The Tupelo journal., 1917-06-08
Indian HISTORY.


toor James Gordon relates an inter-
esting bit of local Indian history
concerning the last chief of the
Chickasaw tribe who lived near Tu-
pelo. In the neighborhood of Bis
sell is the site of the old Council
House. Mulberry trees gnarled
and knotted with age, stand as a re-
hinder of the days when the Indien
claimed this part of our State as his
home:
Okolona, March 18th, 1912.
Mrs. Jack r. Jones, Tupelo, Miss.
My Dear Madam enclose you
a hasty sketch of the name and char
acter of the grand old chief of the
Chickasaws, upon whose knees I've
sat in infancy, for he was a close
friend of my father, who was n of
the witnesses to the treaty and
signed the treaty as a witness.
Ny mothers people, the Walton's
of Virginia, were among the pioneers
d, in the Chickasaw territory, and my
father and mother were married at
Cotton Gin Point on the T~ombigbee
River, and the ceremony was per-
formed by that old Presbyterian mis-
sionary, Rev. Thomas Stuart, who
passed the later years of his life at
Tupelo. l hope the sketch will
please you. Respectfully yours,
JAMMES GORDON.
Itawamba Mingo-Bench Chief
Among the Chickasaws was a very
wise chieftain of French descent
known among the whites as Maj.
Levi Colbert-as he had a commits
sion from the q. S. Government as
maior-but with his tribe he was
known as Itawamba-Mingo Cor
Bench Chief, which title he had re-
ceiyed for an act of g~allantry in his
seth The Greek Indians their
hereditary foes, having invaded Their
dominions during the absence oil
their warriors on a hunting expe -
ton, Colbert hastily collected the Old
men and boys of the tribe and am
buscaded the Greeks so successfully
that rot one of them escaped. This
battle was fought on a small stream
which afterwards received tire Eame
of Yah-nubby (All killedl. When
the warriors returned they called a
council and placed the young hero on
a bench III the center of that august
body. Sitting on a wooden bench,
crowned with a wreath of laurel,
and thus he received the order of
eChickasaw Observation-Disclosures
Mingo, Bench Chief.
When the United States desired to
make a treaty with the ~Chickasaws,
Gen. Coffee and Benjamin Reynolds,
the Indian agents, had the chiefs to
call a council, during which time the
L. S. commissioners were hospitality
entertained BY Maj. Levi Colbert,
the most wealthy and influential
chief in the nation. Three treaties
were prepared and rejected. The
fourth treaty was written out and a
clause inserted to catch the lnt1u-
entail Chief Colbert, which read as
follows: s"We hereby agree to give
our beloved Chief, in consideration
of his services and expense of en-
pertaining the guests of the nation
Is sections of land in any part of the
country he may select" "Stop Gen.
Coffee Indignantly exclaimed the
noble Chief, II am no more entitled
to those Is sections than the poorest
Indian in the nation" Almighty
Ruler of the Universe, who stitch
on the great white throne of Heav-
en-, in pity look down and tell my
people why / blush to say that after
a hundred and thirty-seven years of
a Republican government, envy the
integrity and patriotism of this no.
BILE savage--a fifth treaty was accept
ed.
Part of a letter to Mrs. Jones
from Thomas NJ. Owen, l.. l.. D.,
District Department of Archives and
History, Montgomery, Ala.
The Chickasaw Village of Ackia,
where Bienville met with such a dis
astrous defeat on May &c, 1876.
This village, with its fort, was
three miles northwest of Tupelo,
and | have heard that European rel
les have been found on its site. This
battle is known in history as the bat
tie of Ackia, pronounced with the
accent on the penult. The name is
worn down from the Chick
asaw word "Ahikia," meaning a fort,
a station, or a stand.
I quote a passage from Du Prat3's
History of Louisiana, giving a de-