H. B. Cushman and George Catlin

I've been spending most of my time working on my book, which is more about family history than Chickasaw History, so I haven't had as much time to spend on this blog. Sorry.  

In a way though I enjoy the writing I do for the blog more than my book because I can pick out a subject and go into detail about it. With the book, I have to refrain from going into too much detail so as not to interrupt the flow of the story. Anyway for now I'd like to share something I read recently in a book, History of the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Natchez Indians by H. B. Cushman. 

Cushman's father and mother were missionaries to the Choctaws and the Chickasaws during the 1820's in Mississippi. He was born in the Choctaw homeland, and grew up among the Indians. Cushman's parents' missionary activities were ended by the Removal, but he maintained contact with some of the tribal members who managed to stay in Mississippi and when he grew to manhood he moved to Texas and lived across the border from the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations. 

Cushman's book is refreshing because unlike many writers of the time he really admired his Indian friends, even to the point of idealizing them, a fact that the editor of the book apologizes for. Frankly, I think that Cushman's praise for the Indians hardly makes up for the many other writers of that time as well as our own, who criticize and patronize them.  

Cushman ends his book with a quotation from George Catlin, who possessed a kindred spirit. I was not very impressed with Catlin as an artist when I first saw his work. Some of it seems almost amateurish. It was only later that I learned that Catlin was primarily interested, not in creating great art, but in documenting the culture, history and customs of the American Indian. He was actually an attorney by training who gave up a comfortable life to travel among the Indians, writing, sketching and painting.

                                    George Catlin, by Wlliam Fisk, 1849

Catlin endured great hardships in his quest to learn about the Indians. One example is a trip he made with General Henry Leavenworth in 1832 into the western plains of Indian Territory. The expedition was poorly planned, an arrogant and foolhardy attempt by Leavenworth to impress the Indians with the might of the U. S. Army. In the end the Indians were more impressed by the Army's incompetence. An Indian hunting party finally took pity on the soldiers and led them to a large settlement of Wichitas where the soldiers were given food and shelter until they could make their way back to Fort Gibson. 

Many in the party, including General Leavenworth, lost their lives during the expedition of 1832. The following is a quotation from Catlin's journal entered during the trip back to the fort:  

A... sighs and groaning are heard in all directions... From day to day we have dragged along, exposed to the hot and burning rays of the sun, without a cloud to relieve its intensity or a bush to shade us, or anything to cast a shadow except the bodies of our horses. The grass, for a great part of the way, was very much dried up, scarcely affording a bite for our horses: and sometimes for the distance of many miles, the only water we could find, was in stagnant pools, lying on the highest ground, in which the buffaloes have been lying and wallowing, like hogs in a mud-puddle. We frequently came to these dirty lavers, from which we drove the herds of buffaloes, and into which our poor and almost dying horses, irresistibly ran and plunged their noses, sucking up the dirty and poisonous draft, until, in some instances, they fell dead in their tracks - the men also sprang from their horses, and ladled up and drank to almost fatal excess, the disgusting and tepid draft, and with it filled their canteens, which were slung to their sides, and from which they were sucking the bilious contents during day.@ (Pioneer Days, by Grant Foreman, P 148) 

After their return to Ft Gibson, Catlin wrote: ASince the very day of our start into that country, the men have been continually falling sick, and on their return, of those who are alive there are not well ones enough to take care of the sick. Many are yet left out upon the prairies, and of those that have been brought in and quartered in the hospital, with the soldiers of the infantry regiment stationed here, four or five are buried daily@ (Pioneer Days, by Grant Foreman,  P 151).  

Catlin was not deterred by this horrendous experience. He continued travelling across the country eventually visiting over fifty different Indian tribes. Afterwards he lectured extensively about the American Indian throughout the United States and Europe, illustrating his talks with sketches and paintings. He also recorded his observations in a two volume work entitled Manners , Customs and Condition of the North American Indian, illustrated by 300 engravings. About 600 of Catlin's paintings and 700 of his sketches have been preserved in the Smithsonian Museum.  

Here is George Catlin's characterization of the American Indian as quoted by H. B. Cushman:

Have I any apology to make for loving the Indians?

The Indians have always loved me, and why should I not love the Indians?

I love the people who have always made me welcome to the best they had.

I love the people who are honest without law, who have no jails and no poor houses.

I love the people who keep the commandments without ever having read them or heard them preached from the pulpit.

I love a people who never swear; who never take the name of God in vain.

I love a people who love their neighbors as themselves.

I love a people who worship God without a Bible, for I believe that God loves them too.

I love a people whose religion is all the same, and who are free from religious rows.

I love a people who have never raised a hand against me or stolen my property, where there was no law to punish for either.

I love a people who never have fought a battle with white men except on their own ground.

I love and don't fear mankind where God has made and left them, for they are children.

I love people who live and keep what is their own without locks and keys.

I love all people who do the best they can, and, Oh! How I love a people who don't live for the love of money. 

History of the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Natchez Indians, by H. B. Cushman. P 476. 

In 1838, hearing of the poor health of the Seminole Chief Osceola, George Catlin rushed to Florida where the great man was near death and languishing in prison. Osceola arose from his bed, donned his ceremonial dress, and posed as Catlin painted this last portrait of him for posterity. See blog post of Oct 26, 2010, Removal: Seminoles,

                                      Osceola, by George Catlin, 1838

Smith, Ellen and the Comanche

          The Chickasaws took heart after the building of Fort Arbuckle. For fourteen years since their removal, they had been living in the Choctaw district, unable to move onto their own land to the west. Fort Arbuckle, although built for the protection of the gold seekers, gave the Chickasaws the protection they needed to move into their own district, and it gave them the strength and the incentive to reclaim their identity as a separate tribe. They were tired of being a minority party in the Choctaw Nation as stipulated in their removal treaty. Finally, in June of 1855 the Chickasaws negotiated an agreement to form their own separate government. They wrote a constitution, elected officials, created their own school system and police force. Chickasaw and Choctaw citizens were still free to live in either district, but they were once again separate tribes.

          One of the first acts of the Chickasaw legislature was to order the plains tribes off their land. Since the federal government had leased a portion of the Chickasaw-Choctaw land for these tribes at the request of the Comanche chief Tibbalo (see post of March 25, 2011) the plains tribes now had a place designated as their home.   

          In October 1857 the Indian agent over the southwest reported that about 5000 prairie Indians lived in the Chickasaw territory. There were 900 Wichita and 300 Kichai living along Rush Creek, 50 miles west of Ft. Arbuckle. 300 Waco and Tawakoni lived on the Canadian River 50 miles northwest of Ft. Arbuckle. 365 Caddo, Anadarko and Hainai, five miles southeast of Fort Arbuckle, were destitute and waiting on government support. 2500 Delaware, Kickapoo, and Shawnee were living on the Canadian and Washita Rivers. There were also 600 Comanche at about 100 longitude. At time of the report the warriors of these tribes were hunting in the Leased District.

          The massacre of the Comanche by Texas Rangers in May of 1858 (see post of March 25, 2011) occurred just after the troops at Fort Arbuckle had been sent to Utah to put down the Mormon revolt (see post of March 19, 2011). The Comanche, aware that the fort was now deserted, began to gather around the fort, and to raid the surrounding farms for horses. It was estimated that there were several thousand Comanche camped near the Canadian River. At that time there were 18 Chickasaw and Choctaw families living near Fort Arbuckle, including my great great grandparents, Smith and Ellen Paul. One day in June of 1858, several of their horses were stolen, and several others returned home with arrows sticking in them.

          After the attack, the Chickasaw agent, Douglas Cooper, requested troops from Fort Belknap in Texas, and also sent out a call for volunteers to pursue the Comanche horse thieves. The Chickasaws were so eager to volunteer for the honor of defending their land that Cooper had to limit the volunteers to 25 from each district. On June 29, 75 Chickasaws, along with a company of troops under Lt. James Powell sent from Fort Belknap, set out from Fort Arbuckle. They searched in vain for twenty days, as far away as the Wichita Mountains in the Leased District, but found no Comanche.

          On July 25, a Sunday, just a few days after the Chickasaw volunteers had dispersed, things had almost returned to normal around the fort. Lt. Powell and his 100 men now occupied the fort. Smith and Ellen Paul and their neighbors had moved back into their houses. There had been  a camp meeting that night and Robinson Thompson, one of Smith and Ellen's neighbors, dropped by the Paul house afterwards to visit. Smith came in after Robinson arrived, and mentioned that there were a lot of horses tied under the trees near his fence.

          When Mr Thompson left, he decided to visit the Indians camped nearby. He assumed they were Wichita, some of whom he knew. When he got closer he recognized them as Comanche, so he mounted his horse to go warn the soldiers at the fort. No sooner had he got on his horse, than some Comanche stepped out of the brush and called to him in Caddo asking if he was an American. Thompson replied, "No, I am Chickasaw." One of the Comanche struck his breast and shouted that he was Comanche, and the party began shoot arrows at Thompson. Thompson's horse fell dead under him, and he took off running. Thompson managed to reach some brush nearby where he hid until morning. 

          The next morning the Comanche were gone, but there were several reports about their activities of the previous night. In addition to Mr Thompson, there were several others including Smith Paul who came in to report horses missing. Mrs. Hall, a Choctaw citizen who lived 4 miles from the post, told the story that she had heard some noise the previous evening and had hidden in her corn field. From there she had watched as 15 Comanche whooped and yelled and danced a war dance in her yard, and then stole all of her horses. For the next few nights most of the farmers in the community stayed in the fort.

          Lt. Powell sent out 25 men to follow the Comanche party on foot. The troops arrived at the Comanche's camp the next morning while their campfire was still warm, but never again got close, although they followed the trail for 50 miles.

          Soon after this incident, the principal chief of the Wichita, Lasadovah, came to Lt. Powell, complaining that the Comanche were raiding their villages on a regular basis. The Wichita had permanent settlements and farms more like the Chickasaws. Lasadovah said that he had met with the Comanche, and they had promised not to steal again, but the raids continued anyway. He said his tribe wasn't powerful enough to defend itself, and there were other tribes in the same position. Lt. Powell advised them all to camp together at Rush Springs, about 40 miles from the fort, for protection.

          Meanwhile Lt. Powell invited the Comanche chief to meet with him and leaders from the other tribes at Rush Springs. At the meeting the Comanche chief, Parracoonanup, claimed ignorance of the raids, but said that the young warriors had been enraged by the attack of the Texas Rangers of the month before. He promised that he would return as many horses as he could find, and that he would punish the warriors responsible. He also asked to be given land in the Leased District so that his tribe could settle down and farm like the Wichita.

          Several weeks later, as a large party of Comanche were driving a herd of horses toward Fort Arbuckle, they were intercepted by a Texas Indian Agent, Capt. S. P. Ross, who was 

illegally patrolling Indian Territory with a unit of troops. Ross stampeded the horses, and then sent for reinforcements from Texas. Major Earl Van Dorn, with 400 cavalry troops, then marched north, following the Comanche's trail to Rush Creek, where the Comanche were meeting peacefully in a Wichita village with Chickasaw and Choctaw representatives. Van Dorn attacked the Comanche camp the next morning while they slept, killing 60 Comanche and 4 Wichita.

          That ended the Comanche's attempt to settle down peacefully. They restarted their attacks on the Wichita, whom they blamed for tricking them into trusting the white man. The Wichita's crops were also ruined by the invading Texans, and they were forced to flee to Fort Arbuckle for safety and for food. The Comanche continued their war against the white man for another fifteen years.

Choctaw Removal, Part II

Reading about the Choctaw Removal makes you cry. It really does. I've been rereading Grant Foreman's account, which is basically a collection of letters, diary entries, newspaper stories and government documents from the time of the Removal. There are dozens of stories: stories of groups, stories of individuals. It is overwhelming, and Foreman's account is only a sampling. The Removal was like a steam roller that crushed the once proud Choctaw nation. There is no record of how many deaths occurred during their removal, but the census in 1830 listed about 20000 Choctaws in Mississippi, and another accounting done in 1844 by the commissioner of Indian affairs listed only 13000 living in Indian Territory, so you can guess that the mortality rate was in the order of 20 to 30 per cent.

The government was anxious to get started with the Removal. They thought that the removal of the Choctaws would put pressure on their sister tribe, the  Chickasaws, into signing a removal treaty as well. In the fall of 1831 when Secretary of War John Eaton tried to get the Choctaws to agree to sell part of the new territory to the Chickasaws, the Choctaw council refused, telling the secretary to wait for them to get their feet on the new land before asking them to sell it.

There were other pressures as well. 1930 had been a bad year for crops, and in 1831 many of the Choctaws didn't plant crops anyway. Not only were they despondent about losing their homeland, white settlers were crowding them out. Whiskey peddlers took advantage of the Choctaws' demoralized state and some spent their meager annuity on alcohol instead of food. Many were reduced to eating roots.

The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek had guaranteed each Choctaw the option of becoming a US citizen, and being granted a section of land in Mississippi. These promises were disregarded by the settlers who swarmed into the Choctaw domain, and by the government as well. When those who wanted to stay applied for their land titles, federal agents refused to register them.

For those Choctaws choosing to migrate, the treaty promised payment for their property, transportation west, and food for a year after their arrival in the new land. Not only did the Indians get no payment for their property, they were presented with fraudulent legal claims which prevented the departure of many until mid winter.

As if being prayed upon by greedy whites wasn't enough, one of the Choctaws' own chiefs, Greenwood Leflore, set himself up as a real estate agent, and for a fee, he sold the full bloods' property at bargain prices and sent them west. Leflore assigned some of his captains to lead these people, some of the poorest in the nation, but provided them with little money. Their instructions were to charge their expenses to the credit of the tribe. In a letter to Secretary Eaton Leflore predicted that the emigrants would "reach the place of their future residence in a very destitute condition."

The destination of the emigrating Choctaws was 350 - 400 miles away at Ft. Towson, where the Red and Kiamichi Rivers meet. The old fort had been abandoned in 1829 and was in ruins. In the spring of 1831 a lieutenant was sent there to make arrangements for provisions. He found 88 of Leflore's first party there, huddled in the ruins of the fort, starving. Immigrants continued to trickle into the Ft Towson area, and by October, 427 had arrived, out of the 1000 or so that had left the previous fall. 

In the fall of 1831 the Removal really began in earnest. The army planned to move 1/3 of the 20,000 Choctaws that year. After the miserable experience of Leflore's emigrants the year before, the Army had made some plans. The Choctaws were responsible for their own transportation for the first fifty miles or so to the Mississippi River. Then they were to be divided into groups of 500 or so under a "conductor," and subdivided into smaller groups of 50. Three routes were planned, and supply points were set up along the way. This was the plan.

As it worked out, the conductors for the expedition were given no money, and were expected to obtain supplies on credit. The supply depots hadn't received any money either. The agent for the Removal, F W Armstrong, had been given $50,000 in September, but he didn't arrive with the money at Ft Smith until mid January. He said he was afraid of thieves, and besides he didn't like traveling in the winter. At Little Rock, Captain Brown, in charge of procuring supplies there, wrote to his superior officer at Ft Smith:

Four of my agents are now in charge of emigrants, … and all are begging for funds…fifty days and over have passed since you informed me that funds had left…I have no money…three days ago I parted with the last five dollars of my own money.  

The winter of 1831 was the worst in memory. Even the Mississippi River was closed down much of the time due to large chunks of ice floating down its channel. The Indians carried only the clothes on their backs. Many had no shoes, and they were issued one blanket per family.

I've chosen one group of emigrants to illustrate the problems the Choctaws encountered, not because they had the worst experience - that distinction belongs to the groups that entered the swamp and never emerged - but because I have more information about them.

The group consisted of 250 Choctaws from Leflore's district. They were among about 1000 Choctaws who decided to travel on their own in exchange for a "commutation certificate" worth $10 apiece. Their leader was Silas Fisher, a mixed blood Choctaw, and their government assigned agent or "conductor" was W S Colquhoun, who had applied for a job in the Removal because his mill dam had been washed away and he was in financial straits. The group got a late start. It was December when they arrived in Vicksburg, on the Mississippi River, having traveled the last 24 hours through snow and sleet. Most had no shoes.

Alexis de Toqueville, the French statesman and writer, visited one of the Choctaw camps as the Indians prepared to cross the Mississippi River to begin their journey. He wrote:

It was then in the depths of winter, and that year the cold was exceptionally severe; the snow was hard on the ground, and huge masses of ice drifted on the river. The Indians brought their families with them: there were among them the wounded, the sick, newborn babies, and old men on the point of death. They had neither tents nor wagons, but only some provisions and weapons. I saw them embark to cross the great river, and the sight will never fade from my memory. Neither sob not complaint rose from that silent assembly. Their afflictions were of long standing, and they felt them to be irremediable. 

The Choctaws in Fisher's group were finally loaded on the steamboat  Walter Scott, which carried them down the Mississippi to the Red River, and then up the Quachita. The boat could get no further than Monroe, Louisiana, because of the ice. At Monroe, Lt. Colquhoun was able to rent a farmhouse to give shelter to a few. There he picked up 44 more Indians whose conductor had gone back into the swamp to rescue some of his party left behind.

Here is an excerpt from a letter written to the Secretary of War by Joseph Kerr whose house was next to the road over which the Indians traveled:

(There) are two large deep streams that must be crossed in a boat or on a raft, and one other nearly impassable in any way. This they had to perform or perish, there being no provision made for them on the way. This too was to be done in the worst time of weather I have ever seen in any country - a heavy sleet having broken and bowed down all the small and much of the larger timber. And this was to be performed under the pressure of hunger, by old women and young children, without any covering for their feet, legs or body except a cotton underdress generally. In passing, before they reached the place of getting rations here, I gave a party leave to enter a small field in which pumpkins were. They would not enter without leave, though starving. These they ate raw with the greatest avidity.

After a brief rest, Fisher's party was issued provisions for an eighty mile journey, fifty of which was through the swamp. On leaving Monroe, the group became lost, and actually headed deeper into the swamp. Fortunately, another group of Choctaws who had made it to Ecor 'a Fabre further up the river, refused to go on unless their conductor, S. T. Cross, went back to search for Fisher's group. When he found them they had been without food for 6 days and several had died. 

The Fisher party reached Washington, Arkansas, in mid January. I have no specific record of them past this point, but they faced another 100 mile trek at that point. The road was poor; there were rivers to ford, and the food supply was uncertain. According to accounts of other groups the road was lined with graves.

The next year several thousand more Choctaws crossed over to Indian Territory. The chiefs tried to get their parties started sooner to avoid the winter which had caused so much suffering and death the year before. The army planned different routes to avoid as much as possible the swamps along the Mississippi delta, and the army built a road between Ft Gibson and Ft Towson in order to facilitate the transfer of supplies. Another problem faced the emigrants the second year however, cholera.

The two major cities along the Mississippi where the Choctaws were to assemble, Memphis and Vicksburg, were having a cholera epidemic in the summer of 1832. When the Choctaw emigrants found out, many deserted their parties and returned home. Others took their chances in the swamps where so many had died the year before. Some of those who boarded the steamboats contracted cholera, and the crowded conditions on board caused the disease to spread. When the boats stopped for supplies, the merchants refused to do business with them. When the teamsters hired to drive the wagons found out their charges were infected with cholera, many quit. In one party there were 13 wagons full of the sick.

The Choctaw agent Armstrong, who the year before had neglected to provide the army commissary officers with the money needed to buy supplies, was convinced that the Indians removed the previous year had been "spoiled," and he  went along with one of the parties to supervise. When Armstrong neglected to issue each family their blanket, and refused to let the Indians disembark when the boats stopped, Colquhouon, conductor of the unfortunate Fisher group the previous year, complained. An argument ensued and Colquhoun pulled out his pistol and tried to kill Armstrong. Colquhoun was dismissed.    

The fortitude of the Indians impressed even Armstrong however. He wrote: 

"No man but one who was present can form any idea of the difficulties that we have encountered due to the cholera… Luckily they are a people that will walk to the last, or I don't know how we would get on."

Unfortunately for the Indians, Armstrong was not one to slow down for stragglers. Those who could not keep up were abandoned by the side of the road. Occasionally the Indians balked. When one of their beloved chiefs, Etotahoma, was unable to keep up with the group, the Choctaw group leaders refused to go further until the old chief caught up. After this occurred twice, the officer in charge had the old man's cart repaired and hired a team to pull it.

In Indian Territory the Choctaws continued to die of afflictions acquired on their journey. During the year of government support allowed by the treaty, few had the means or the will to plant enough crops to support themselves. In June of 1833 the Arkansas River flooded and destroyed the crops of the Choctaws living there, along with their corn cribs, and many of their homes. In the fall of 1833, when the deadline for emigration was past, the government discharged all their conductors, shut down their supply depots, and recalled the officers assigned to assist in the Removal. The Choctaws were starving in their new country, and dying. An observer commented that there were no longer any old people among them. In February of 1833, the agent Armstrong asked General Arbuckle at Ft. Gibson for corn for the Indians settled near the fort many of whom had gone 4 or 5 days without anything to eat.

After the three years allotted for the Removal, the army had removed 6000 Choctaws, and about 3500 more had moved on their own for the commutation fee of $10 each. 7000 remained in Mississippi, still being swindled out of their property in the courts, and being unable to claim the allotments promised them in the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. Government agents and Choctaw volunteers went to Mississippi to convince those remaining there to come west, and every year another wave of immigrants came to Indian Territory. Finally there were only about 600 left in Mississippi.

In spite of their poverty and the prejudice they had to bear, these "Mississippi Choctaws," as they came to be known, remained firm in their decision to remain in their native land. Here is the reply of Chief Cobb, leader of a group of Choctaws in Mississippi to an army officer who visited them in 1844 to ask them to emigrate:

Brother: When you were young we were strong; we fought by your side; but our arms are now broken. You have grown large. My people have become small.

Brother: My voice is weak; you can scarcely hear me; it is not the shout of a warrior but the wail of an infant. I have lost it in mourning over the misfortunes of my people. These are their graves, and in those aged pines you hear the ghosts of the departed - their ashes are here, and we have been left to protect them. Our warriors are nearly all gone to the far country west; but here are our dead. Shall we go too, and give their bones to the wolves?

      

Choctaw Removal, Part I

                          Pushmataha

The Choctaws were proud that they had never fought against the US Government. When Tecumseh visited them in 1811 trying to drum up support for his Indian alliance, the Choctaw council told him to leave their nation under penalty of death.  Choctaw warriors fought with Andrew Jackson in his war against the Creek rebellion of 1814, and they also joined him in his victory over the British at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. The Choctaws' beloved chief Pushmataha considered Andrew Jackson a friend, so when Jackson met with him at Doaks Stand in 1820 offering to exchange some of the tribe's land in Mississippi for a huge tract in the present state of Oklahoma, Pushmataha supported the agreement. The land was allegedly just for the use of those who wanted to continue to live by hunting. Those who wished could live in Mississippi under their own government. The treaty also promised to help support the Choctaw  school system, and it provided an annuity for 16 years.  

The treaty of Doak's Stand was a great success, except for the fact that none of the Choctaws took the U S Government up on its offer to move them west. Just like the other tribes, the Choctaws loved their native country. In order to be accepted by their white neighbors they had become farmers instead of hunters. They like the Chickasaws welcomed white men traveling through their nation, and provided them with lodging and supplies. In 1817 the Choctaws invited missionaries to establish a school system for their children, and in 1825 they established a school in Kentucky to provide higher education for young Choctaw men. The director was Richard Mentor Johnson, former Vice President of the United States. In 1826 a police force was created, and a code of laws. There was a religious revival in 1828, and hundreds of Choctaws became Christians.

None of this mattered to the white settlers though. In 1829, Mississippi passed a law bringing the Choctaws under state law, even though this violated their previous treaties with the US government. Later that year Mississippi made it a crime for Choctaw officials to perform their functions.

The Choctaws were also getting pressure from the federal government. Two delegations had come from Washington, one in 1826 and the other in 1829, to negotiate another treaty for Choctaw removal, but they had run up against a brick wall . Support for removal was building in Washington however. Andrew Jackson had been elected President in 1828, and the Indian Removal Act was working its way through congress. The bill would give the president authority to offer lands in the west in exchange for the Indians' homelands.

                     Greenwood Leflore

While the majority of Choctaw citizens still considered removal as unthinkable, many of their leaders, especially the mixed bloods, began to accept it as inevitable. One of those leaders, Greenwood Leflore, decided that if the Choctaws had to sign a treaty it would be better for them to write it themselves, so in March of 1830 he called a meeting of the tribal council which he stacked with his supporters, and wrote a treaty. When the leaders opposed to removal found out about this, they wrote a letter to Washington saying that Leflore didn't represent the tribe and the treaty should not be ratified.

This suited Congress just fine because they thought Leflore's treaty was too generous anyway, and they voted it down. In May the Indian Removal Act was passed, and four days later President Jackson had his Secretary of War, John H. Eaton, write a letter inviting Choctaw leaders to meet the President in Franklin, Tennessee in August to negotiate another treaty.

When August came, the Choctaws didn't show up for the meeting. They were on the brink of a civil war.

                                   Mushulatubbe           

Before Pushmataha died in 1824, he warned his people never to allow anyone to participate in their government who had a drop of white blood. In 1830 he must have been rolling over in his grave. All three district chiefs were mixed bloods. In 1826 the Choctaw Council had voted to make the office of chief an elected position, but the hereditary chiefs still considered themselves responsible for the tribe and they were supported by the majority of their people, in spite of the vote. It was the two hereditary chiefs, Mushulatubbe and Nitakechi, who had written the letter to Washington protesting Leflore's treaty.

As soon as Greenwood Leflore found out about the protest he wrote a letter to Mushalatubbe demanding that he resign as chief. Mushulatubbe ignored the letter. When it came time to gather for annuity payments, Leflore came to the area with 1400 warriors, painted with war paint and armed with rifles and war clubs. He sent a message to Mushulatubbe threatening to attack and kill him if he would not resign as chief. Mushulatubbe replied that he would never acknowledge Leflore as chief, so Leflore, surrounded by his warriors, came to Mushulatubbe's camp and confronted him personally. The old chief calmly walked out of the house in which he was staying and told Leflore that he and his men were unarmed, but if Leflore wanted a fight, just name the time and place.   

At that Leflore backed down. He said he had nothing against Mushulatubbe or his people and only wanted peace.

                       Peter P Pitchlynn

In September of 1830 the Presidential Commissioners met with the Choctaw Council at Dancing Rabbit Creek. Leflore represented his district but it was Peter Pitchlynn a college educated mixed blood Choctaw who chaired the meeting. Sec of War Eaton threatened and cajoled. He tried his usual tactic of offering bribes, and when that didn't work, he told the Choctaws that they would be destroyed by an army of Mississippi whites if they didn't move west. The parties were still at an impasse after two weeks, and many of the delegates had gone home when Pitchlynn made a suggestion that tilted the balance. He proposed that George S Gaines, a trader whom the Choctaws trusted, be placed in charge of the removal. This satisfied everyone. The resulting treaty was signed by both the mixed blood and the full blood leaders.

The treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek promised to the Choctaws autonomy and sovereignty: 

…no Territory or State shall ever have a right to pass laws for the government of the Choctaw Nation of Red People and their descendants; and that no part of the land granted them shall ever be embraced in any Territory or State; but the U.S. shall forever secure said Choctaw Nation from, and against all laws except such as from time to time may be enacted in their own National Councils…

but in the log run was just another promise made to be broken by the U.S. government.

After the treaty was signed there was chaos in the Choctaw nation. The chiefs who had signed the treaty were ousted, and letters were again written to Washington saying the Council didn't represent the wishes of the tribe, but the U.S. government refused to acknowledge any other leaders, and the treaty was ratified by Congress. By the time the removal began there had been no planning, and no coordination between leaders. What followed was the greatest tragedy in the tribe's history.

Greenwood Leflore, who without the support of the tribe had rushed the Choctaws so precipitously into the Removal, ended up abandoning his people. In November, two months after the treaty was signed, George S Gaines, the trader, led a group to explore the new domain, and Leflore declined to accompany them. He was busy negotiating deals with Mississippi white settlers to buy Indian land. When his district moved west they went without a chief. Leflore settled in Mississippi where he lived comfortably off the profits he made from the Removal.

Choctaw and Chickasaw Origins

I think that it's important for us to realize that the various Indian tribes of North America each had very complex cultures. They had histories and traditions which had been handed down for many years. Each tribe spoke a separate language so that they needed interpreters to translate for them.  Some tribes had lived in their domains for centuries, they had holy places that they honored, and they believed the spirits of their ancestors still dwelled nearby.

There were conflicts between tribes, but over the years the Indians developed traditions for dealing with each other: traditions for handling disputes and traditions for maintaining the peace. These systems worked for the Indians, and maintained a balance between the literally hundreds of tribes native to the North American continent.

The white men's coming totally disrupted the Indians' world. Many tragedies were caused by the contact between cultures, some of which we know about and most of which we don’t. What we do know comes mostly from the writings of white men, who had no understanding or respect for the people they were writing about. The Indians themselves had only an oral history, much of which is considered legend and much of which has been forgotten.

There's a benefit, I believe, in hearing the story of the Indians. For society, learning to appreciate the beauty and the humanity of these people who were pushed aside to satisfy the greed of so called civilized men, can hopefully provide society with better goals for the future. For Native Americans, learning about our ancestors can give us pride and inspiration.

I started the history of the Removal with the story of the Seminoles. They were actually the last to complete their removal, but their struggles began so early, and went on for so long, it just seemed right to begin with them.

The next tribe I want to talk about is the Choctaws. The Choctaws and my tribe, the Chickasaws, are closely related; their languages are almost the same, and their histories have been interconnected since their beginnings. 

Probably most well known legend among the two tribes concerns their origins:

The Choctaws and the Chickasaws began as one tribe. This tribe's original home was far to the west, beyond the Mississippi River. They were content there until a powerful enemy came and made war on them. After many years of war the tribal council met to deliberate on the matter.

The wise men of the council discussed their dilemma and they sought guidance from Ubabaneli the creator. Finally it was decided that the tribe would never have peace unless they moved far away. 

Ubabaneli gave them the Kohta Falaya, or "long pole" to guide them on their journey. Each evening they were to drive the Kohta Falaya straight into the ground, and the next morning they were to travel in the direction it leaned. Ubabaneli told the people that when the Kohta Falaya remained straight, they would know they had reached their new home.

Ubabaneli also gave the tribe a large white dog to protect them on their journey. As they travelled, the dog would scout the trail ahead warning them of enemies. When anyone became sick or was injured the white dog would come and lick the afflicted person and make him well.

The tribe travelled in two groups each led by a chief. The two chiefs were named Chikasa and Chahta and they were brothers. Each morning the groups would travel separately in the direction indicated by the Kohta Falaya, and each evening they would gather together again. After the people had travelled for many months they arrived at a great river they called Misha Sipokoni, which means "beyond all age."

At first the people thought they had come to the end of their journey, but the next morning the pole still leaned eastward, so they set about building rafts, and soon they were crossing the river. When the rafts reached the middle of the river, the one carrying the big white dog capsized, and although the people were rescued, the dog was swept downstream. They never saw him again.

After resting on the other side of the Misha Sipokoni the brothers continued their journey towards the east. One morning when they came to see the Kohta Falaya, it was swaying back and forth. This had never happened before. When the swaying stopped the two chiefs examined the pole but they could not agree on its position.  Chief Chahta thought it stood straight, but Chief Chikasa believed that the pole still leaned to the east.

When no agreement could be reached, Chief Chikasa pulled the Kohta Falaya from the ground and led his people on. Chief Chahta and his followers remained where they were. They called the place Nanih Waya, or "leaning mountain."

Chief Chikasa continued to follow the Kohta Falaya until it stood straight again about 100 miles to the north. He and his people stopped there and built a town which became known as Oklah Sepokny or "Old Town."  

From that time on those who remained with Chief Chahta were called Chahtas, or Choctaws, those who followed Chief Chikasa were called Chikasas, or Chickasaws. Nanih Waya is located in Winston County, Mississippi, and remains to this day the Choctaws' holiest place. The Chickasaws' Oklah Sepokny or "Old Town" is now included in an urban development.