Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1915-05-18

dwet on Savannah river nearly opposite Augusta G,
trouble with the Greeks drove them westward again. |
the Chckasaw claimed payment from the United States
land the Savannah thus occupied.
The Chickasaw were noted from remote times fO
bravery, independence, and warlike disposition They
constantly fighting with the neghbOrng tribes sometime
the ChOctaw and Creeks, then with the Cherokee,
Kickapoo Shawnee, Mobilians, Usage and Quapaw. Il
they cut to pieces party of lroquois who had II
their country They constant enemies of the French
feeling intensified by the ntrgueS OF British traders
and their hatred of the Choctaw who had entered into
friendly relations with the French cOoniSts The Chick
asaw urged the Natchez resist the French encroach
ments and gave shelter to them when driven from their
homes They defeated the French at Analahta in 1916,
the Long House and other points and baffled their
attempts at conquest in the of l73940. They com
bined with the Cherokee about l7l5 and drove the
Shawnee from their homes on the Cumberland, and in
1869 utterly routed at ChickasaW Oil Fields, these
former Cherokee allies.
Their relations with the United States began with
the Hopewell treaty in 1856, when their boundary ON
the north was fixed at the Ohio river. They began to
emigrate west of the Mississippi early as lo22 and
treaties for the removal of those who remained IN their
old seats were made in 1882 and 1884 BY the treaty of
1855 their lands in Indian Territory were definitely
separated from those of the Choctaw with which they
had before been included.
In manner and customs they differed little from their
congeuers the Chocaw. the principal difference being
the more sedcntary habits and greater devotion to
agricultural pursuits by the ChOctaW the one hand,
and the turbulent restless and warke disposition
of the Chickasaw the other Their traditional origin
the same that of the Creeks and ChOcaw, and Is
given in the so-caed Greek migration legend. The
ChckaSaw appear to have sheltered and ultimately in
corporated into their organization the small tribes along
Yazoo river who spoke substantially the same language
The ChickaSaW language served medium OF com
merca and tribal intercourse for all the tribes along
the lower Mississippi Early estimates of population
vary widely those of the eighteenth century ranging
from 1000 to nearly 5000. According to Adar they
had been much more numerous than during his time
0744 of the two divisions, the Long House,
numbering not more than $50 warriors, indicating
population of 1600 to l,S00 persons. He gives es
of the other DIVISION but assuming it to have been
about the same the population of the entire tribe
between 5000 and 40O0 Morse Rep. to Ser. War
1922, though estimating the ChOctaw at 10000 gives
the ChckaSaW population 1923 In 1868 the eSt-
mated population 4,500 in 1904 the official number
given 1926, including mixed bloods. albert s.
Gatsche formerly Of the Bureau of American EtmOOgy
and Cyrus Thomas of the Bureau of American
Ethnology)
Choctaw
Possibly corruption of the Spanish chato flat ]"
fattened alludng to the custom of these Indians
of flattening the head.) An important tribe of the
MuskOgean stock, formerly occupying middle and
southern Mississippi, their territory extending in their
most flOurshing days, for distance east of Tom
bigbee river, probably far Dallas county Ga
Ehnicay they belong to the Choctaw branch of the
Muskhogean family, which included the Choctaw,
Chickasaw, Huma, and their allies and some small
tribes which formerly lived along Yazoo river The
dialects of the members of this branch closely
related that they may be considered practically
identical (Gatschet, Creek Mgr Leg, 1884,
The earliest notice of these Indians is found in the
De Soto narratives for 1910. The giant Tascalusa,
whom he met in his march down Coosa valley and
carried to Mauvila was a Choctaw cheftain; and the
natives who fought the Spaniards fercely at this
town belonged to a closely related tribe. When the
French about the beginning of the eighteenth century,
began settle colonies at Mobile Biloxi, and New
Orleans the Choctaw early into friendly relations
with them and their allies in their against
other Indian tribes. In the French the Nachez,
in $780, large body of Choctaw warriors served under
French officer They continued this friendship until
the English traders succeeded in drawing to the
English interest some of the east Choctaw towns This
brought between them and the main body,
who still adhered to the French which continued until
1863 The tribe constantly at with the Creeks