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Choctaw

The Choctaw (Choctaw: Chahta) are a Native American people originally based in the Southeastern Woodlands, in what is now Alabama and Mississippi. Their Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choctaw people are enrolled in three federally recognized tribes: the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, and Jena Band of Choctaw Indians in Louisiana.[4]

For other uses, see Choctaw (disambiguation).

The Choctaw were first noted by Europeans in French written records of 1675.[5] Their mother mound is Nanih Waiya, a great earthwork platform mound located in central-east Mississippi. Early Spanish explorers of the mid-16th century in the Southeast encountered ancestral Mississippian culture villages and chiefs.[6]


The Choctaw coalesced as a people in the 17th century and developed at least three distinct political and geographical divisions: eastern, western, and southern. These different groups sometimes created distinct, independent alliances with nearby European powers. These included the French, based on the Gulf Coast and in Louisiana; the English of the Southeast, and the Spanish of Florida and Louisiana during the colonial era.


Most Choctaw allied with the Americans during the American Revolution, War of 1812, and the Red Stick War, most notably at the Battle of New Orleans. European Americans considered the Choctaw to be one of the "Five Civilized Tribes" of the Southeast. The Choctaw and the United States agreed to a total of nine treaties. By the last three, the US gained vast land cessions in the Southeast. As part of Indian Removal, despite not having waged war against the United States, the majority of Choctaw were forcibly relocated to Indian Territory from 1831 to 1833.[7][8] The Choctaw government in Indian Territory had three districts, each with its own chief, who together with the town chiefs sat on their National Council.


Those Choctaw who chose to stay in the state of Mississippi were considered state and U.S. citizens; they were one of the first major non-European ethnic groups to be granted citizenship.[9][10][11] Article 14 in the 1830 treaty with the Choctaw stated Choctaws may wish to become citizens of the United States under the 14th Article of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek on all of the combined lands which were consolidated under Article I from all previous treaties between the United States and the Choctaw.[12]


During the American Civil War, the Choctaw in both Indian Territory and Mississippi mostly sided with the Confederate States of America. Under the late 19th-century Dawes Act and Curtis Acts, the US federal government broke up tribal land holdings and dissolved tribal governments in Indian Territory in order to extinguish Indian land claims before admission of Oklahoma as a state in 1907. From that period, for several decades the US Bureau of Indian Affairs appointed chiefs of the Choctaw and other tribes in the former Indian Territory.


During World War I, Choctaw soldiers served in the US military as some of the first Native American codetalkers, using the Choctaw language. Since the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, the Choctaw people in three areas have reconstituted their governments and gained federal recognition. The largest are the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma.


Since the 20th century, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians were federally recognized in 1945,[13] the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma in 1971,[14] and the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians in 1995.[15]

Etymology[edit]

The Choctaw autonym is Chahta. Choctaw is an anglization of Chahta, whose meaning is unknown. The anthropologist John R. Swanton suggested that the Choctaw derived their name from an early leader.[16] Henry Halbert, a historian, suggests that their name is derived from the Choctaw phrase Hacha hatak (river people).[17]

Okla Hannalli (people of six towns)

Okla Tannap (people from the other side)

Okla Fayala (people who are widely dispersed)

Reservations[edit]

Reservations can be found in Louisiana (Jena Band of Choctaw Indians), Mississippi (Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians), and Oklahoma (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma). The Oklahoma reservation is defined by treaty. Other population centers can be found throughout the United States.

(died October 1540) retaliated against Hernando de Soto at the Battle of Mabilia. The battle was the first major conflict in North America between Native Americans and Europeans.

Tuscaloosa

(died 19th century) was a transitional benefactor and a contemporary of Taboca. To some Americans he was the "leading chief of the Choctaws." He led a war party with British forces against American rebels. Franchasmatabe attended the treaty talks of 1801 near Mobile, Alabama.

Franchimastabe

(died 19th century) was a traditional "prophet-chief" who led a delegation starting in October 1785 to Hopewell, South Carolina.

Taboca

(c. 1740–1824) was chief of the Okla Falaya (Tall People) district in old Choctaw nation. He died in Kentucky on his way to Washington D.C. to conduct negotiations.

Apuckshunubbee

(Apushmataha) (1760s–December 24, 1824) was a chief in old Choctaw nation. He negotiated treaties with the United States and fought on the American's side in the War of 1812. He died in Washington D.C. and is buried in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington D.C.

Pushmataha

(1770–1836) was a chief in the Choctaw nation before the removal and after. He went to Washington City to negotiate for the tribe in 1824 and was the only major leader to return. In the summer of 1830, he ran for a seat in the Congress of the United States to represent the state of Mississippi.

Mosholatubbee

(June 3, 1800 – August 31, 1865) was a District Chief of the Choctaws in Mississippi. He was an influential state representative and senator in Mississippi.

Greenwood LeFlore

(1810–1890) was a district Choctaw chief in Indian Territory (1850–1857) prior to the Civil War and author of the "Farewell Letter to the American People".

George W. Harkins

(January 30, 1806 – January 17, 1881) was a highly influential leader during the removal era and long after. He represented the Choctaws in Washington, D.C., for some years and is buried in the Congressional Cemetery. Charles Dickens described him "as stately and complete a gentleman of nature's making as ever I beheld."

Peter Pitchlynn

Wesley Johnson (c. 1849 – 1925) was elected chief on May 10, 1913, in Meridian, Mississippi. He would lead the Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana Choctaw Council's delegation to Washington, D. C. in February 1914 where he met President Woodrow Wilson and many members of congress. There he expressed the dire situation of the Mississippi Choctaws. Wesley Johnson represented the Alabama Delegation from Southwest Alabama in Mobile and Washington Counties. Wesley Johnson was also known as Wesley Wakatubee.

(March 13, 1926 – February 4, 2010) was the Chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians from 1979 to 2007 and worked in tribal government for over fifty years. He encouraged outside investment and reduced unemployment to nearly 0% on the reservation.

Phillip Martin

William Bartram

Chato people

Choctaw culture

Choctaw mythology

Choctaw Trail of Tears

Cyrus Byington

Gideon Lincecum

Steven Charleston

List of Choctaw Treaties

List of sites and peoples visited by the Hernando de Soto Expedition

("okeh", etymology)

okay

Bulbancha

Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma (official site)

Jena Band of Choctaw Indians (official site)

Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians (official site)