Among the first white men who came into the territory of the
Choctaw and Chickasaw were Louis Durant, the Folsom
Brothers, Nathaniel, Edmund and Ebenezar, Louis and Michael
Lefleau (Leflore), Pierre Francois Juzan, John Turnbull, Thomas
Vaughan, John Pitchlynn, John Jean Cravatt, Samuel Mitchell,
Zadoc, Turner and Alexander Brashears, and James "Roscoe"
Cole. They married into the tribe, and most remained among
them until their deaths. Often these names will be seen as
interpreters on treaties with the United States. Many of the
women these men married were sisters and female relatives of
the Chiefs of the districts or towns in which they resided. This
allowed their offspring great influence in the tribal politics in
later years, (A theory I intend to write at length about at a
later date.), as they were among the first offered the
opportunity for education at the missionary schools in the
Choctaw Nation, and many of them or their descendants were
students at the Choctaw Academy in Scott County, Kentucky.
Pushmataha and Mushatubbee were strong advocates of
education for the Choctaw early on. Not much is written about
Apuckanubbee's view, but missionary schools were placed in
his district as well. It can be presumed that the mixed blooded
children had an advantage, as some were bilingual, even if they
could barely read or write, and the importance of education in
treaty negotiations with the government was always stressed.
The objection that the leaders had was with the missionary
contingent that was included with the education of their tribe.
Pushmataha strongly supported the United States government,
and act some of the full blood Choctaw who descend from those
did not sign the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek view as an act
of a treason.
His reasoning may not ever be fully known, but it was a
surpassingly well planned tactical move for his people. By
always befriending the United States, and by educating the
youth so that they were better prepared to deal with the
government agents, the Choctaw when compared with other
Indian nations fared pretty well. Although the government
never did fulfill all of it's obligations to the Choctaw, they
received the largest land settlement in the new territory, and
until the Dawes commission, while financially in disrepair, had
a reputation of being a well governed nation with less crime
than some of it's neighbors. When compared, especially to the
treatment of some of the Western and Plain tribes, the Choctaw
did indeed get more from the government than most tribes
ever did.
While the Trail of Tears brings to mind the plight of the
Cherokee, the name was actually coined by one of the Choctaw
Chiefs. (No one is sure Check ) A large percentage of the
Choctaw who were moved by the government in three different
trips died en route, mostly the elderly and the young. They had
no or poor shelter, rations if present were scarce, and often
spoiled, and in many ways the government's plan for removal
was ill prepared and cost many lives. Unlike the Cherokee,
there were no armed soldiers forcing them to march, but like
the Cherokee, the trail killed many.
Many of the names on these pages are among the limited few
that United States Indian Agent Ward allowed to register under
article 14 of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. While some
remained on their lands for the rest of their lives, most sold, or
in some cases, "lost" their land and immigrated to Oklahoma at
a later date than the government migration, paying for their
own passage for their families and slaves. This familial
migration occurred from 1833 until as late as the latter 1880's.
Unfortunately, many of the Choctaw who remained in
Mississippi, mostly full bloods, were unable to register under
article 14 due to the manipulations of Agent Ward, and
descendants of these families are continuing to this day to
attempt to gain recognition by the government and claim the
land promised, but never given. Different bands of Choctaws
did migrate with encouragement from the government, and the
missionaries over the years, but most remained in Mississippi
and Alabama where their hereditary lands were. The few
Choctaw who retained their reservations, generous white
citizens (generally a church or missionary), have allowed some
of these families to live on their lands, where they have
remained for the last one hundred and seventy years.
The government, while promising citizenship in the treaty to
those who remained in Mississippi failed to legally recognized
them, they were often omitted, enumerated as white, or
mulatto on census documents, and in some cases, were unable
to hold land, vote or attend schools. Some of the "Cajuns"
attributed to the region are actually thought to be of Choctaw
descent.
Once the mixed bloods arrived within the new territory, they
settled in districts as they had before they left Mississippi, only
it is evident by 1855, that politics was in play, as many families
are living in different districts in the new territory than they did
in the old. One of the major political disagreements, especially
while Mushatubbee was alive, was the presence of the
Missionaries within the nation. Families tended to live in the
same Choctaw counties as their relatives, but some families,
such as the Leflore's, lived in several. The council, which
formed into a congress and a senate, with an election process
similar to the United States Government, was made primarily
up of the descendants of the mixed blood families. The
relationships of these families between the relationships of
blood and by marriage are complex, and confusing, as cousins
married cousins, and a small number of families married into
each other.
Apart from their leadership, it also seems apparent that
nepotism took place in the allotment of rights for stations and
toll bridges for the Butterfield Stage Coach, as most of the
families were related at least by marriage, if not by blood. Many
of the slaveholders of the Choctaw Nation were among the
mixed blood contingent, whose degree of blood at this point
had risen considerably from it's initial value of 1/8 to 1/2, to
many being almost full blood by 1890. These slaveholders often
had large lots of land and large homes, in some cases, such as
Wilson N. Jones, they owned several. (He had three.) Most of
the full blood contingent were small farmers who scratched out
a living, much like the cracker farmers of the south. They may
have owned a slave, but many were too poor. The missionary
schools were present, and many of the Choctaw had converted
to Christianity by the late 1840's and early 1850's.
Much has been written about the change in hereditary
leadership to an electoral process in nearly all the books
written on the Choctaw. This, while true, is misleading.
Although the position of Chief generally went to the nephew of
the Chief through the sister of the former Chief, the council
would chose the canditate also based on his merits as a
warrior. H.B. Cushman uses this example in reference to
Pushmataha. Presumably, the need for this was that their may
be more than one nephew who was vying for leadership.
Additionally, the first Chiefs most books referred to as
"elected" were descendants of the same three bloodlines as the
former Chiefs Mushatubbee (David Folsom and Robert Kincaid),
Apuckanubee (presumed relationship, Robert Cole, Greenwood
Leflore, Thomas Leflore), and Pushmataha (Oklahoma
(sometimes called Tappenhoma) Nittakechi, Pierre Juzan). The
descendants of these families continued an active role in tribal
government until the Dawes Commission act of 1896, many
holding the office of Chief.
The Dawes Commission effectively broke up the Choctaw
Nation, as it did the tribes of the Seminole, Creek, Cherokee,
and Chickasaw. This had been the plan put in motion before the
treaty of 1820, to "civilize" and main stream the native's into
the culture. Sadly, although the tribe continues with it's
government, and promotes education in the language of
Choctaw, and customs, many of the descendants of Choctaws
on the Dawes are not tribal members, do not speak the
language, or know for sure they are even Choctaw.
Maybe the Choctaw didn't do so well after all.
Sources:
Kidwell, Clara Sue, Choctaws and Missionaries in Mississippi,
1818-1918, 1995, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman,
Oklahoma
Foreman, Grant Indian Removal 1932, University of Oklahoma
Press, Norman, Oklahoma
Cushman, H. B., History of the Choctaw, Chickasaw and
Natchez Indians, 1999, 1932, 1899, University of Oklahoma
Press, Norman, Oklahoma
Matte, Jacqueline, They Say The Wind is Red,
Derosier, Arthur H. The Removal of the Choctaw Indians, 1976
Debo, Angie The Rise and Fall of the Choctaw Republic
Foreman, Grant The Five Civilized Tribes
American State Papers, Vol. 7
Oklahoma Historical Chronicles, (various articles)
