Chickasaw
The Chickasaw are a Native American tribe originally located in an area that now includes western Tennessee, Kentucky, northern Mississippi, and northwestern Alabama. They are part of the Muskogean language group and share a linguistic relationship with the Choctaw Nation. Historically known for their agricultural practices, particularly in corn farming, the Chickasaw also engaged in hunting and lived in organized towns with a clan-based social structure. During the 19th century, the Chickasaw faced significant pressures that led them to cede their lands and relocate to what is now Oklahoma, where they established a separate nation after initial challenges in settling.
The Chickasaw participated in various conflicts throughout their history, aligning with the British during the American Revolutionary War and later the Confederacy during the Civil War. In the late 20th century, the Chickasaw Nation experienced a resurgence, re-establishing its government and achieving economic growth through successful business ventures. Today, the Chickasaw Nation, with a population exceeding 80,000, focuses on cultural preservation, education, and healthcare for its members, reflecting a commitment to both community well-being and the maintenance of their cultural heritage.
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Chickasaw
- CATEGORY: Tribe
- CULTURE AREA: Southeast
- LANGUAGE GROUP: Muskogean
- PRIMARY LOCATION: Oklahoma
- POPULATION SIZE: 80,000 (2023, The Chickasaw Nation)
At the beginning of the historic period, the Chickasaw inhabited an area encompassing modern western Tennessee and Kentucky, northern Mississippi, and northwestern Alabama. They are closely related linguistically to the Choctaw, and the two Indigenous nations may once have been one. The Chickasaw way of life was similar to that of other southeastern nations. They lived in towns and pursued an economy based on farming, especially corn, and hunting. Chickasaw social structure was based on a clan system. One’s clan was derived from one’s mother, and marriage between clan members was forbidden. While most affairs were handled locally, the High Minko, or principal chief of the nation, was chosen by a council of clan elders. Though a relatively small nation (around 4,500 at the time of European contact), the Chickasaw had a reputation among neighboring nations as fierce warriors.
The Chickasaw were visited by Hernando de Soto and his expedition in 1540, and they nearly annihilated the Spaniards the following year. In the seventeenth century, the Chickasaw became involved in a series of wars against the French and their Indigenous allies. Having established contact with English merchants, the Chickasaw became British allies in the eighteenth century and remained loyal to them through the American Revolutionary War. By the late eighteenth century, a mixed-blood, acculturated minority was becoming increasingly influential in Indigenous affairs.
In 1786, the Chickasaw signed the Treaty of Hopewell with the new United States, acknowledging themselves to be under American protection and selling a small area at Muscle Shoals (modern Alabama) to the United States. The Chickasaw fought on the American side in the Creek War of 1813-1814; however, they soon came under pressure to part with more and more of their land. In 1818, General Andrew Jackson persuaded the nation to sell all its lands in Tennessee and Kentucky. After Jackson became president, the Chickasaw were pressured to sell the remainder of their lands east of the Mississippi. In 1832, the Chickasaw agreed to sell out and move to the Indian Territory (modern Oklahoma), where they would settle on land bought from the Choctaws. It took five years to work out mutually acceptable arrangements, but in the 1837 Treaty of Doaksville, the Choctaw agreed to sell to the Chickasaw a large tract of land to the west of their Oklahoma settlements for $530,000 and to accept the Chickasaw as citizens in the Indigenous nation. A census taken at the time of removal in 1838 counted approximately 5,000 Chickasaw.
Though the Chickasaw had an easier “Trail of Tears” than other southern nations, they faced problems once in Indian Territory. They resisted absorption by the Choctaw and faced threats from the Plains Indigenous nations, who were used to roaming the area. Only after army posts were established did full-scale resettlement take place. Friction with the Choctaw continued until, in 1855, the two nations reached a relatively friendly divorce, and a separate Chickasaw Nation was constituted in what is today south-central Oklahoma.
The Chickasaw had brought about a thousand enslaved peoples with them on their trek west, and when the Civil War broke out in 1861, they allied with the Confederacy. The Chickasaw Nation was relatively unscathed by the fighting, but at the end of the war, the nation had to make peace with the United States. They lost its claim to a large tract of southwestern Oklahoma and accepted the end of slavery. Pressured to incorporate its formerly enslaved peoples into the nation, the Chickasaw—alone among slaveholding nations—avoided doing so.
In the later nineteenth century, the tribe again found itself in the path of expansionist policy. During the 1890s, Congress moved to extend the policy of allotment (the division of lands among individual Indigenous Americans, with “surplus” land being sold off) to Indian Territory. Indigenous nation powers were reduced, and the Dawes Commission was established to negotiate allotment terms. In 1906, a roll was drawn up, counting 6,319 citizens of the Chickasaw Nation (1,538 of them claiming Chickasaw heritage alone); the roll of Chickasaw members numbered 4,670. On March 4, 1906, the Chickasaw government came to an end. Each Chickasaw received 320 acres of land (each formerly enslaved member received 40 acres). By 1934, 70 percent of the land had passed from Chickasaw ownership. The Chickasaw government was eventually reorganized in the 1960s. By 1983, the established Chickasaw Nation adopted its own constitution.
Since the 1980s, the Chickasaw Nation has achieved success in many areas. Their well-organized government structure worked to pursue economic development through highly successful business ventures, investments, and the development of infrastructure. The Chickasaw Nation has used these profits to provide social services to its over 80,000 members, including education, housing, healthcare, and caring for older Indigenous nation members. The Chickasaw Nation has also participated in cultural preservation efforts, including language preservation and cultural events.
Bibliography
Foreman, Grant. The Five Civilized Tribes. U of Oklahoma P, 1934.
Foreman Grant. Indian Removal: The Emigration of the Five Civilized Tribes of Indians. U of Oklahoma P, 1932.
Gibson, Arrell M. The Chickasaws. U of Oklahoma P, 1971.
"History." The Chickasaw Nation, www.chickasaw.net/Our-Nation/History.aspx. Accessed 8 Nov. 2024.
Hudson, Charles. The Southeastern Indians. U of Tennessee P, 1976.
"Our Nation." The Chickasaw Nation, www.chickasaw.net/Our-Nation.aspx. Accessed 8 Nov. 2024.
Pate, James P. "Chickasaw - The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture." Oklahoma Historical Society, www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=CH033. Accessed 8 Nov. 2024.
Perdue, Theda, editor. Nations Remembered: An Oral History of the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles, 1865-1907. 1980. Reprint. U of Oklahoma P, 1993.
"Present Day." The Chickasaw Nation, www.chickasaw.net/our-nation/history/present-day.aspx. Accessed 8 Nov. 2024.
"2023 The Chickasaw Nation Progress Report." Office of the Governor of The Chickasaw Nation, 25 Mar. 2024, governor.chickasaw.net/Reports/Progress-Reports/View-2023/Progress-Report-2023.aspx. Accessed 8 Nov. 2024.