other displaced people like the Shawnees and
Delawares. Just like the Shawnees and Delawares, they became farmers on their land grants but, after Texas statehood, were coerced to
sell their lands and left Texas for Indian Territory.
| In the 1820 treaty with Andrew Jackson and again in the 1830 Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, the Choctaws ceded all of their lands east of the Mississippi River in exchange for land in Indian Territory and annuities (payment for improvements made on their original lands). This mass-migration of an entire people and culture did not happen overnight. In this 1833 map of the state of Mississippi, the Choctaws were still present in Mississippi, but their territory had been greatly reduced. In addition, they shared what was left of their territory with the Chickasaws, who by 1837 were considered as part of the Choctaw tribe (LOC). |
A new Culture
The Trail of Tears was brutal for the Choctaws and the African Americans; over a thousand died along the trail from disease and exposure.
With them came the Chickasaws, who had refused to sign any removal treaties with the U.S. until they sold their lands in their original
homelands to the highest bidder. When the last of the Chickasaws came to Indian Territory in 1857, the western half of the Choctaw Nation
was fashioned into the Chickasaw Nation. Those who survived the arduous journey rebuilt their culture. The Choctaws wrote a constitution
and passed laws. The men and women who had been planters east of the Mississippi reestablished plantations along the Red River Valley
and acquired even more African American people to do so. The largest plantation was owned by Robert Jones in today's Choctaw County.
The majority of Choctaws were not slave-owners but small-time farmers. They were also cattle ranchers, tradesmen, and teachers. They
leased their land to Texans, but saw a number of incursions into nation from non-natives. The Choctaws also feared Comanche and Kiowa
raids, who saw the Choctaws as invaders into their territory. The sparsely-inhabited nation also attracted criminal elements, who hid from
state authorities in the mountains of the Choctaw lands. However, gradually, their nation prospered; so much, in fact, that in the 1850s, the
Choctaws sent aid to Irish people during the potato famine.
Civil War and after
The planters and slavers held the majority of power in the Choctaw nation, so when the Civil War broke out, the Choctaw Nation sided with
the Confederacy. The Choctaws and Texans fought off attempts at a Union invasion of Texas in Indian Territory and in Arkansas; over 600
Choctaw men fought in the Camden Campaign of 1864. However, not all Choctaws wanted to participate in the war. Many families fled as
disorder and criminality descended onto the nation - outlaw gangs like the Quantrills burned farms, stole cattle, murdered African
Americans, and raped women.
After the war, the U.S. government considered the Choctaws traitors. Like the Cherokees and Chickasaws, their nation and constitution
were dissolved and a new treaty between the Choctaws and the U.S. was signed. One of the main stipulations from the 1866 treaty was that
the freed people would receive land and education from the Choctaws; however, being Southerners, the Choctaws segregated their
schooling.
The Choctaw Nation regained its strength during and after Reconstruction; much of their growth in wealth was due to their cattle ranching
and the arrival of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad in 1870-1871. Large deposits of coal were discovered in the Choctaw Nation;
although the coal was in their land, they did not benefit from it - white men, with ties to the MKT railroad, owned the mines instead.
Restructuring
In 1869, the western half of Indian Territory became open to land lotteries and to the reservations set aside for the Caddos, Kiowas,
Comanches, and Wichitas, among many other tribes. To keep control over their own lands, Choctaw nationals had to make a Faustian
bargain. They either had to renounce their Choctaw heritage to become "free people of color" or be enrolled in official tribal census. By
enrolling as Choctaws, they were officially enumerated in the census as Choctaws. The Dawes Act of 1887, as applied in 1893, made being
considered an "Indian" a deliberate act; it took control of tribal membership away from the tribes themselves, under the assumption that if
natives were treated as individuals rather than as a community, they would stop their dependence on the U.S. government. The act
divided the Choctaw lands into individual allotments - at 160 acres maximum, these allotments were not considered sufficient to build a
successful farm. Plus, a large portion of the Choctaw Nation consisted of mountainous terrain, which was unsuitable to agriculture. Except
for the ranchers, the allotments did not benefit the Choctaws.
In 1907, the Choctaws sent several delegates to vote Indian Territory into the nation's newest state. This new state was named after the
western territory - Oklahoma, a Choctaw word combination for "red land" (oka - land; homma - red). In 1924, the Indian Citizenship Act
granted citizenship status to all native Americans, no doubt due to their participation in the Great War (1917-1919). The Choctaws, for
example, enlisted in large numbers. Some of the soldiers served as "code talkers" during the war - this program expanded greatly during
WWII.
The Great Depression hit the Choctaws hard; under the New Deal, the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 gave the Choctaws more say over
their nation and the annuity payments that the U.S. government had been paying them since their removal. The Choctaws shuttered their
academies to form public schools, and opened their tribe to different monetary schemes, which included gambling.
Today, the Choctaws have prospered in both wealth and population growth. The Choctaw Nation is an integral asset to the state of
Oklahoma in cultural, economic, and political contributions. To the people who live in the Red River Valley, southeastern Oklahoma is,
invariably, Choctaw.
The Trail of Tears was brutal for the Choctaws and the African Americans; over a thousand died along the trail from disease and exposure.
With them came the Chickasaws, who had refused to sign any removal treaties with the U.S. until they sold their lands in their original
homelands to the highest bidder. When the last of the Chickasaws came to Indian Territory in 1857, the western half of the Choctaw Nation
was fashioned into the Chickasaw Nation. Those who survived the arduous journey rebuilt their culture. The Choctaws wrote a constitution
and passed laws. The men and women who had been planters east of the Mississippi reestablished plantations along the Red River Valley
and acquired even more African American people to do so. The largest plantation was owned by Robert Jones in today's Choctaw County.
The majority of Choctaws were not slave-owners but small-time farmers. They were also cattle ranchers, tradesmen, and teachers. They
leased their land to Texans, but saw a number of incursions into nation from non-natives. The Choctaws also feared Comanche and Kiowa
raids, who saw the Choctaws as invaders into their territory. The sparsely-inhabited nation also attracted criminal elements, who hid from
state authorities in the mountains of the Choctaw lands. However, gradually, their nation prospered; so much, in fact, that in the 1850s, the
Choctaws sent aid to Irish people during the potato famine.
Civil War and after
The planters and slavers held the majority of power in the Choctaw nation, so when the Civil War broke out, the Choctaw Nation sided with
the Confederacy. The Choctaws and Texans fought off attempts at a Union invasion of Texas in Indian Territory and in Arkansas; over 600
Choctaw men fought in the Camden Campaign of 1864. However, not all Choctaws wanted to participate in the war. Many families fled as
disorder and criminality descended onto the nation - outlaw gangs like the Quantrills burned farms, stole cattle, murdered African
Americans, and raped women.
After the war, the U.S. government considered the Choctaws traitors. Like the Cherokees and Chickasaws, their nation and constitution
were dissolved and a new treaty between the Choctaws and the U.S. was signed. One of the main stipulations from the 1866 treaty was that
the freed people would receive land and education from the Choctaws; however, being Southerners, the Choctaws segregated their
schooling.
The Choctaw Nation regained its strength during and after Reconstruction; much of their growth in wealth was due to their cattle ranching
and the arrival of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad in 1870-1871. Large deposits of coal were discovered in the Choctaw Nation;
although the coal was in their land, they did not benefit from it - white men, with ties to the MKT railroad, owned the mines instead.
Restructuring
In 1869, the western half of Indian Territory became open to land lotteries and to the reservations set aside for the Caddos, Kiowas,
Comanches, and Wichitas, among many other tribes. To keep control over their own lands, Choctaw nationals had to make a Faustian
bargain. They either had to renounce their Choctaw heritage to become "free people of color" or be enrolled in official tribal census. By
enrolling as Choctaws, they were officially enumerated in the census as Choctaws. The Dawes Act of 1887, as applied in 1893, made being
considered an "Indian" a deliberate act; it took control of tribal membership away from the tribes themselves, under the assumption that if
natives were treated as individuals rather than as a community, they would stop their dependence on the U.S. government. The act
divided the Choctaw lands into individual allotments - at 160 acres maximum, these allotments were not considered sufficient to build a
successful farm. Plus, a large portion of the Choctaw Nation consisted of mountainous terrain, which was unsuitable to agriculture. Except
for the ranchers, the allotments did not benefit the Choctaws.
In 1907, the Choctaws sent several delegates to vote Indian Territory into the nation's newest state. This new state was named after the
western territory - Oklahoma, a Choctaw word combination for "red land" (oka - land; homma - red). In 1924, the Indian Citizenship Act
granted citizenship status to all native Americans, no doubt due to their participation in the Great War (1917-1919). The Choctaws, for
example, enlisted in large numbers. Some of the soldiers served as "code talkers" during the war - this program expanded greatly during
WWII.
The Great Depression hit the Choctaws hard; under the New Deal, the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 gave the Choctaws more say over
their nation and the annuity payments that the U.S. government had been paying them since their removal. The Choctaws shuttered their
academies to form public schools, and opened their tribe to different monetary schemes, which included gambling.
Today, the Choctaws have prospered in both wealth and population growth. The Choctaw Nation is an integral asset to the state of
Oklahoma in cultural, economic, and political contributions. To the people who live in the Red River Valley, southeastern Oklahoma is,
invariably, Choctaw.
| A map of the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations in Indian Territory in 1866 lists a number of places that no longer exist, including Ultima Thule, the little town on the survey line between Arkansas and Indian Territory where the Choctaws first arrived to their new homelands. The term Ultima Thule means "beyond the borders of the known world." Click on the map to see it a bit larger (LOC). |
| George Catlin depicted Choctaws playing a game that the French dubbed Lacrosse, which is now played all over the world and has become an Olympic sport. This game is a lasting legacy of traditional Choctaw culture (LOC). |
| The Choctaws enlisted in American wars in record numbers, including this unknown man who enlisted as one of Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders in the Spanish American War of 1898. Photographs like these were sold as war souveniers (LOC). |
| Although most attention in U.S. history textbooks is paid to Navajo Code Talkers, the Choctaw language constituted one of the earliest uses of this ingenious form of coded communication, as the Choctaws enslisted in large numbers during the Great War. This unknown Choctaw soldier's photograph was taken at Fort Sill in 1918 (LOC). |
Source list:
A History of the Indians of the United States by Angie Debo
archives.gov/education/lessons/fed-indian-policy
glosbe.com/fivecivilizedtribes.cherokee.org/Five-Tribes/Choctaw/Choctaw-History
Indian Removal: The Emigration of the Five Civilized Tribes of Indians by Grant Foreman
OHS
A History of the Indians of the United States by Angie Debo
archives.gov/education/lessons/fed-indian-policy
glosbe.com/fivecivilizedtribes.cherokee.org/Five-Tribes/Choctaw/Choctaw-History
Indian Removal: The Emigration of the Five Civilized Tribes of Indians by Grant Foreman
OHS