The Choctaws
Probably the most populous tribe on the entire continent in the nineteenth century, the talented and powerful Choctaws excelled as farmers, hunters, and diplomats alike. Like some other southeastern tribes such as the Cherokees, the Choctaws increasingly adapted the practices and institutions of Western Christendom, partly to forestall their removal from their ancestral homelands. Around twenty-two thousand Choctaws spread from the middle of the Mississippi River Valley southward to the Gulf of Mexico at the beginning of the 1800s. They traded and conversed effectively with the European powers who frequented the Gulf ports of the area.
The Choctaws organized their country into three regions, each governed by a principal chief, similar to a nation’s president. One chief, Pushmataha, gained renown as a statesman, commercial visionary, and warrior. As shrewd and eloquent as he was rugged and brave, he proved to be the match of American leaders such as James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, and John Calhoun, as well as other tribal leaders such as the Shawnee Tecumseh. He sparred with all of them over matters of supreme importance to both the Choctaws and the United States. A national Choctaw council composed of other leaders from throughout the tribe, similar to a Congress, also carried authority.
The Choctaws-notably Pushmataha-demonstrated their hunting prowess and physical vigor with journeys as far west as present-day Oklahoma, hundreds of miles from their Mississippi homeland. Two developments winnowed out the game population of the Gulf States and forced these long and dangerous treks. One was the multiplying American population in the South, the other the burgeoning fur trade with Europe. In present-day Oklahoma, the Choctaw hunters not only slew great hauls of game, they clashed with Osages, Caddos, and other tribes residing in the area, as well as American merchants who traded with them.
Like the other southeastern “civilized” tribes, the Choctaw advances in Western culture failed to prevent growing pressure from the American people and their government for the tribe’s removal to the west. To the Natives’ surprise, they would face new chapters of oppression even after they made those treks.
PushmatahaFather of the Choctaws (c. 1764-1824) “A little cloud was once seen in the northern sky. It came before a rushing wind, and covered the Choctaw country with darkness. Out of it flew an angry fire. It struck a large oak, and scattered its limbs and its trunk all along the ground, and from that spot sprung forth a warrior fully armed for war. And that man was Pushmataha.”
Read the entire Oklahoma story in John J. Dwyer's The Oklahomans: The Story of Oklahoma and Its People volume 1 of a 2-part series on the 46th state and the people who make this state very special. |