Wichita eagle., 1890-01-09

Ills 1ather was WblCe man, bearing Gen.
Washington's commission as an interpreter,
and his mother a full blooded Choctaw.
He was brought up like the average Indian
boy of his tribe in those days, but, manifest
ing desire to be educated, he was sent 200
miles to school in Tennessee. At the end Of
the first quarter he returned home to find his
people engaged in negotiating treaty with
the general government. As he considered
the terms of the instrument fraud upon his
tribe, he refused to shake hands with Gen
jackson, who had the matter in charge on
behalf of the United States.
He afterwards attended the Columbia
Tenn.) academy, and was ultimately grad
uated at the University of Nashville.
Although he never changed his opinion re-
garding the treaty he became strong friend
of General jackson.
After graduation he returned to Mississippi,
became farmer, and married, being the
first Choctaw to depart from the practice Of
polygamy.
In 1925 he was appointed leader of an In
dian delegation sent out by the United States
into the Usage country on peace making
and exploring expedition preparatory to the
removal of the Choctaws, Chickasaws and
Creeks beyond the Mississippi. Six months
were occupied in the journey, and the nego-
tiations were in every way successful, Pitch
lynn displaying no little diplomatic skill and
courage, although only twenty-five. He
emigrated from the old home to the new
reservation with his tribe, and built a cabin
on the Arkansas river.
He was a great admirer of Henry Clay,
whom he met for the first time in 1s40. 1t
was on steamboat on the Ohio. He noticed
two men in the cabin earnestly engaged in
conversation, to which he was an attentive
listener During the course of their remarks
he turned to his travelling companion and, in
a whisper. said: IF that old farmer with an
ugly face had only been educated for the law,
he would have made one Of the greatest men
in the country" He soon learned that tho
''old farmer with the ugly face" was Henry
Clay.
1t was this celebrated Choctaw chief,
whom he met on his trip by steamer on the
Ohio, en- route from Cincinnati to Louisville,
that Charles Dickens described in his "Amer
lean Notes."
! Governor Pitchlynn was the first of his ma
ton to discard, metaphorically, the ''breecA
| clout,n and the first to recommend the aban-
donment of polygamy. He never accepted
it. but discountenanced the practice of it at
the beginning of his eventful and noble
career.
At the breaking out of the civil war in 1851
| he was in Washington attending to public
business for his tribe, and assured Mr.. Lin
| coin that he hoped to keep his people neutral,
but he could not prevent three Of his children
and many others from joining the Confed-
eracy.
He himself remained a firm Union man all
through the war, Notwithstanding the fact
| that the Confederates raided his magnificen.
ranch and captured all of his immense herds
of cattle, while the emancipation proclama-
! ton freed 100 of his slavesI
He was q wonderful orator, as a perusal OF
his many speeches will confirm. a genuine
| Christian and perfect gentleman. He was
buried with Masonic honors in the Congress
sional cemetery at Washington, D. c., and
| Albert Pike. the poet, delivered eulogy
| over him, and his memory Is deeply vene-
rated wherever the Choctaw language is
spoken and by every one who ever had the
| pleasure of the acquaintance of such nebls
man.
He was thoroughly versed in all the lore,
| superstitions and curious traditions of the
tribe, and to hear him talk on these strange
subjects was a literary and archaeological
| treat.
He many years ago gave me much infor-
nation regarding his primitive people, their
supposed origin, and the tradition of their
migration to the region of the Mississippi.
1t appears that the Chectsws, Chickasaws,
! Creeks and Seminoles were at some remote
| period of antiquity all one nation, and that
! through some iuterneciue struggle they dis
solved their tribal relations; the word Chata
| tChoctaw) is supposed TO mean separation,
! a.. -. I1-+
saw means rebellion, and the proper name of
the Creeks, as they are called in their own Ian
! guase is ''Mus-ko-gee." When first known
to the whites they lived in the country be
tween the breakwaters OF the Alabama and
Savannah rivers, and as this was full OF
small streams and creeks they were called
| Greek Indians" Those occupying Florida
were called Seminoles, a corruption Of ''Isti-
sernole' wild mem or ''rupaways" properlyi
The story OF their migration he related to
me as follows: ''The separation or dispersion
OF our people into several distinct tribes
| must have occurred at some period Of re-
mote antiquity, and when they lived far in
the southwest, probably lower Mexico or
the border of Central America, for my tribe
came to the Mississippi region as Chatas-
Their country was far beyond the noun
teins Of snow, and they were several years
maxim. their long journey TO the east Of the
great river mississippi. great prophet
| medicine man-was their leader. he walked
| in advance Of the whole tribe, and carried g
| red pole which he stuck in the ground where
they canped every night, and every morn
| ing the pole invariably pointed 10 toe east
| He told them .hey must continue 10 travel IN
| that direction until a place was reached
where it stood erect, and that would o@ their
! permanent dwelling place. for 70 tire Great
| Spirit had instructed. After ~n4ie they
arrived st the Mississippi which they called
| Misha-:sipo posnI 7-yrlisha sage3, sipoSni De
/ yond)-"azc beyond and VIXEN the mouth
! Of the Yazoo was reached the pole stood
| straight, which l. now the exact center OF
| the Choctaw nation
At that point DelieEs there stlH exists .
| great Artificial hill. determined oy aTchHolo-
| gists to De of prehistoric origin. sod oeao1g-
| ing 20 the same system As those mounds found
| elsewhere in the Mississippi Bat all the
/ Choctsvs | have ret-intesig~nt cd nen-
| sne0 asked about Il. CAIN tEzt tceir szces
/ tors built II 20 commemorate their sTr1vsl a.
| the spot wBeTs the '-poie stood up, and t5sy
| called il .'NuAia-W Waiyan.@ ''isazins ever
mountain or "slopi1s mountain.
EExaT IsHAL