Misplaced Pages

#885114

125-721: The Taensa migrated as a result of Chickasaw and Yazoo hostilities, first lower down the Mississippi River . In 1715, protected by the French , they migrated to lands near the now eponymously named Tensas River near Mobile, Alabama . When the French ceded Mobile and their other territory east of the Mississippi River to the British in 1763, following their defeat in the Seven Years' War ,

250-657: A Shawnee Indian, under a promise to him of five thousand dollars, to pilot him and his troops out of the Indian country safely without a collision with the Texas Confederates; which Black Beaver accomplished. By this act the United States abandoned the Choctaws and Chickasaws. . . Then, there being- no other alternative by which to save their country and property, they, as the less of the two evils that confronted them, went with

375-517: A matrilineal system, in which children were considered born into the mother's clan ; and they gained their status in the tribe from her family. Property and hereditary leadership passed through the maternal line, and the mother's eldest brother was the main male mentor of the children, especially of boys. Because of the status of their mothers, for nearly a century, the Colbert-Chickasaw sons and their descendants provided critical leadership during

500-405: A palisade of sharpened stakes decorated with human skulls taken during wars with their enemies. Inside the palisade was a large dome-shaped structure over 100 feet (30 m) in circumference. At the peak of the roof were three red, yellow, and white painted wooden eagle effigies. The bird carvings faced east toward the rising sun. Woven cane mats covered the structure's outer walls and roof, and

625-411: A simple chiefdom . Chiefs exercised absolute power and were treated with great respect; unlike more egalitarian customs among the northern tribes the early chroniclers were used to. An example of this respect was recorded during a ceremonial visit by a chief to visit the explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle , when attendants came several hours in advance of the chief and with their hands swept

750-574: A War Chief and Peace chief oversaw the respective red and white divisions. Over time, the French union would be dictated by the leaders of the white division, while the English relationship was defined by the red. Ultimately, despite French proximity to Chickasaw land, the tribe elected to prioritize their trade routes with the British. The alliance between the British and the Chickasaw was a strategic defense against

875-514: A chief. For example, Tishomingo was the name of a famous Chickasaw chief. The towns of Tishomingo in Mississippi and Oklahoma were named for him, as was Tishomingo County in Mississippi. The origin of the Chickasaw is uncertain; 20th-century scholars, such as the archaeologist Patricia Galloway, theorize that the Chickasaw and Choctaw split into distinct peoples in the 17th century from

1000-552: A deceased chief. Because of this, the Taensa later blamed de Montigny when lightning struck their wattle and daub temple and burned it down. He left to join the Natchez in 1790, and his mission to the Taensa was taken over by Jean-François Buisson de Saint-Cosme . Along with other native peoples of the lower Mississippi River, the Taensa were subject to slave raids and epidemics of European diseases such as smallpox during this time period. As

1125-466: A member of the Muskogean language family. In the present day, they are organized as the federally recognized Chickasaw Nation . Chickasaw people have a migration story in which they moved from a land west of the Mississippi River to reach present-day northeast Mississippi, northwest Alabama, and into Lawrence County, Tennessee . They had interaction with French, English, and Spanish colonists during

1250-498: A nation of Indians who inhabit the country on the east side of the Mississippi, on the head branches of the Tombeckbe [ sic ], Mobille, and Yazoo rivers. Their country is an extensive plain, tolerably well watered from springs, and a pretty good soil. They have seven towns, and their number of fighting men is estimated at 575. George Washington (first U.S. President) and Henry Knox (first U.S. Secretary of War) proposed

1375-459: A new Louisiana venture, leaving de Tonti behind to hold Fort St. Louis. In La Salle's absence, Joseph-Antoine Le Febvre de La Barre, the governor of New France, confiscated all of La Salle's new territory. Barring de Tonti's aid in fighting off Iroquois attackers, de Tonti was no longer in command of the Illinois territory and was replaced by Louis-Henri de Baugy. de Tonti ventured back to Quebec in

SECTION 10

#1732852390886

1500-703: A new peace treaty in 1866. It included the provision that they emancipate the enslaved African Americans and provide full citizenship to those who wanted to stay in the Chickasaw Nation. These people and their descendants became known as the Chickasaw Freedmen . Descendants of the Freedmen continue to live in Oklahoma. Today, the Choctaw-Chickasaw Freedmen Association of Oklahoma represents

1625-411: A number of language isolates of the southeastern US: Atakapa , Chitimacha , Natchez/Taensa, and Tunica . This hypothesis is now generally rejected by historical linguists; but a number of Muskogean scholars continue to believe that Muskogean is related to Natchez. The meaning of the Taensa name is unknown, although it is believed by anthropologists and linguists to be an autonym . The Chitimacha ,

1750-558: A village on Lake St. Joseph, a narrow crescent shaped oxbow lake located west of the Mississippi, between the Yazoo River and Saint Catherine Creek (near Newellton in modern Tensas Parish, Louisiana ). On March 22, 1682, a recollect chaplain who accompanied LaSalle, Father Zenobius, preached to the tribe at this location. La Salles associate Henri de Tonti visited the Taensa again in 1686 and 1690. They numbered approximately 1,200 people scattered throughout seven or eight villages on

1875-471: Is credited with founding the settlement that would become Peoria, Illinois . De Tonti established the first permanent European settlement in the lower Mississippi valley, known as Poste de Arkansea , making him "The Father of Arkansas". Henri de Tonti was born in Gaeta , c.  1649 , to Lorenzo and Isabelle ( née di Lietto) de Tonti. His father was the governor of Gaeta and a Neapolitan banker. He

2000-560: Is credited with inventing the tontine , a form of life insurance, though it has been suggested he merely modified existing Italian life insurance practices. Lorenzo was involved in a revolt against the Spanish viceroy in Naples , and the family was forced to seek asylum in France around the time of Henri's birth. Henri's brother Alphonse was born in 1659, and later became one of the founders of what

2125-446: Is described as fitting the same dispersed hamlet pattern of the Natchez. It stretched for 3 miles (4.8 km) on the western lake shore with neighborhoods being interspersed with fields and forest. The main precinct had a log palisade , inside of which was the chiefs residence, the temple, and eight other structures. Like other Native Americans in the southeast it also had an open plaza area used for public rituals and functions such as

2250-647: Is now Detroit . Henri de Tonti's cousins, Daniel Greysolon Dulhut and Claude Greysolon de La Tourette were also able to build a name for themselves in New France . In 1668 around the age of 18, De Tonti decided to join the French service . He was a cadet in the French Army for his first two years of military service. The following four years, De Tonti was a midshipman at Marseilles and Toulon and embarked on seven tours at sea, four of which were on warships and three were on galleys . He later became captain-lieutenant of

2375-558: The Bayogoula at their village on the western bank of the Mississippi, roughly 25 miles (40 km) south of present-day Baton Rouge . Conflicts soon developed, and the Taensa attacked and nearly exterminated the Bayogoula peoples and burned their village down—an act described as treacherous by later historians. Though their initial relations with the Europeans had been friendly, the rivalry of

2500-720: The Cross Timbers . The area was subject to continual raiding by the Indians on the Southern Plains. The United States eventually leased the area between the 100th and 98th meridians for the use of the Plains tribes. The area was referred to as the "Leased District". Because the Chickasaw allied with the Confederacy, after the Civil War the United States government required the nation to make

2625-549: The Green Corn Ceremony and games such as chunkey and the ballgame . This pattern of plazas flanked by mounds with temples, elite residences and mortuary structures at their summits was inherited from their Plaquemine and Coles Creek ancestors, and was a village arrangement widely employed throughout the southeast. The Coles Creek era Balmoral Mounds and early Plaquemine era Routh Mounds (occupied circa 1200 to 1350 CE) sites which features this same layout are also located on

SECTION 20

#1732852390886

2750-514: The Inchokka' Lhipa' (worn out house), though the characteristics of these groups in relation to Chickasaw villages, clans, and house groups is uncertain. They traditionally followed a kinship system of matrilineal descent , in which inheritance and descent are traced through the maternal line. Children are considered born into the mother's family and clan , and gain their social status from her. Women controlled most property and hereditary leadership in

2875-793: The Marksville culture (100 BCE to 400 CE), which was contemporaneous with the Hopewell cultures of present-day Ohio and Illinois. The Tensas Basin region where their villages were found has several Coles Creek and Plaquemine era ceremonial sites with platform mounds located very nearby, including the Coles Creek era Balmoral Mounds (occupied circa 700 and 1200 CE), and the Plaquemine era Routh Mounds (occupied circa 1200 to 1350 CE) and Flowery Mound (occupied circa 1200–1541) sites. . The post- Hernando de Soto entrada Transylvania Phase (1550-1700 CE) of

3000-511: The Mississippi River into present-day Mississippi in prehistoric times; the Chickasaw and Choctaw split along the way. The Mississippian Ideological Interaction Sphere spanned the Eastern Woodlands . The Mississippian cultures emerged from previous moundbuilding societies by 880 CE. They built complex, dense villages supporting a stratified society, with centers throughout the Mississippi and Ohio River Valleys and their tributaries. In

3125-577: The Mississippi River , following routes established by the Choctaw and Creek . During the journey, often referred to as the Trail of Tears , more than 500 Chickasaw died of dysentery and smallpox . When the Chickasaw reached Indian Territory, the United States began to administer to them through the Choctaw Nation, and later merged them for administrative reasons. The Chickasaw wrote their own constitution in

3250-503: The Natchez language ; the missionaries were learning the latter language in their efforts to convert the Natchez and Taensa to Christianity. Linguists consider the Natchezan language family to be a language isolate . The best known connection proposed between Natchezan languages and other languages is Mary Haas' Gulf hypothesis , in which she conceived of a macrofamily comprising Muskogean and

3375-566: The Province of Carolina after that colony was established in 1670. After acquiring firearms from colonial merchants in Carolina, Chickasaw raiders began to attack settlements belonging to a rival tribe, the Choctaw , in order to acquire captives which they sold to the colonists . These raids largely subsided after the Choctaw acquired firearms of their own from the French. Allied with British colonists in

3500-687: The Quapaw and to hinder English invasion in the east by establishing a presence in the middle of North America. In 1689, after receiving news that La Salle had been killed by his own men, de Tonti had begun journeying to La Salle's abandoned settlement in Baie Saint-Louis . Unfortunately, De Tonti was ill-prepared and turned back before he could reach the settlement and returned to Illinois. In late winter 1690, resources grew scarce and he moved Fort St. Louis to Pimiteoui (present-day Peoria ). This new Fort St. Louis (also known as Fort Pimiteoui) later became

3625-562: The Senecas . They later set a military post in Niagara. In 1687, De Tonti was engaged in wars with the English and their Iroquois allies. during this time, he was also able to conduct treaties with Native American tribes. In 1690, after he was granted La Salle's fur trading commission, de Tonti decided to aid French colonization in Illinois by engaging in trade. In the summer of 1697, he left Illinois in

3750-654: The Seven Years' War . The Taensa, along with the Apalachee and Pakana , relocated again, this time west of the Mississippi to French territory on the Red River . There they eventually merged with the Chitimacha . According to historian James Mooney , they numbered about 100 persons in 1805. Early in the nineteenth century, the Taensa petitioned the Spanish colonial authorities for land on which to settle in southeastern Texas ; they were given permission to settle land lying between

3875-662: The Southern Colonies , the Chickasaw were often at war with the French and the Choctaw in the 18th century, such as in the Battle of Ackia on May 26, 1736. Skirmishes continued until France ceded its claims to the region east of the Mississippi River after being defeated by the British in the Seven Years' War (called the French and Indian War in North America). Following the American Revolutionary War , in 1793–94,

Taensa - Misplaced Pages Continue

4000-610: The Treaty of Tuscaloosa , which ceded all claims to land north of the southern border of Tennessee up to the Ohio River (the southern border of Indiana and the Illinois Territory ). This was known as the " Jackson Purchase ." The Chickasaw were allowed to retain a four-square-mile reservation but were required to lease the land to European immigrants. In the mid-18th century, an American-born trader of Scots and Chickasaw ancestry by

4125-679: The Trinity and the Sabine rivers, but ultimately did not migrate. This was the last appearance of the tribe in historical records. They later moved south to Bayou Boeuf and later still to Grand Lake , "after which the remnant disappear[ed] from history." The Taensa were a Natchezan people who separated from the main body of the Natchez sometime prior to European contact with the Lower Mississippi Valley region. As such their languages, political, religious, and material cultures were very similar to

4250-522: The colonial period . The United States considered the Chickasaw one of the Five Civilized Tribes of the Southeast, as they adopted numerous practices of European Americans. Resisting European-American settlers encroaching on their territory, they were forced by the U.S. government to sell their traditional lands in the 1832 Treaty of Pontotoc Creek and move to Indian Territory ( Oklahoma ) during

4375-574: The maître de camp in Messina . This was a troop that Louis XIV sent to Sicily in 1675 under the command of the Duke of Vivonne to support the rebellion of Messina (circa 100,000 inhabitants in 1674) during the Franco-Dutch War . De Tonti took part in military operations in the village of Gesso, up the hills near Messina. He lost his hand in a grenade explosion, later replacing it with a metal appliance. He

4500-645: The 15th century, proto-Chickasaw people left the Tombigbee Valley after the collapse of the Moundville chiefdom. Chickasaw culture believe that the foundation of Chickasaw from proto-Chickasaw peoples was determined by the Mississippi River. The Mississippi River is referred to as Sakti Lhafa’ Okhina in Chikashanompa ', which means “scored bluff waterway", known today as the Chickasaw Bluffs . Settling upon

4625-629: The 1850s, an effort contributed to by Holmes Colbert . After several decades of mistrust between the two peoples, in the twentieth century, the Chickasaw re-established their independent government. They are federally recognized as the Chickasaw Nation. The government is headquartered in Ada, Oklahoma . The Chickasaw Nation was the first of the Five Civilized Tribes to become allies of the Confederate States of America . In addition, they resented

4750-518: The American people, but always stood as their faithful allies." Cushman believed the Chickasaw, along with the Choctaw, may have had origins in present-day Mexico and migrated north. Frenchman Le Clerc Milfort , when writing about the Creek Indians, echoed the same view. That theory, however, does not have consensus; archeological research, as noted above, has revealed the peoples had long histories in

4875-805: The Chaloklowa Chickasaw Indian People's later petition for recognition as a State Recognized tribe in October 2005, the Commission of Minority Affairs review committee, upon rereview, found that the indigenous ancestry originally being claimed by the group was incorrect. The organization remains recognized as a group as of 2023. In 2003, they unsuccessfully petitioned the US Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs to try to gain federal recognition as an Indian tribe. For many tribes in

5000-518: The Chickasaw Council, representing clans and villages, signed a letter in November 1832 by Levi Colbert to President Andrew Jackson , complaining about treaty negotiations with his appointee General John Coffee . After Levi's death in 1834, the Chickasaw people were forced upon the Trail of Tears . His brother, George Colbert, reluctantly succeeded him as chief and principal negotiator, because he

5125-523: The Chickasaw Nation did not provide citizenship to their freedmen after the Civil War (it would have been akin to formal adoption of individuals into the tribe), they were penalized by the U.S. Government. It took more than half of their territory, with no compensation. They lost territory that had been negotiated in treaties in exchange for their use after removal from the Southeast. The Chaloklowa Chickasaw Indian People , an organization that alleges to be composed of descendants of Chickasaw who did not leave

Taensa - Misplaced Pages Continue

5250-567: The Chickasaw Old Fields were in Madison County, Alabama . The Chicasaws [ sic ], they being (although a small tribe) accounted the mother nation on this part of the continent, and their language, universally adopted by most, if not all the western [American Indian] nations. The Choctaws relayed to Bernard Romans their creation myth, saying that they came "out of a hole in the ground, which they shew between their nation and

5375-488: The Chickasaw conducted slave raids over a wide region in the American Southeast, often being joined by allied Natchez and Yazoo warriors. These raiding parties moved over great distances to capture slaves from hostile tribes, such as the Taensa. In 1706, fearing a slaver raid by a combined force of Chickasaw and Yazoo raiders, the Taensa abandoned their village on Lake St. Joseph. They headed south to seek shelter with

5500-519: The Chickasaw tribe immigrated to its now-home in Oklahoma. While their current residence is far from their native territory, the ancestral remains of many Chickasaw members are still located in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Alabama. Among these remains, many were excavated and stored within the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH). In 2021 the MDAH repatriated 403 Chickasaw ancestors to

5625-400: The Chickasaw under Chief Piomingo fought as allies of the new United States under General Anthony Wayne against the Indians of the old Northwest Territory . The Shawnee and other, allied Northwest Indians were defeated in the Battle of Fallen Timbers on August 20, 1794. A 19th-century historian, Horatio Cushman , wrote, "Neither the Choctaws nor Chicksaws ever engaged in war against

5750-452: The Chickasaws." Another version of the Chickasaw creation story is that they arose at Nanih Waiya , a great earthwork mound built about 300 CE by Woodland peoples. It is also sacred to the Choctaw, who share a similar story. The mound was built about 1400 years before the coalescence of each of these peoples as ethnic groups. The first European contact with the Chickasaw was in 1540 when Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto encountered

5875-461: The Civil War. The Chickasaw passed a resolution allying with the Confederacy, which was signed by Governor Cyrus Harris on May 25, 1861. Up to this time, our protection was in the United States troops stationed at Fort Washita, under the command of Colonel Emory. But he, as soon as the Confederate troops had entered our country, at once abandoned us and the Fort; and, to make his flight more expeditious and his escape more sure, employed Black Beaver,

6000-410: The European powers strained native populations throughout the region. The Taensa ultimately migrated in 1715, under the protection of the French, to lands near modern Mobile on an eastern branch of the Mobile River north of Mobile Bay that was subsequently named for them as the Tensaw River . In 1763 the French ceded the eastern half of French Louisiana to the British following their defeat in

6125-428: The French and their native allies. Supported by the slave trade, the Chickasaw sought weapons in exchange for captured members of rival tribes. As they were smaller than the Choctaw and other abutting indigenous groups, the weapons were critical to the defense of their native land. In 1797, a general appraisal of the tribe and its territorial bounds was made by Abraham Bishop of New Haven, who wrote: The Chickasaws are

6250-404: The House of Representatives of the Confederate States of America. Because the Chickasaw sided with the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War , they had to forfeit some of their land afterward. In addition, the US renegotiated their treaty, insisting on their emancipation of slaves and offering citizenship to those who wanted to stay in the Chickasaw Nation. If they returned to

6375-411: The Lower Mississippi Valley. By the late 17th century these changes in ceramic technology had reached the Taensa in the Lower Tensas Basin. The pottery of the Taensa was made with typical Mississippian culture pottery shapes and used the Mississippian hallmark of crushed mussel shell as a tempering agent , but was still being engraved with decorative designs typical of the Plaquemine area. Pottery from

SECTION 50

#1732852390886

6500-466: The Mississippi River area to the east and were escaping the collapse of their society brought about by the aftereffects of European contact. By the late 1600s the site was abandoned. Historians and archaeologists such as Marvin Jeter have theorized that the Plaquemine "Northern Natchezan" ancestors of the Taensa were in part some of the peoples documented in the early 1540s by the de Soto expedition in southeastern Arkansas and northwestern Mississippi. After

6625-511: The Mississippi River. In 1836 after a bitter five-year debate within the tribe, the Chickasaw had reached an agreement to purchase land in Indian Territory from the previously removed Choctaw. They paid the Choctaw $ 530,000 for the westernmost part of their land. The first group of Chickasaw moved in 1837. The Chickasaw gathered at Memphis, Tennessee , on July 4, 1837, with all of their portable assets: belongings, livestock, and enslaved African Americans . Three thousand and one Chickasaw crossed

6750-449: The Mississippi area and independently developed complex cultures. Despite being smaller than many surrounding tribes, the Chickasaw established themselves as a trade power within the region. Aided by their strategic location on the Mississippi, the tribe was able to exchange goods with neighboring parties. The tactical importance of the Chickasaw was not lost on the British; in 1755, the Imperial Indian Superintendent Edmund Atkin recognized

6875-404: The Natchez Bluffs area was connected to the Nashville Basin in ancient times by the Natchez Trace , a pre-European native trade route. No stone statues have been found at Taensa archaeological sites, but two examples have been found at the Grand Village of the Natchez . The first was discovered in 1820 and the second in excavations into Mound C in 1930. Upon the death of high-ranking individuals,

7000-623: The Natchez sites of nearby western Mississippi still used the traditional Plaquemine grog tempering and decorative designs. On this basis the Taensa are considered to be the last Mississippian culture group to inhabit the Tensas River valley of Louisiana. The Taensa were sedentary maize growing agriculturalists as opposed to hunter gatherers and lived in permanent villages with wattle and daub buildings. These structures were up to 30 feet (9.1 m) in length and 20 feet (6.1 m) in height and made from logs plastered in clay with roofs of woven split cane matting. Their village on Lake St Joseph

7125-423: The Natchez, which were recorded by other observers. French missionary François de Montigny reported that after the death of a chief, twelve victims were killed to accompany him. They were sacrificed by having their heads broken, and there would have been more victims without the French intervention. During his conversions and baptisms, de Montigny implored the Taensa to discontinue the practice. A few months later in

7250-433: The Natchez. When they first enter the historical record they are found just to the northwest of the Natchez and on the western bank of the Mississippi as opposed to its eastern bank. Like some other inhabitants of the area, such as the Natchez, Tunica , and Houma , Taensa society was matrilineal . Taensa society was also very hierarchical and showed marked class differences between commoners and elites, hallmarks of being

7375-467: The Southeast, were recognized as a "state-recognized group" in 2005 by South Carolina . They are headquartered in Hemingway, South Carolina . Historian Edward J. Cashin , a professor of colonial era history and Director of the Center for the Study of Georgia History at Augusta State University , was unable to ascertain the organization's connection to the Savannah River Chickasaws or other bands of Chickasaw. After receiving letters of complaint concerning

7500-457: The Southern Confederacy. At the beginning of the American Civil War , Albert Pike was appointed as Confederate envoy to Native Americans. In this capacity, he negotiated several treaties, including the Treaty with Choctaws and Chickasaws in July 1861. The treaty covered sixty-four terms, covering many subjects such as Choctaw and Chickasaw nation sovereignty , Confederate States of America citizenship possibilities and an entitled delegate in

7625-514: The Spanish entering their territory. In the winter of 1540, conflict finally struck between Chickasaw warriors and the Spanish Explorers. The reasonings for the battle vary from Spanish looting Chickasaw food storages, to general heated animosity between the two groups. After various disagreements, the Chickasaw attacked the De Soto expedition in a nighttime raid, nearly destroying the force. The Spanish moved on quickly. The Chickasaw began to establish trading relationships with English colonists in

SECTION 60

#1732852390886

7750-404: The Taensa and other small tribes returned to Louisiana , settling near the Red River . They numbered about 100 persons in 1805. They later moved south to Bayou Boeuf and later still to Grand Lake , "after which the remnant disappear[ed] from history." The Taensa and the closely related Natchez are descendants of the late prehistoric Plaquemine culture (1200–1700 CE). The Plaquemine culture

7875-407: The Taensa as having 300 warriors and living in seven villages named as Taensas, Chaoucoula, Conchayon, Couthaougoula, Nyhougoula, Ohytoucoulas, and Talaspa. The majority of these names are in the Muskogean Mobilian Jargon and not the Natchezan Taensa language. During his time with the Taensa, de Montigny prevented them from performing acts of ritual human sacrifice as part of the funeral rites for

8000-407: The Taensa practiced ritual human sacrifice of retainers to accompany them as servants in the afterlife. An early chronicler, Henri de Tonti, wrote that when their Great Chief died, "They sacrifice his youngest wife, his house steward, and a hundred men to accompany him in the other world." This high number is thought to be exaggerated compared to other known sacrificial deaths at similar rituals among

8125-428: The Tensas Basin saw the increasing spread of Mississippian influences diffusing southward from Arkansas and northwestern Mississippi. The Jordan Mounds site on a relict channel of the Arkansas River in northeastern Louisianas Morehouse Parish was constructed during the protohistoric period between 1540 and 1685. The builders were an intrusive group in the area, Mississippianized peoples who were possibly refugees from

8250-408: The U.S. and agreeing to find land and relocate west of the Mississippi River. Between 1832 and 1837, the Chickasaw would make further negotiations and arrangements for their removal. Unlike other tribes who received land grants in exchange for ceding territory, the Chickasaw held out for financial compensation: they were to receive $ 3 million U.S. dollars from the United States for their lands east of

8375-417: The United States constructed Fort Hampton in 1810 in present-day Limestone County, Alabama . The fort was designed to keep settlers out of Chickasaw territory and was one of the few forts constructed in the United States to protect Native American land claims. The Chickasaw signed the Treaty of Hopewell in 1786. Article 11 of that treaty states: "The hatchet shall be forever buried, and the peace given by

8500-422: The United States government, which had forced them off their lands and failed to protect them against the Plains tribes in the West. In 1861, as tensions rose related to the sectional conflict, the US Army abandoned Fort Washita , leaving the Chickasaw Nation defenseless against the Plains tribes. Confederate officials recruited the American Indian tribes with suggestions of an Indian state if they were victorious in

8625-411: The United States of America, and friendship re-established between the said States on the one part, and the Chickasaw nation on the other part, shall be universal, and the contracting parties shall use their utmost endeavors to maintain the peace given as aforesaid, and friendship re-established." Benjamin Hawkins attended this signing. In 1818, leaders of the Chickasaw signed several treaties, including

8750-406: The United States, they would have US citizenship. This was the first time in history the Chickasaws have ever made war against an English speaking people. The Chickasaws were first combined with the Choctaw Nation and their area was called the Chickasaw District. Although originally the western boundary of the Choctaw Nation extended to the 100th meridian , virtually no Chickasaw lived west of

8875-410: The United States. In addition, the two each served as interpreters and negotiators for chiefs of the tribe during the period of removal. Levi Colbert served as principal chief, which may have been a designation by the Americans, who did not understand the decentralized nature of the chiefs' council, based on the tribe reaching broad consensus for major decisions. An example is that more than 40 chiefs from

9000-402: The advisors were the lesser chiefs, headmen, and councillors who oversaw the other villages. The Taensa temple compares with similar descriptions recorded by artist Alexandre de Batz of the main temple at the contemporaneous Grand Village of the Natchez . Like the Natchez temple, it was situated on a low platform mound flanking the plaza., but unlike the Natchez temple it was surrounded with

9125-585: The care of his cousin Pierre de Liette. De Tonti then commenced on a journey down the Mississippi to make contact with Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville , who had established the Louisiana colony. De Tonti reached Louisiana and joined the colony. Following this, De Tonti was offered by Pierre Moyne, Sieur d’Iberville the opportunity to work as a treaty negotiator and peacemaker. Working under Pierre Moyne, Sieur d’Iberville's brother Jean Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, De Tonti

9250-653: The chance to meet again in New France. After the Franco-Dutch War, De Tonti was unable to obtain employment until recruited by La Salle, for exploration. In the summer of 1678, De Tonti journeyed to Quebec with René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle; who recognized him as an able associate and thus named De Tonti his lieutenant. On August 27, Tonti and La Salle arrived in Gulf St. Lawrence. De Tonti described it as "A place extremely cold where no wheat grows". On December 26 of

9375-428: The chief, all women and commoners were forbidden to enter the temple. Food offerings for their gods and the honored dead were frequently brought to the temple. Taensa religious life revolved around the worship of the sun, represented by the sacred fire kept perpetually burning inside their temple. Their elite class of hereditary royalty were known as suns and like the Natchez they believed their chief, whose official name

9500-527: The colony of Carolina . Traders from Carolina had established a large trading network among the indigenous peoples of the American Southeast, and by 1700 it stretched west as far as the Mississippi River . The Chickasaw tribe, who lived north of the Taensa, were frequently visited by Carolinian traders, thus giving them access to a source of firearms and alcohol. One of the most lucrative trades with Carolinian merchants involved trading in Indian slaves . For decades,

9625-998: The cultural transformation of Native Americans. Washington believed that Native Americans were equals, but that their society was inferior. He formulated a policy to encourage the "civilizing" process, and Thomas Jefferson continued it. Historian Robert Remini wrote, "They presumed that once the Indians adopted the practice of private property, built homes, farmed, educated their children, and embraced Christianity, these Native Americans would win acceptance from white Americans." Washington's six-point plan included impartial justice toward Indians; regulated buying of Indian lands; promotion of commerce; promotion of experiments to civilize or improve Indian society; presidential authority to give presents; and punishing those who violated Indian rights. The government-appointed Indian agents , such as Benjamin Hawkins , who became Superintendent of Indian Affairs for all

9750-613: The deserters, De Tonti sailed to the mouth of the St. Joseph and helped establish Fort Miami . Early in 1680. de Tonti also helped build Fort de Crèvecoeur in Illinois , which La Salle left de Tonti to hold while he returned to Ontario . While on his return trip up the Illinois, La Salle concluded that Starved Rock might provide an ideal location for another fortification and sent word downriver to de Tonti regarding this idea. Following La Salle's instructions, de Tonti took five men and departed up

9875-464: The disastrous encounter and subsequent population crash due to the introduction of European diseases and political upheaval left in de Soto's wake, remnant populations of Northern Natchezans migrated down the Mississippi toward their Southern Natchezan cousins. The first securely documented European contact with the Taensa was by the French La Salle expedition of 1682. They were described as having

10000-469: The diverse culture of the Chickasaw. The Chikasha Inchokka' Traditional Village features a Council House, two winter and summer houses, a replica mound, a corn crib and a stickball field. There are often stomp dances or stickball demonstrations, and cultural performers often display traditional Chickasaw culture, including art, cooking, language and storytelling. To the Chickasaw, the Mississippi River helped "define their geographic homeland and history", and

10125-449: The elites was to first bury the deceased and at a later date exhume and burn the body. The defleshed bones were then collected into a bundle and placed in a split cane basket which would then reside in the temple which also acted as a mortuary house . Early chroniclers de Montigny, Saint-Cosme, and Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz described the Taensa language as being nearly identical with

10250-450: The era of Indian removal in the 1830s. Most of their descendants remain as residents of what is now Oklahoma. The Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma is the 13th-largest federally recognized tribe in the United States. Its members are related to the Choctaw and share a common history with them. The Chickasaw were divided into two groups ( moieties ): the Imosak Ch a 'a' (chopped hickory) and

10375-432: The family member of the man would return with the news of approval. The man would put on his finest clothing and apply vermilion , a paint associated with love, power, and purity. The man would go to the house of the woman he wanted to marry, and would have supper alone with his future father-in-law, without the company of the wife or mother-in-law. The bed of the wife would be prepared, and the bride would go to sleep before

10500-412: The groom joined. Once they were both in the same bed, they were officially married. The Chickasaw people held ancient beliefs about four "Beloved Things": the sun, the clouds, the sky and Aba' Binni'li , also known as "He that lives in the clear sky". He was believed to be the sole creator of light, life, and warmth. He was believed to reside both in the clouds and in the holy fire, and due to this, fire

10625-528: The group with which they eventually merged, referred to them by the exonym Chō´sha . Between 1880 and 1882, a young clerical student in Paris named Jean Parisot published what was purported to be "material of the Taensa language, including papers, songs, a grammar and vocabulary"; this generated considerable interest among philologists . There was doubt about this material for many years; noted American anthropologist and linguist John R. Swanton conclusively proved

10750-434: The interests of freedmen descendants in both of these tribes. But the Chickasaw Nation never granted citizenship to the Chickasaw freedmen. The only way that African Americans could become citizens at that time was to have one or more Chickasaw parents or to petition for citizenship and go through the process available to other non-Natives, even if they were of known partial Chickasaw descent in an earlier generation. Because

10875-401: The main trading post for the French. In the summer of 1685 Jacques-René de Brisay, Marquis de Denonville replaced La Barre as the governor of New France. Denonville decided that war with Iroquois was inevitable, promising Illinois "every protection" as well as consultation from De Tonti on military excursions. Denonville made de Tonti's key role in this military campaign, execution. De Tonti

11000-603: The name of James Logan Colbert settled in the Muscle Shoals area of Alabama. He lived there for the next 40 years, where he married three high-ranking Chickasaw women in succession. Chickasaw chiefs and high-status women found such marriages of strategic benefit to the tribe, as it gave them advantages with traders over other groups. Colbert and his wives had numerous children, including seven sons: William, Jonathan, George, Levi, Samuel, Joseph, and Pittman (or James). Six survived to adulthood (Jonathan died young.) The Chickasaw had

11125-529: The ones described have been found in northern Georgia , the Tennessee River Valley area around Nashville, Tennessee , and on into western Tennessee and Kentucky , and southern Indiana and Illinois . Examples of this style are also known from wooden and ceramic versions. And although there is no direct waterway connecting the Tennessee-Cumberland region where these statues are most common,

11250-473: The original couple in the temple. The Taensa rulers claimed descent from this mythological couple, making their social order in effect a solar theocracy. The eldest daughter of the female Great Sun inherited her mothers position. Her eldest son inherited the position and name of Yak-stalchil . Her second eldest son inherited the position of War Chief along with the name and title of Obalalkabiche (Tattooed Serpent). Similar Mississippian stone temple statues to

11375-404: The population of the Taensa steadily decreased, de Saint-Cosme in 1700 endeavored in vain to have them join with the much larger Natchez and consolidate the two missions. De Saint-Cosme settled among the Taensa and the Natchez for less than a year before leaving. During the late 17th and early 18th centuries, French colonists in the American Southeast initiated a power struggle with those living in

11500-403: The region, corn was one of the most important foods. The Green Corn Ceremony , which occurs annually and starts when the corn crops begin to develop, usually in late June or early July, ties corn into the culture of the Chickasaw. This ceremony celebrated both the crop and the sense of community in the tribe. It was also a time of starting from scratch in a sense. Villages were cleaned, old pottery

11625-434: The remains of Plaquemine culture and other groups whose ancestors had lived in the lower Mississippi Valley for thousands of years. When Europeans first encountered them, the Chickasaw were living in villages in what is now northeastern Mississippi. The Chickasaw are believed to have migrated into Mississippi from the west, as their oral history attests. They and the Choctaw were once one people and migrated from west of

11750-423: The river provided the people with a symbolic sense of new beginngings, washing away the past of the proto-Chickasaw and entering into a new modern age of the Chickasaw. The migration marked their split from other Native American communities like the Choctaws. They settled into the upper Yazoo and Pearl River valleys in present-day Mississippi. Historian Arrell Gibson and anthropologist John R. Swanton believed

11875-634: The river to evaluate the suitability of the Starved Rock site. Shortly after de Tonti's departure, on April 16, 1680, the seven members of the expedition who remained at Fort de Crèvecoeur ransacked and abandoned the fort and began their own march back to Canada. This opened up opportunity for Iroquois warriors to attack, stabbing de Tonti and forcing his men to retreat to Baie-des-Puants in late 1680. In 1681, after recuperating from his injuries, De Tonti traveled to Fort Michilimackinac to rejoin La Salle. In

12000-603: The road clean. The beginning of the Transylvania Phase (1550-1700 CE) of the Tensas Basin region saw the increasing spread of Mississippian influences diffusing southward from what is now southeastern Arkansas. This is most identifiable in ceramic traditions. The Mississippian peoples of the Central Mississippi Valley used different vessel forms, tempering agents, and decorations than the Plaquemine peoples of

12125-400: The sacrifice they were clothed in special white garments made of mulberry bark thread usually reserved for the nobility and had a white feather placed on their heads. They then were led in a procession to the chief's house, which was in the process of being converted into the new temple. People gave them gifts and there were eight days of ceremonies to honor them. Taensa mortuary traditions for

12250-644: The same year, de Tonti and La Salle reached the Niagara . De Tonti was left to supervise the construction of Fort Conti below Niagara Falls and the construction of the Griffon in early 1679 above the falls, which was to be the first ship to sail the Great Lakes. In August 1679, De Tonti arrived at Fort Michilimackinac , the crossroads for southwestern fur trade, in which he discovered some of La Salle's crew had fled to and traded many livre's worth of goods. After rounding up

12375-515: The spring of 1682, de Tonti journeyed with La Salle on his descent down the Mississippi and helped establish alliances with Native Americans by presenting the calumet (a peace pipe ) to the Natchez tribe, allowing La Salle to travel three leagues inland to meet with their chief. Assuming they had made peace with the tribe, De Tonti tried to convince the Natchez to relocate near their new fort, Fort St. Louis , to conduct trade with one another. La Salle departed for France in 1683 to gather colonists for

12500-530: The spring of 1684. La Barre later rescinded his decision to seize La Salle's territories, and De Tonti ventured back in 1685. Word reached De Tonti that La Salle was in the Gulf of Mexico , causing de Tonti to proceed to the south in 1686 to try to meet him on his ascent. Instead of meeting La Salle, De Tonti established a trading post in Arkansas , leaving six Frenchman to secure a permanent French settlement to trade with

12625-435: The spring of 1700 the Taensa temple was struck by lightning. The Taensa priest immediately blamed its destruction on the French priest, because he had persuaded them to suspend their ancestral customs. After exhortations from the native priest, five women threw their children onto the flames of the burning temple as sacrificial victims. Great honor was associated with such a sacrifice, and the women were held in high esteem. After

12750-535: The temple was painted red. A guardian lived in a small shed that stood near the door. Chroniclers describe the inside of the temple as having shelves holding oval-shaped split-cane baskets that were beautifully woven and painted. Inside were interred the bones of their chiefs and other honored dead, human and animal forms carved in stone , wood, and modeled as ceramic figurines , stuffed owls, jawbones of large fish, "heads and tails of extraordinary serpents", pieces of quartz crystal, and some European glass objects. There

12875-586: The territory south of the Ohio River. He and other agents lived among the Indians to teach them, through example and instruction, how to live like whites. Hawkins married a Muscogee Creek woman and lived with her people for decades. In the 19th century, the Chickasaw increasingly adopted European-American practices, as they established schools, adopted yeoman farming practices, converted to Christianity, and built homes in styles like their European-American neighbors. Due to settlers encroaching into Chickasaw territory,

13000-449: The tribe and stayed in one of their towns, most likely near present-day Starkville, Mississippi . The Chickasaw were alert around the Spanish, placing war banners implying their intentions for when they would meet the Spanish. The Chickasaw additionally gathered intel that the Spanish recently fought a nearly-lost battle in the town of Mabila, led by leader Tascalusa, only a few months prior to

13125-467: The tribe passed through the maternal line. The name Chickasaw, as noted by anthropologist John Swanton , belonged to a Chickasaw minko', or leader. "Chickasaw" is the English spelling of Chikashsha ( Creek pronunciation: [tʃikaʃːa] ), meaning "comes from Chicsa". In an 1890 extra census bulletin on the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muskogee, and Seminole, a history of the Choctaw and Chickasaw

13250-680: The tribe's greatest challenges. They had the advantage of growing up bilingual. Of these six sons, William "Chooshemataha" Colbert (named after James Logan's father, Chief/Major William d'Blainville "Piomingo" Colbert ) served with General Andrew Jackson during the Creek Wars of 1813–14. He also had served during the Revolutionary wars and received a commission from President George Washington in 1786 along with his namesake grandfather. His brothers Levi ("Itawamba Mingo") and George Colbert ("Tootesmastube") also had military service in support of

13375-484: The tribe. The organizations director of archaeology, Meg Cook, addressed the MDAH’s efforts: “We’re doing everything that we can to reconcile the past and move forward, in a very transparent way. It’s our responsibility to tell the Mississippi story. And that means all of the bad parts, too." Henri de Tonti Henri de Tonti ( né Enrico Tonti ; c.  1649 – September 1704), also spelled Henri de Tonty ,

13500-482: The tribe’s position: "It is not possible to cast an Eye ever so lightly over a Map, without being struck with the Importance of the [Chickasaws'] situation." The Chickasaw made their first formal contact with the British shortly after the founding of Charles Town in 1670; this occurred when Dr. Woordward of Carolina attempted to establish trade ties while on course to Alabama. Although the British outpost of Charles Town

13625-474: The western bank of Lake St Joseph near where the Taensa lived in the 17th century. The temple and chiefly residence stood on opposite sides of the plaza. The chiefs cabin was a square building measuring 40 feet (12 m) on each side with clay plastered walls 10 feet (3.0 m) high and 2 feet (0.61 m) thick. It was capped by a roof 15 feet (4.6 m) in height that was covered in cane mats woven so tightly they were said to be waterproof. The great temple

13750-593: The western end of the lake and another on the Tensas River near present-day Clayton in Concordia Parish . In 1698 French Catholic missionary priests Antoine Davion and François de Montigny and J. B. La Source (a lay person and possible servant to the priests) visited the Taensa; de Montigny founded a short-lived mission among them. De Montigny at that time records their population as being 700 people. In 1699 French explorer Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville recorded

13875-471: The work to be a hoax in a series of publications in 1908-1910. Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( / ˈ tʃ ɪ k ə s ɔː / CHIK -ə-saw ) are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands , United States . Their traditional territory was in northern Mississippi , northwestern and northern Alabama , western Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky . Their language is classified as

14000-404: Was Yak-stalchil (Great Sun), was matrilineally descended from the sun through his mother the " Grande Soleille " (French for "female Great Sun"). Their mythology claimed that in the distant past a man and woman who shone like the sun had come down to them to be their rulers. Afterwards they turned to stone. Stone statues fitting this description are recorded by early observers as being worshiped as

14125-515: Was a Mississippian culture variant centered on the Lower Mississippi River valley. They had complex political and religious institutions and lived in large villages centered on ceremonial platform mounds . They were primarily agriculturists who grew maize , pumpkins , squash , beans and tobacco . They had a deep history in the area stretching back through the earlier Coles Creek (700–1200 CE) and Troyville cultures (400–700 CE) to

14250-512: Was able to bring peace between the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations of Louisiana and proceeded to receive aid from the two nations. The use of his appliance that replaced his hand led these tribes to believe he had special powers. De Tonti died in September 1704 from yellow fever . It is believed that De Tonti's “remains were laid to everlasting rest in an unknown grave near the Mobile , and not far from

14375-463: Was also an altar decorated with a rope of human scalplocks . A ceremonial eternal fire representing the Sun was kept burning inside the building using an arrangement of three large hickory logs that were kept at a low burn and only slowly pushed into the fire. It was tended and guarded by two priests and other attendants who had a duty to make sure it was never extinguished. Except for the immediate relatives of

14500-517: Was also taken as a prisoner of war . After being detained for six months, De Tonti was exchanged for the Governor's son. After returning to France, De Tonti continued his deployment as a volunteer on the galleys. From that time on, wore a prosthetic hook covered by a glove, thus earning the nickname "Iron Hand". Among the officers fighting beside the French expedition corps, there were the brothers Antonio and Thomas Crisafy, who years later de Tonti will have

14625-441: Was an Italian -born French military officer , explorer , and voyageur who assisted René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle , with North American exploration and colonization from 1678 to 1686. de Tonti was one of the first explorers to navigate and sail the upper Great Lakes . He also sailed the Illinois and the Mississippi , to its mouth and thereupon claimed the length of the Mississippi for Louis XIV of France . He

14750-527: Was bilingual and bicultural. George "Tootesmastube" Colbert never reached the Chickasaw's "Oka Homa" (red waters); he died on Choctaw territory, Fort Towson , en route. In 1832 after the state of Mississippi declared its jurisdiction over the Chickasaw Indians, outlawing tribal self-governance, Chickasaw chiefs assembled at the national council house on October 20, 1832 and signed the Treaty of Pontotoc Creek , ceding their remaining Mississippi territory to

14875-627: Was broken, and most old fires were put out. Fasting was done by most tribes to obtain purity, and the Chickasaw specifically would fast from the afternoon of the first day of the ceremony until the second sunrise. In 2010, the tribe opened the Chickasaw Cultural Center in Sulphur, Oklahoma . It includes the Chikasha Inchokka’ Traditional Village, Honor Garden, Sky and Water pavilion, and several in-depth exhibits about

15000-400: Was important for trade, transportation, and irrigation. Referred to as "scored bluff waterway", Chickasaw warriors limited the movement of Europeans along the river. Before marriage, a Chickasaw man would send a gift with his mother or sister to be given to the parents of the woman he would like to marry. If the parents consented, they would offer the gift to the woman. If the woman accepted,

15125-471: Was included that was written by R.W. McAdam. McAdam claimed that the word "Chikasha" meant "rebel" in the Choctaw language. Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto had recorded the people as Chicaza when his expedition came into contact with them in 1540; the Spanish were the first known Europeans to explore the North American Southeast. The suffix -mingo (Chickasaw: minko ) is used to identify

15250-401: Was located over 850 km from Chickasaw territory, the two groups managed to engage initially in an exchange of deerskin. Shortly after making contact with the British, the Chickasaw began to trade with the French as the Europeans established themselves within Louisiana. Within Chickasaw society, trade was categorized under either white (peace) or red (war) routes. To maintain this duality,

15375-490: Was respected. It became unlawful to extinguish any fire, even a small cooking fire, with water, as this was considered to be the work of evil spirits. Bad weather such as rain, thunder and heavy wind was thought to be holy people at war above the clouds. Warriors would fire their guns at the sky to show that they were willing to die if they could aid the holy spirits above. After they signed the treaty of Pontotoc Creek in 1832 and were forced from their native land in Mississippi,

15500-426: Was similar in appearance but had three carved eagle effigies at its summit. Inside beaten copper plaques and painting adorned the walls. There was a fire of burning cane in the center and low couch-like beds lined the walls. The chief sat on one that acted as a throne where he would hold court surrounded by his wives, retainers, and advisers who were all dressed in white garments woven from mulberry bark. Included among

15625-465: Was to mount an assault with 300 men from the rear of the Iroquois while Denonville launched a full frontal assault. De Tonti was unable to mount a large enough number of his men, so he joined with Sieurs de l'hut and de la Durantais at the front of the strait. de Tonti and the others proceeded to their rendezvous on Lake Ontario and met up with Denonville and took part in the van of the French attack against

#885114