Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1890-01-25
A Great Choctaw Chle'.
PETER T, PTTCHLYNN, THE GREATEST
LEADER HIS TRIBE EVER HAD.

KANSAS CITY, Dec. IL some time
ago | made II tortnight's visit to Tom
Pitchlvnn's ranch near Cadd0, in the
Chortaw nation. lie is the youngest
sou of Peter L. Pilehlynn, one of The
celebrated chiefs OF the tribe. ! knew
him intimately aud Tom, whose father
introducedImc TO him many years ago,
has been a warm friend for more than
Il decade. His rancho, comprising
some 1900 acres, is located Oh The
Blue river, in the midst OF u gracefully
untulating prairie, continually beau
titled bv ropses and:groycs of timber,
around the trunks OF which, literally
involving them, are vines producing
the greatest profusion of delicious
grapes, and hanging in such endless
clusters as justly 10 cntitlo this singu-
larry charming pastora! country TO the
STYLE of vineyard for many miles tc.
gcthcr.
Peter L. Pitchlynn. whose Indian
name was lila tchoo-tuc-knee" uhe
swapping t~urtle), the greatest chief or
governor the Chortaws ever had, was
a remarkable man. lie was born in
Hash-ook-wa," now part of Noxubcc
county. Miss, in 1906, and died in
Washington, ID, C., January. 1881.
His father was a white man. bearing
Gen. Washington's commission rs an
intcrpriscr, and his mother Il full
blooded Choctaw.
lie was brought up like the average
Indian boy of his tribe in those days,
but, manitcsling n desire TO be eauca-
ted. he was sent 200 miles to school in
Tennessee. At the end of the first
quarter lie returned home TO find his
people engaged in negotiating Il treaty
with the general government. AS he
considered the terms ofthc instrument
n fraud upon his tribe, he refused to
shake hands with Gen. jackson, who
had',he matter in charge on behalf OF
the United States.
He afterwards attended the Column
bia Tcnn.) academy. and was ultimate
ly'graduatcd at the University OF Nash.
vile.
Al,houth he never changed his opin-
ion regarding the7trca,y he became n
strong friend Of General Jackson.
After graduated lie returned TO Mis-
sissippi, became n farmer, and married,
being the first Cnoctaw to depart from
the practice of polygamy.
In 1928 he was appointed leader OF
an Indian delegation sent ont by the
United States into the Usage country
orapcacc-making and cxploring,eXpo.
silion, preparatory to the removal of
the Choctaws and Greeks beyond the
Mississippi. Six months were occu-
pied in The journey, and the negotia-
tious were in every way successful,
Pitchlynn displaying no little diplo-
matte skill aud courage, although
only twenty-five. llo emigratcd from
the old home TO the new reservation
with his tribe, and built q cabin on
the Arkansas river.
lie was 4 great admircr of Henry
Clay, whom he met for the first time
III 1910. 1t was on a steamboat on n
steamboat on the Ohio. lie noticed
two men in the cabin earnestly en-
gagged in conversation, to which he
was an attentive listener. During the
course OF their remarks he turned TO
his travelling companion and, in n
whisper, said: "lf that old farmer with
an ugly face had only been educated
tor the law, he would have made one
of the greatest men in the country.
lie soon learned that the cold farmer
with the ugly face" was Henry Clay.
1t was the celebrated Choctaw chict,
whom he met on his trip by steamer
on the Ohio, in route from Cincinnati
to Louisville, that Charles Dickens de-
scribcd in his "American Notes"
Governor Piichlynn was, the first of
his nation to discard, mctaphotically,
the 'b.ccch %clout," and the first TO
recommend the abandonment OF po-
lygamy. lie never accepted it. but dis
~countenanccd the practice of it al the
b~cginnii ofhis %eventtul and noble ca
recr.
At the breaking out of the civil war
ia 1861 he was in Washington attend.
ing 10 public business for his tribe.
and assured Mr.. Lincoln that he hoped
to keep his people neutral, but he
could not prevent three of his children
and many others from joining the Con-
icdrracy.
lie himself remained a firm Union
man all though the WAL notwithsiand.
ing the fact ihai.ihe fcderals raj.
died his magnificent ranch AMI cap
tnrcd all Of his immense herds OF cat
tie, while the emancipation proclamA-
ton freed 100 of his slaves.
lie was Il wonderful orator, MS o pc.
rusal of his many speeches will con
firm a genuine Christian and q perfect
gentleman. lie was buried with Ma.
sonic hOnors in the Congressional Gem.
otery at Washington, D. -, and Al,
bert Pike. the poet, delivered II culo-
Ky over him, ..and his memory is deeply
vcneratcd wherever the Choctaw Ian
guage is spoken and by every one who
ever had the pleasure Of the arquain-
tancc of such a noble man.
lie was thoroughly vorscd in all
the lore, superslitions aud curious ira
ditions OF the tribe, and to hear him
tax on these strange subjects was Il
literary and archaeological treat.
lie many years ago gave me much
information regarding his primitive
people their supposed origin, aud the
tradition Of their migration to the re-
gion Of the Mississippi.
II appears that thc.Choctaws. Chick.
asaw. Greeks and Semiuolcs YER at
some remote period OF antiquity al
one nation, an. that through some in.
tcrnccinc struggle they dissolved thoil
tribal relations; the word Chata (Choc.
tawl is supposed to mean a..scparaiion
though lis original definition is lost
Chirasaw means rebellion, and the
proper name of tar,,Cretks as they arc
called in their own language. is "Mus,
ko' Wien first known to the
whites they lived in the country be.
tween the brcakwaters OF the Ala,
bama 0nd Savannah rivers. aud us mi
was fun OfitRall streams and creek,
they were called Greek Indians
Those occupying Floridi were cnllc'
Srminolcs, \ corruption Of lstisem
OLE wild mem o "runawaysn proper
L..
The story of T. CIR migration he re
lhtcd TO me rs FOL vs. "Thc scpar
I GU or dispersion of orr people int,
8 rcral distinct tribes must have Oc
Cured nj soinn period Of remote anti
putty. and whe they lived far in tn
southwest. probably lover Mexico q
+. the b ride OF &c tral Amrri q. fr
my 'rih" came 20 the Mississippi re
J ninn M Eluinr q