1820, A Time of Change for the Chickasaws

The last post was about my mother's maternal grandfather, J. T. Rosser, who fought in the Civil War. What I'd like to do now is to go back about 40 years and pick up again the story of Smith Paul, Jim's paternal great grandfather, to give you a picture of the world he stepped into when he joined the Chickasaws in 1820.

At that time the Chickasaws were still living in their homeland in northern Mississippi, although it was considerably smaller due to treaties that ceded large tracts of land to the states of Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama. 

The Chickasaws had changed a lot during the almost one hundred years since the French Chickasaw Wars. The mixed blood portion of the tribe lived much like their white neighbors. Many were quite wealthy, owning large plantations. Although most of the Chickasaws weren't wealthy, their world had also changed. They now depended on manufactured goods and the money needed to buy them. The fur trade was much less lucrative, and those who still depended on hunting had to travel as far as the Arkansas and Red River valleys to find game. Most Chickasaws now relied on farming to earn their living, the same as the white settlers, and many sold supplies and services to travelers on the Natchez Trace, the main road between white settlements and the ports of Mobile and New Orleans. 

This change from a hunting to a farming economy caused significant changes to the Chickasaws' way of life. The village was less important as the center of the community. Pleasant Porter, Chief of the Creek tribe at the time of the Removal lamented the changes that had taken place:

  

AIn those days they always raised enough to eat, and that was all we wanted. We had little farms, and we raised patches of corn and potatoes, and poultry and pigs, horses and cattle, and a little of everything, and the country was prosperous. In fact in my early life I don=t know that I ever knew of an Indian family that were paupers. There is plenty of them now: there was none then. They were all prosperous and happy and contented in their way, and what more could they want? I say I don=t know of an Indian family in my early life that were paupers. In those days the ones that would be paupers if they lived now stayed with their kin folks and they made them work. Now, back of that the custom of the Creeks was that everybody had to work or live on the town, and the town had taskmasters who took care of him and saw that he worked. There was not a skulker or one who shirked amongst us then; quite different from what it is now. We had a kind of an Arcadian government then. If anyone was sick or unable to work, the neighbors came in and planted his crop, and they took care of it - saw that the fences were all rightBand the women took care of the garden, and wood was got for him, and so on. In fact, everything was done under the care of the peopleBthey did everything and looked after the welfare of everything. The Creek had that much knowledge, that they cared for each other in that way; and while they used to live in towns in Alabama, out here in this peaceful country they had scattered out just like white men, and each one had gone to his farm,...@

Chickasaw society had always been based on family groups or clans. Our clan was the Im-mo-suck-cha, or fish clan. According to historian John Swanton the Im-mo-suck-cha clan were wealthy, and their men were held in high esteem as warriors. Chickasaw society was matriarchal so the clan was determined by the mother. Villages consisted predominantly of one clan. It was forbidden to marry within the same clan, and when a man married, he moved to his wife's village. The responsibility for teaching children rested on maternal aunts for girls, and uncles for boys. Roles for men and women were clearly defined. The men hunted and fought, while the women managed the crops and the household.

Moving away from towns changed all of this. The community was broken up, and with it the support it provided. The men, with no wars to fight and no game to hunt, were left idle. Slowly the men learned to take over the farm work, but it was a difficult change for them, because tilling the fields was traditionally women's work. Many turned to alcohol, which was easy to get from white merchants, even though  it was outlawed by the tribal council.

The traditional Chickasaw government was family or clan based. Villages were led by chiefs who inherited their positions. Sometimes there were also war chiefs who obtained their status by their bravery in battle. Clans varied in their character, some being considered warlike and others peaceful, and there was a rich tradition of legends associated with each clan. The Chickasaws had a central government or "Council" of chiefs, which was called into session periodically by the principal chief, called Minko or King. The last Chickasaw King, Ish-te-ho-to-pa, and the last War Chief, Tishomingo, both lived to come west to Indian territory in 1837 with the tribe

The Chickasaw system of government evolved with changing times. The Chickasaws had a written code of laws by 1929 and a police force. The laws were simple forbidding stealing, murder and drunkenness. There were no jails and no need for them. Even after the Chickasaws moved west to Indian territory those found guilty of a crime were honor bound to report for their punishment even for the death penalty. My grandmother used to be able to point out the location of the "whipping tree," where whippings were given for stealing or drunkenness. According to tradition, if the guilty party failed to report for punishment, a member of his family would suffer the punishment in his stead.

Smith Paul must have grown to love and respect his noble hosts as he watched them confront the challenges they faced.

To be continued...