Choctaw

[177]The articles of removal of the 1830 Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek were set into motion immediately. By 1831 and 1832 when Removal was in full force mixed bloods still maintained their positions of trust and authority within the tribe. During Removal the percentage of mixed-blood captains — the headmen and leaders of the organized emigrant bands bound for the new Indian nation -was greater than their percentage within the overall population of the tribe (see Chart 22). Their understanding of the English language and the ways of Americans became even more valuable as the bands of emigrants made their way … Read more

[138]Throughout the Jeffersonian period and later, the white countrymen and mixed bloods expanded their influence over the full-blood tribal members. One aspect of this can be seen by analyzing the ratio of full-blood to mixed-blood Choctaw signers of treaties with the United States. CHART 19 Breakdown of Choctaw treaty Signers Year Treaty Full Bloods Mixed Blood 1786 Hopewell 29  0 1801 Ft. Adams 15 1 (6%) 1802  Ft. Confederation 10  0 1803 Hoe Buckintoopa 10 0 1805 Mt. Dexter 14  9 (39%) 1816 Trading House 11 2 (15%) 1820 Doaks Stand 78 25 (24%) 1825 Washington 4* 4 (50%) 1830 … Read more

[102]By the beginning of the nineteenth century at least two major changes had altered the political environment affecting the Choctaw Indians. Within the Choctaw tribe several countrymen were beginning to exert influence in tribal decisions. Although not yet accepted as equals to the chiefs, white men such as Nathaniel Folsom and John Pitchlynn were respected and utilized as counselors in negotiations between the tribe and American officials. External to the tribe, the United States had negotiated the Treaty of San Lorenzo in 1795 with Spain and assumed economic hegemony over the tribes which mainly resided on lands north of the … Read more

The extant records concerning the traders and other countrymen are uneven in their coverage of mixed-blood families. Although only the better-known families were chronicled in the works of early regional historians and authors commenting on the Indian tribes, the existence of scores of surnames within these records indicates that mixed-blood families were widespread in the Choctaw nation. Over the space of several generations the mixed-blood families of the traders and countrymen began to move more and more towards the culture of their white kinsmen, especially if the white progenitor had stayed in one area and recognized the paternity of his … Read more

Despite their early encounters with Hernando DeSoto, whose ruthless exploitation of the Native Americans was unabashedly cruel, the Southeastern Indians greeted white men with peaceful cooperation. Later European arrivals found that their success in the Gulf wilderness depended largely upon peace with the native inhabitants, or at least peace with one of the larger tribes.  Because no large deposits of gold or other precious metals were found, the Spaniards relegated the region to outpost status and made no major effort to colonize beyond settlements at Pensacola and later Mobile and New Orleans, and thus they had relatively little contact with … Read more

One of the most controversial areas of American history is that of Indian/white relations and the federal policies, which led to Indian Removal. In the early and middle nineteenth century the United States government embarked upon a program of wholesale government-sponsored emigration of tribes residing within the various states and territories. Later called the “Trail of Tears” this official program of tribal displacement was long the focus of American Indian policy and the genesis of the present-day reservation system. Although several northeastern and eastern tribes had been displaced earlier, the removal of the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole nations … Read more