Chickasaw
historyThe Chickasaw are Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States (Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee). They are of the Muskogean linguistic group.
The Chickasaw were a part of the Mississippian culture which was located throughout the Mississippi River valley. Sometime prior to the first European contact, the Chickasaw moved east and settled east of the Mississippi River. The Chickasaw were one of the "Five Civilized Tribes" who were forced to sell their country in 1832 and move to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) during the era of Indian Removal; most Chickasaw now live in Oklahoma. All historical records indicate the Chickasaw lived in northeast Mississippi from the first European contact until the Indian Removal in 1832.
The Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma is the thirteenth largest federally recognized tribe in the United States. They are related to the Choctaw and share a common history with them. The Chickasaw are divided in two groups: the Impsaktea and the Intcutwalipa.
Etymology
The name Chickasaw, as noted by anthropologist John Swanton, belonged to a Chickasaw leader.
The origin of the Chickasaws is uncertain. Noted 19th-century historian Horatio Cushman thought the Chickasaw, along with the Choctaw, may have had origins in present-day Mexico and migrated north.
to the Chicaza.]] The first European contact with the Chickasaw was in 1540, when Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto encountered them and stayed in one of their towns, most likely near present-day Tupelo, Mississippi. After various disagreements, the Chickasaw attacked the De Soto expedition in a nighttime raid, nearly destroying the expedition. The Spanish moved on quickly.
The Chickasaw began to trade with the British after the colony of Carolina was founded in 1670. With British-supplied guns, the Chickasaw raided their enemies the Choctaw, capturing some members and selling them into slavery, a practice that stopped when the Choctaw acquired guns from the French. The Chickasaw were often at war with the French and the Choctaw in the eighteenth century, such as in the Battle of Ackia on May 26, 1736. Skirmishes continued until France gave up her claims to the region after being defeated by the British in the Seven Years' War.
In 1793-94 Chickasaw fought as allies of the new United States under General Anthony Wayne against the Indians of the old Northwest Territory. They were defeated in the Battle of Fallen Timbers, August 20, 1794.
United States relations
George Washington (first U.S. President) and Henry Knox (first U.S. Secretary of War) proposed the cultural transformation of Native Americans.
The Chickasaw signed the Treaty of Hopewell in 1786. Article 11 of that treaty states: "The hatchet shall be forever buried, and the peace given by the United States of America, and friendship re-established between the said States on the one part, and the Chickasaw nation on the other part, shall be universal, and the contracting parties shall use their utmost endeavors to maintain the peace given as aforesaid, and friendship re-established." Benjamin Hawkins attended this signing.
The Colbert Legacy (19th century)
, a developer of the Chickasaw constitution in Oklahoma, 1850s.]]
In the 1700s, a Scottish trader by the name of James Logan Colbert settled in Chickasaw country and stayed there for the next 40 years. He married Minta Hoye, a Chickasaw woman with whom he had six sons: William, George, Levi, Samuel, Joseph, and Pittman (or James). For nearly a century, the Colbert descendants provided critical leadership during the tribe's greatest challenges. William Colbert once visited U.S. President George Washington. He also served with General Andrew Jackson during the Creek Wars of 1813-14.
Third-generation Colberts, such as Holmes and Winchester, continued the family civic service and political prominence. They helped create the governmental foundation for the Chickasaw Nation in Indian Country (now known as Oklahoma). Holmes Colbert worked on writing the nation's constitution.
Removal era (1837)
Unlike other tribes who exchanged land grants, the Chickasaw were to receive financial compensation of $3 million U.S. dollars from the United States for their lands east of the Mississippi River.
Because the Chickasaws sided with the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War, they had to forfeit their claim to the unpaid amount. The Chickasaws gathered at Memphis, Tennessee on July 4, 1837 with all of their assets—belongings, livestock, and enslaved African Americans. Three thousand and one Chickasaw crossed the Mississippi River, following routes established by Choctaws and Creeks. During the journey, often called the Trail of Tears, more than five hundred Chickasaw died of dysentery and smallpox. Once in Indian Territory, the Chickasaws merged with the Choctaw nation. After several decades of mistrust, they regained nationhood and established a Chickasaw Nation. The majority of the tribe was deported to Indian Territory (now headquartered in Ada, Oklahoma) in the 1830s.
Remnants of the South Carolina Chickasaws, known as the Chaloklowa Chickasaws, have reorganized their tribal government. In 2005 they gained official recognition from the state of South Carolina as a Native American tribe. They have their tribal headquarters at Indiantown, South Carolina.
American Civil War (1861)
The Chickasaw Nation was the first of the Five Civilized Tribes to become allies of the Confederate States of America.
The Chickasaws were first combined with the Choctaw Nation and their area in the western area of the nation was called the Chickasaw District. Although originally the western boundary of the Choctaw Nation extended to the 100th meridian, virtually no Chickasaws lived west of the Cross Timbers due to continual raiding by the Indians on the Southern Plains. The United States eventually leased the area between the 100th and 98th meridians for the use of the Plains tribes. The area was referred to as the "Leased District".
Most government services are administrated from Ada.
{| class="wikitable" align=center
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| style="background:#DDDDDD"| Treaty with the Chickasaw
Post-Civil War
, a hired cowboy and Chickasaw Nation statesman]]
Because of their siding with the Confederacy, after the Civil War, the US government made a peace treaty with the Chickasaw in 1866. It included the provision that they emancipate enslaved blacks and provide them with full citizenship in the nation.
These people became known as Chickasaw Freedmen. Many and their descendants continued to live in Oklahoma.
Today the Choctaw-Chickasaw Freedmen Association of Oklahoma represents their interests. They have expressed support for the Cherokee Freedmen, who are struggling to regain citizenship in their nation after the Cherokee made newly limiting rules on membership.
The Chickasaw Nation NEVER adopted their freedmen into the Tribe as citizens. The only way blacks could become citizens at that time was to be born of a Chickasaw parent or to petition for citizenship and go through the same process as any other race to gain citizenship, if they were not a known blood Chickasaw. Because the Chickasaw Nation had working relations with the Confederacy and did not adopt their freedmen after the Civil War, they were penalized by the U.S. Government who took over half of their lands, with no compensation, which had been negotiated as Chickasaw property in previous treaties for their use due to the Removal from Chickasaw Homelands.
Culture
The suffix -mingo (Chickasaw: minko) is used to identify a chieftain. For example, Tishomingo was the name of a famous Chickasaw chief. The town of Tishomingo, Mississippi and Tishomingo County, Mississippi were named after him, as was the town of Tishomingo, Oklahoma. South Carolina's Black Mingo Creek was named after the colonial Chickasaw chief, who controlled the lands around it as a sort of hunting preserve. Sometimes it is spelled minko, but this most often occurs in older literary references.
- Bill Anoatubby, Governor of the Chickasaw Nation since 1987
- Amanda Cobb, professor of American studies at University of New Mexico, winner of American Book Award (2001)»"UNM Assistant Professor Wins American Book Club Award." University of New Mexico. September 7, 2001. Accessed June 27, 2007
- Levi Colbert, Chickasaw language translator
- Tom Cole, Republican U.S. Congressman from Oklahoma
- Molly Culver, actress
- Hiawatha Estes, architect
- Bee Ho Gray, actor
- John Herrington, Astronaut; first Native American in space
- Linda Hogan, Writer-in-Residence of the Chickasaw Nation
- Miko Hughes, actor
- Wahoo McDaniel, wrestler
- Rodd Redwing, actor
- Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate, composer and pianist
- Fred Waite, cowboy and Chickasaw Nation statesman
- Jack Brisco and Gerry Brisco, pro-wrestling tag team
- African-Native Americans
- Chickasaw Nation
- Chickasaw language
- Native Americans in the United States
- Native American tribe
- One-Drop Rule
- List of sites and peoples visited by the Hernando de Soto Expedition
- Calloway, Colin G., The American Revolution in Indian Country. Cambridge University Press, 1995. see google.com
- Daniel F. Littlefield Jr., The Chickasaw Freedmen: A People without a Country, (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1980).
- »The Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma (official site)
- »Chickasaw Nation Industires (government contracting arm of the Chickasaw Nation)
- »"Chickasaws: The Unconquerable People", a brief history by Greg O’Brien, Ph.D.
- »Encyclopedia of North American Indians
- »"Chickasaw History" by Lee Sultzman
- »John Bennett Herrington is First Native American Astronaut (on chickasaw.net)
- »Tishomingo
- »Pashofa recipe
- »Some Chickasaw information in discussion of DeSoto Trail
- »Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Chickasaw