Chickasaw Nation

FOUR DIRECTIONS INSTITUTE Chickasaw

Ethnie:	CHICKASAW
Dialect:	Chickasaw
Language:	Choctaw
Family:	Western Muskhogean
Stock:	Muskhogean
Phylum:	Algic
Macro-Culture:	Eastern Woodlands
Speakers	1,000 or fewer (1987 Munro and Willmond)

The Chickasaw were a large sedentary hunter/farmer nation of northern Mississippi and into neighboring states.  They were constantly at war with their closest relatives, the Choctaw, as well as other neighbors.  They were considered to be extremely capable warriors.

A common practice of the Chickasaw was to adopt alien peoples.  They were one of the five major nations removed to the Indian Territory from the southeast in the 1830's.

Aboriginal Locations (# of Villages)

MS  (26)

TN  (1)

Present Locations OK  Chickasaw Tribe, Ardmore

Year	History
1540	Met by De Soto who wintered with the tribe against wishes of Chickasaw who eventually rebelled against unacceptable Spanish demands and severely defeated De Soto's army
1560	Joined by Napochi sometime after this year
1673	Met a small party lead by Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet which was exploring the Mississippi near present Memphis
1682	Robert LaSalle and Henri Tonti party stopped at Chickasaw Bluffs because LaSalle was ill, had extended contact with the tribe; party stayed across river with Chickasaw enemies the Quapaw on return trip
1685	Henry Woodward established permanent trading post and sent two men overland to trade with Chickasaw
1690	Choctaw-Chickasaw war, 1,800 Choctaw, 800 Chickasaw killed
1698	British trader visits to Chickasaw villages routine; Chickasaw made slaving pact with the British supplying women and children of neighboring tribes in trade for arms
1702	Tonti endeavored to establish friendly relations with Chickasaw for the French; leaders of the tribe were escorted through Choctaw territories by Tonti to visit Mobile
1703	Chickasaw/Creek/Carolina alliance destroyed Apalachee
1704	Choctaw-Chickasaw war revived
1705	Chickasaw and Creek defeated Choctaw
1706	Tribe split into pro-French and pro-British dissolving peace with French
1711	Choctaw-Chickasaw war again revived with Choctaw being armed by French
1715	Assisted Cherokee in driving Shawnee from Cumberland settlements
1717	Chickasaw attacks on Caddo resulted in French arming Caddos and the creation of the Kadohadacho Confederacy; deer skins became popular trade commodity ultimately driving deer to near extinction in southeast
1720	Choctaw began protracted war against Chickasaw
1723	Chickasaw occupied Chickasaw Bluffs overlooking Mississippi River blocking French traffic on river; established a settlement near August, Georgia for more than 50 years, aided Georgians in war against Florida Spanish
1725	Influx of 1,000 French colonists into Chickasaw territories along with Black slaves and a myriad of diseases
1730	New Choctaw-Chickasaw war
1733	Peace with northern Choctaw
1736	Chickasaw closure of the Mississippi prompted an all out attack of the nation by the French with French and Illinois attacking from the north and French and Choctaw attacking from the south resulting in the greatest defeat ever suffered by the French at the hands of Native Americans
1739	Second attack by French on Chickasaw resulted once again in failure a the disgrace of the French officers; Chakchiuma joined the Chickasaw; victories had nonetheless cost the Chickasaw three quarters of their population
1745	Joined Cherokee in expelling a Shawnee band from Cumberland
1750	Cherokee-Chickasaw war party seriously defeated Choctaw
1752	Defeated French commander Benoist
1753	Defeated French commander Reggio in alliance with Cherokee
1755	Beginning of 14 years of skirmished between Cherokee and Chickasaw
1765	British imposed a peace between Chickasaw and Choctaw
1769	Chickasaw defeated Cherokee at Chickasaw Oldfields
1777	Sided with the British in the Revolutionary War and closed the Mississippi to traffic
1781	Kickapoo raided the Chickasaw on behalf of the Spanish; Fort Jefferson built by George Rogers Clark in Kentucky abandoned due to attacks by Chickasaw
1783	Chickasaw made peace with the Americans at French Lick, Tennessee
1784	Measles epidemic
1786	Treaty at Hopewell establishing boundaries between Choctaws Piomingo (Mountain Leader) and Mingatuska (Hair Lip King) and United States; William Davenport brought the first American trading party to the Chickasaw which was ambushed by the Creek
1791	Treaty ceding land
1792	Severe drought cause crop failures
1794	Treaty ceding land
1795	Creek defeated in attack on Piomingo's Chickasaw
1805	Treaty ceding land
1813	Fought along side Andrew Jackson, Cherokee, and Choctaw against Creek in Creek War
1816	Treaty ceding land
1818	Treaty ceding land
1819	Presbyterian, Methodist, and Baptist missions established among tribe
1830	Andrew Jackson signed Removal Act
1832	Treaty of Pontotoc ceded land east of Mississippi
1837	Beginning of removal to Indian Territory; cholera epidemic
1856	Tribe approved written constitution
1861	Fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War
1888	Texas cattlemen moved 150,000 cattle onto Chickasaw lands and refused to pay for grazing
1906	Chickasaw nation dissolved
1963	Tribe recognized under Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act

Year	Total Population	MS	OK	TN		Source
1600	8,000					Mooney estimate
1700	6,000	5,000		1,000		NAHDB calculation
1702	6,000					Iberville estimate; Queen Ann's War
1800	3,600	3,600				NAHDB calculation
1817	3,600					Morse estimate
1833	4,700					Porter estimate
1865	4,500					US Indian Office
1900	4,300		4,300			NAHDB calculation
1910	4,204					Census
1930	4,725					US Indian Office
1973	6,050					BIA
1989	17,201					BIA estimate
2000						Alabama Indian Affairs Commission
2000	32,000		32,000			NAHDB calculation
2005	35,000					Lee Sultzman

Other speakers of the same language:

Acolapissa, Bayougoula, Chakchiuma, Choctaw, Houma, Mobile, Napochi, Okelusa, Pascagoula, Pensacola, Tohome

Chickasaw Sites:

Black Indian History  http://anpa.ualr.edu/other_resources/black_indian_history/black_indian_freedman_chickasaw.htm

Chickasaw  http://mshistory.k12.ms.us/features/feature40/chickasaw.html

Chickasaw  http://www.angelfire.com/realm/shades/nativeamericans/chickasaw.htm

Chickasaw  http://www.nativeamericans.com/Chickasaw.htm

Chickasaw Area Iindian Nation  http://www.livgenmi.com/1895/INNA/County/chickasaw.htm

Chickasaw Authors  http://www.ipl.org/div/natam/bin/browse.pl/t14

Chickasaw Biz  http://www.chickasaw.biz/

Chickasaw Chiefs and Prominent Men  http://www.natchezbelle.org/ahgp-ms/chiefs/chiefs3.htm

Chickasaw Historical Research Page  http://www.chickasawhistory.com/

Chickasaw History  http://www.tolatsga.org/chick.html

Chickasaw Indian Language  http://www.native-languages.org/chickasaw.htm

Chickasaw Indian Nation  http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ok/nations/chickasaw/chickasaw.html

Chickasaw Indian Online Records  http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/chickasaw/

Chickasaw Indian Tribe  http://www.nanations.com/chickasaw/

Chickasaw Indian Tribe's History  http://wywy.essortment.com/chickasawindian_rjoj.htm

Chickasaw Language  http://www.ethnologue.org/14/show_language.asp?code=CIC

Chickasaw Linguistic Lineage  http://www.ethnologue.org/14/show_lang_family.asp?code=CIC

Chickasaw Nation  http://wais.stanford.edu/Articles/chickasawnation.htm

Chickasaw Nation  http://www.redearth.webtol.com/seal.html

Chickasaw Nation  http://www.chickasaw.net/

Chickasaw Nation 1837-1907 Indian Territory  http://www.rootsweb.com/~itchicka/

Chickasaw Nation Capitol Timeline  http://www.civilwaralbum.com/indian/tish_timeline.htm

Chickasaw Nation Constitution http://thorpe.ou.edu/constitution/CHICKASA.html

Chickasaw People  http://www.utm.edu/departments/acadpro/library/departments/special_collections/wc_hist/chksaw.htm

Chickasaw Times  http://www.chickasawtimes.net/

Chickasaw Treaty:  1805  http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Treaties/TreatyWithTheChickasaw1805.html

Chickasaw Treaty:  1830  http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/ntreaty/nt008.htm

Chickasaw Treaty - 1852  http://www.chickasawhistory.com/t14.htm

Chickasaw Tribe  http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ms/county/tishomingo/chswtrb.html

Dawes Rolls  http://dawesrolls.com/

Descendants of the Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes  http://www.freedmen5tribes.com/Myths.htm

Eloquent Protest of the Chickasaw Freedmen  http://www.african-nativeamerican.com/chickmem.htm

Southeastern Woodlands Culture and Ethnobotany  http://www.fourdir.com/southeastern_woodlands_culture.htm

Tishomingo  http://www.civilwaralbum.com/indian/tish1.htm

Trail of Tears ...  http://www.nationaltota.org/

Treaty of 1866:  Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations  http://www.african-nativeamerican.com/treaty66.htm

Treaty with the Chickasaw - 1852  http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Treaties/TreatyWithTheChickasaw1852.html

Whites in Indian Territory:  Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations  http://members.aol.com/TMCorner/wht_c_c.htm

Last updated 10/07/07  Copyright © 2007 by Four Directions Press