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107-658: The name Obalalkabiche (Tattooed Serpent) was traditionally adopted by the War Chief of the Natchez, who was always the younger brother of the Paramount Chief, whose official name was Yak-stalchil (Great Sun). Thus, the Tattooed Serpent who died in 1725 and was a friend of Le Page du Pratz was preceded by his own maternal uncle (died 1700), who was also called Tattooed Serpent while in office. On his death in 1725, Tattooed Serpent

214-406: A French historian who wrote that Chépart's demand marked the first time that a French colonial leader had simply claimed Natchez land as his own, without prior negotiation. When the Natchez began to protest the seizure of their land for the plantation, Chépart said he would burn down the temple that contained their ancestors' graves. In response to this threat, the Natchez seemed to promise to cede

321-457: A friend of the French that, according to the chronicle of Dumont de Montigny , his sister, called La Glorieuse by the French, said that "he was like a Frenchman". At his death, he and his older brother were both succeeded by much younger men. The alliance between the French and the Natchez became unstable, as the leaders of the pro-British White Apple village gained influence. This eventually led to

428-488: A house on the bluff, guarded by several warriors, from where they could see the events. According to Dumont de Montigny's account of the attack, women seen defending their husbands from the violence, or trying to avenge them, were taken captive or killed. One woman's unborn baby was reportedly torn from her before she herself was killed. A year after the event, the tally of dead was put at 138 men, 35 women, and 56 children, or approximately 230 overall. Some scholars argue that

535-519: A meeting with the Choctaw planned for the first two days of December in New Orleans, contending that it was to be the occasion for an attack. Perier in this way defended his actions as governor by insinuating that the results of the massacre could have been worse if not for his prompt action. However, historians Gordon Sayre and Arnaud Balvay have pointed out that Jean-Baptiste Delaye, a militia commander in

642-625: A military road westward toward Chickasaw villages. After waiting for months in the winter of 1739–40, the French never mounted an attack and retreated back to New Orleans. After having suffered the attacks against the Chickasaw, the remaining Natchez moved on to live among the Cherokee and Creek people. By that time the Natchez, reduced to scattered refugees, had ceased to exist as a political entity. The Natchez revolt figured as an event of monumental significance in French historiography and literature of

749-517: A people in the 16th century and had developed at least three distinct political and geographical divisions prior to European contact: the western Okla Falaya ("Long People"), the eastern Okla Tannap ("People on the Other Side"), and the southern Okla Hannali ("Six Towns People"). Eventually these different groups would create distinct, independent alliances with nearby European powers. The Choctaw were first noted by Europeans in French written records of

856-496: A stinkard — a member of the lowest caste in the tribe's hierarchy. The Natchez kept two Frenchmen alive, a carter named Mayeux who was made to carry all the goods of the French to the Great Village, and a tailor named Le Beau who was employed by the Natchez to refit the colonists' clothing to new owners. They set fire to the fort, the store, and all the homesteads, burning them to the ground. Just as Governor Bienville had done with

963-476: A strike on the French at Fort Rosalie, borrowing firearms from some French colonists with promises to go hunting and to share the game with the guns' owners. Some French men and women overheard the Natchez planning such an attack. According to Le Page du Pratz, it was the Natchez female chief Tattooed Arm who attempted to alert the French of an upcoming attack led by her rivals at White Apple. When colonists told Chépart, he disregarded them and placed some in irons on

1070-515: A total population of 30,000). Jedidiah Morse estimated the Choctaw at 25,000 people in about year 1820. A census taken in 1830, shortly before the removal , reported a total population of 19,554. A report by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs dated 25 November 1841 indicates that by then 15,177 Choctaws had already moved to Oklahoma ( Indian Territory ). Few thousand more emigratted to the west in subsequent years. The Indian Office in 1856 reported

1177-560: A winter house, which latter was made circular, and was also known as the 'hot house'. The colorful dresses worn by today's Choctaw are made by hand. They are based on designs of their ancestors, who adapted 19th-century European-American styles to their needs. Today many Choctaw wear such traditional clothing mainly for special events. Choctaw elders, especially the women, dress in their traditional garb every day. Choctaw dresses are trimmed by full diamond, half diamond or circle, and crosses that represent stickball sticks. Choctaw stickball ,

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1284-666: Is a Western Muskogean language . Today, Choctaw people are enrolled in four federally recognized tribes : the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma , Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians , Jena Band of Choctaw Indians in Louisiana, and the Yowani Choctaws enrolled under the confederacy of the Caddo Nation . The Choctaw autonym is Chahta. The proper noun "Choctaw" is an anglization of "Chahta." Anthropologist John R. Swanton reports that

1391-671: Is based upon the English version of the Roman alphabet and was developed in conjunction with the "civilization program" of the United States in the early 19th century. Byington's alphabet and a version modified by John Swanton is seen here. The following table is an example of Choctaw text and its translation: English language : That all free men, when they form a special compact, are equal in rights, and that no man or set of men are entitled to exclusive, separate public emolument or privileges from

1498-538: Is called in the native language, is closely related to the Chickasaw language. Some linguists consider Choctaw and Chickasaw to be dialects of a singular original language. This idea is supported by Choctaw and Chickasaw origin stories which both state that the Choctaw and Chickasaw people arose out of a singular ancestral people. The Choctaw language is at the heart of Choctaw tribal culture, tradition, and identity. The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma currently offers courses in

1605-474: Is that of Le Page du Pratz who estimated the Choctaw at 25,000 warriors (and therefore around 125,000 people) in year 1718. Other estimates from that time period were usually lower, but it is possible that they represented only a part of the tribe. Similar figures were given by St. Denis who estimated the Choctaw at 18,000 warriors (or 90,000 people) in 1714 and by W. Bull who estimated them at 16,000 warriors (or 80,000 people) in 1738. According to B. R. Carroll

1712-666: Is the mid-summer Choctaw Indian Fair hosted by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. This event hosts Choctaw people from all over world and includes hospitality and events such as cooking, entertainment, dancing, and stickball. The Choctaw culture is an ancient culture that continues to thrive within the nations and communities of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma in Oklahoma, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians in Mississippi,

1819-638: The Abihka , they reconstituted their town and were signatories in the 1790 Treaty of New York and the 1796 Treaty of Colerain . They remain a constituent tribe of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. The attack on Fort Rosalie destroyed some of the Louisiana colony's most productive farms and endangered shipments of food and trade goods on the Mississippi River . As a result, the French state returned control of Louisiana from

1926-619: The Company of the Indies to the crown in 1731, as the company had been having trouble running the colony. Louisiana governor Étienne Perier was held responsible for the massacre and its aftermath, and he was recalled to France in 1732. While descending the Mississippi River in 1682, Robert de La Salle became the first Frenchman to encounter the Natchez and declared them an ally. The Natchez were sedentary and lived in nine semi-autonomous villages;

2033-542: The Grand Village , was led by the paramount chief Great Sun (Natchez: ʔuwahʃiːɫ liːkip ) and the war chief Tattooed Serpent ( Serpent Piqué in the French sources, Natchez Obalalkabiche ), both of whom were interested in pursuing an alliance with the French. The first conflict between the French and the Natchez took place in 1716, when the governor of Louisiana , Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac , passed through Natchez territory and neglected to renew

2140-560: The Jena Band of Choctaw Indians in Louisiana, and the Yowani Choctaws in Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana, and in Oklahoma as part of the Caddo Confederacy. The traditional Choctaw tribal structure prioritized two distinct moieties : Imoklashas (elders) and Inhulalatas (youth). Each moiety had several iksas or clans and in rare cases a totemic clan. Identity for the Choctaw people was established first by moiety and second as part of

2247-514: The Louisiana colony for more than a decade prior to the incident, mostly conducting peaceful trade and occasionally intermarrying. After a period of deteriorating relations and warring, Natchez leaders were provoked to revolt when the French colonial commandant, Sieur de Chépart, demanded land from a Natchez village for his own plantation near Fort Rosalie . The Natchez plotted their attack over several days and managed to conceal their plans from most of

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2354-567: The Mother goddess was also reflected in their religious and spiritual reverence for the sacred mound of Nanih Waiya which is known as the "Mother Mound." Nanih Waiya is a great earthwork platform mound located in central-east Mississippi. This site remains a place of female pilgrimage for prayer, song, and dance to this day. Early American writings record some of the names of the historical Choctaw iksas. Anthropologist John R. Swanton made his contribution through his 1931 book Source material for

2461-608: The Natchez Massacre of 1729, and the end of amiable relations between the French and the Natchez. Le Page du Pratz describes in great detail the events surrounding the death of Tattooed Serpent, including his funeral. When he died, his brother, the Paramount Chief Great Sun, was so grief-stricken that he wanted to follow his brother in death by suicide. Le Page du Pratz managed to prevent the Great Sun from doing so. At

2568-687: The bayous along the Black River. A subsequent expedition was led by Perier in January 1731 to dislodge the Natchez, capturing many of the Natchez and their leaders, including Saint Cosme, who was the new Great Sun, and his mother, the Female Sun Tattooed Arm. At the time, the Natchez had regrouped to the west, settling in the Ouachita River drainage basin and establishing a fort near present-day Sicily Island, Louisiana . On January 21, Perier with

2675-525: The 17th century. Early Spanish explorers of the mid-16th century in the Southeast encountered ancestral Mississippian culture villages and chiefs. Eventually the Spanish, French, and English would all, through their various explorers, governments, and peoples, discover the Choctaw as a complex society with firmly established tribal governments, alliances, religious practice, and culture. Early contact between

2782-414: The 18th and 19th centuries. In France, the massacre and its aftermath was described in numerous historical works and inspired several works of fiction. Eighteenth-century historians generally attributed the Natchez uprising to oppression by Commandant Chépart. In the French sources, one important discussion has centered on the question of whether the Natchez planned a simultaneous attack on the French with

2889-702: The Americans during the American Revolution , War of 1812 , and the Red Stick War , most notably at the Battle of New Orleans . European Americans considered the Choctaw to be one of the " Five Civilized Tribes " of the Southeast. The Choctaw and the United States agreed to a total of nine treaties. By the last three, the US gained vast land cessions in the Southeast. As part of Indian Removal , despite not having waged war against

2996-521: The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, followed by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, and the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, respectively. Since the 20th century, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians were federally recognized in 1945, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma in 1971, and the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians in 1995. The highest of early estimates - possibly representing the population peak -

3103-608: The Choctaw and Europeans include the French , based on the Gulf Coast and in Louisiana; the English of the Southeast, and Spain in Florida and Louisiana during the colonial era. These interactions introduced Choctaw communities to new and extensive social interactions and trade with Europeans, including more formal interactions with the governments of Spain , France , and England . These relationships with Europeans were influential in shaping

3210-451: The Choctaw derived their name from an early leader of the Choctaw people. Swanton's report was taken directly from the Choctaw people as they recounted a story of their early history regarding a journey to seek a new homeland. On this journey, the ancestral group of people divided into two groups over different interpretations of a totem the people were consulting on how they might proceed on their journey. A leader named "Chahta" proposes that

3317-526: The Choctaw in both Indian Territory and Mississippi mostly sided with the Confederate States of America . Under the late 19th-century Dawes Act and Curtis Acts , the US federal government broke up tribal land holdings and dissolved tribal governments in Indian Territory in order to extinguish Indian land claims before admission of Oklahoma as a state in 1907. From that period, for several decades

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3424-549: The Choctaw language. Choctaw is regularly spoken as part of daily life on the Mississippi Choctaw reservation. Although Choctaw had begun to diminish in the 20th century it remains a living language and in recent years has shown a resurgence among the people of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, and the Yowani Choctaws. The written Choctaw language

3531-469: The Choctaw nation during their Great Famine in the mid-nineteenth century is remembered to this day and recently marked by a sculpture, ' Kindred Spirits ', in a park at Midleton, Cork. Both, the Chickasaw and the Choctaw Indians traditionally made three kinds of buildings, per family, consisting of 1) a summer house (made into an oblong square), 2) a corn house (also made into an oblong square), and 3)

3638-461: The Choctaw were reckoned by the French to be the most numerous nation of Indians in America and consisted of many thousand men. John R. Swanton enumerated a total of 102 Choctaw villages and towns in his book. Robert Rogers estimated the Choctaw at 10,000 warriors in 1775 (indicating a total population of 50,000). According to Gilbert Imlay they mustered 6,000 warriors around the year 1800 (implying

3745-430: The Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Yazoo to join in the attack on the French. In his 2008 book on the Natchez revolt, Arnaud Balvay wrote that more likely than not, the conspiracy claim was false because of incoherence in primary sources. In contrast to the French tradition, the Natchez and their conflicts with the French have been mostly forgotten in contemporary American historiography. Historian Gordon Sayre attributes this to

3852-582: The Company of the Indies had given up control of the colony to Louis XV because it had been costly and difficult to manage even before the rebellion. The French continued to press for the destruction of the Natchez who now lived among the Chickasaw, traditional allies of the British — this sparked the Chickasaw Wars . The Chickasaw at first agreed to drive out the Natchez from among them, but they did not keep good on

3959-528: The French against the Natchez, the Choctaw objected to Perier's attack on the Chaouacha and encouraged other small tribes in the region to relocate away from the French to lands under Choctaw protection. More serious retaliation against the Natchez began late in December 1729 and January 1730, with expeditions led by Jean-Paul Le Sueur and Henri de Louboëy. The two commanders besieged the Natchez in forts built near

4066-583: The French considered them the most civilized tribe of the region. By 1700 the Natchez' numbers had been reduced to about 3,500 by the diseases that ravaged indigenous populations in the wake of contact with Europeans, and by 1720 further epidemics had halved that population. Their society was strictly divided into a noble class called "the Suns" ( Natchez : ʔuwahʃiːɫ ) and a commoner class called in French "the Stinkards" (Natchez: miʃmiʃkipih ). Between 1699 and 1702,

4173-453: The French retaliations following the massacre, wrote in a 1730 unpublished narrative that Perier's claims were groundless, and that the Tioux, Yazoo, and other nations were not complicit and had no foreknowledge of the attack. Another document in French, of anonymous authorship, asserted that the Natchez revolt was a British plan to destroy a new French tobacco business in Louisiana. To describe

4280-423: The French, Tattooed Serpent died in 1725, another blow to the relations between the Natchez and the colonists. In August 1726, the arrival of the new governor, Étienne Perier , sparked new tensions. Perier broke with Bienville's policy of diplomatic engagement with neighboring tribes, including the Natchez, and refused to recognize Native American ownership of their traditional lands. To oversee Fort Rosalie and

4387-512: The French; colonists who overheard and warned Chépart of an attack were considered untruthful and were punished. In a coordinated attack on the fort and the homesteads, the Natchez killed almost all of the Frenchmen, while sparing most of the women and enslaved Africans. Approximately 230 colonists were killed overall, and the fort and homes were burned to the ground. When the French in New Orleans ,

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4494-635: The Great Sun died in 1728 and was succeeded by his inexperienced nephew, the pro-British villages became more powerful than the pro-French villages centered at Natchez. In 1728, Chépart, the commandant of Fort Rosalie, was brought to New Orleans and put on trial before the Superior Council for abuse of power. Chépart was saved from punishment, according to Horatio Bardwell Cushman , by "the interference of influential friends," and Governor Perier pardoned Chépart, restoring him to his command. Chépart returned to Fort Rosalie and continued to oppress and abuse

4601-560: The Indians. Looking to further his and Perier's business ambitions, Chépart told the Natchez in spring 1729 that he wished to seize land for a plantation in the center of White Apple, where the Natchez had a temple of their people's graves, planting a missionary cross on the land to indicate he was acting on Perier's orders. By this point, most of the colonists disapproved of Chépart's actions, including Jean-François-Benjamin Dumont de Montigny ,

4708-484: The Mississippian ancestors of the Choctaw placed the sun at the center of their cosmological system. Mid-eighteenth-century Choctaws did view the sun as a being endowed with life. Choctaw diplomats, for example, spoke only on sunny days. If the day of a conference were cloudy or rainy, Choctaws delayed the meeting until the sun returned, usually on the pretext that they needed more time to discuss particulars. They believed

4815-498: The Natchez Massacre as the defining moment in the history of the Louisiana colony, a position consistent with the views of other 18th-century historians, such as Le Page du Pratz and Dumont de Montigny. The 19th-century Louisiana historian Charles Gayarré also embellished the story of a conspiracy behind the Natchez revolt, composing in his book a lengthy speech by the Great Sun in which the leader exhorted his warriors to invite

4922-438: The Natchez and French were settled through negotiations between Louisiana governor Bienville and Natchez war chief Tattooed Serpent. In 1723, Bienville was informed that some Natchez had harassed villagers, and he razed the Natchez village of White Apple and enslaved several villagers, only to discover that the alleged harassment had been faked by the colonists to frame the Natchez. One of the later skirmishes in 1724 consisted of

5029-528: The Natchez and the colonists was the fact that the French did not understand the Natchez's political structure. The French assumed that the Great Sun, the chief of the Grand Village, held sway over all other Natchez villages. In truth, each village was semi-autonomous and the Great Sun's power only extended to the villages of Flour and Tioux (with which the Grand Village was allied) and not to the three pro-British villages of White Apple, Jenzenaque and Grigra. When

5136-416: The Natchez by surprise, the Natchez negotiated a peace treaty and freed French captives, but the French planned an attack on the Natchez fort the following day. The Natchez then brought gifts to Louboëy, but left their fort that night and escaped across the Mississippi River, taking enslaved Africans with them. The next day, Louboëy and his men burned down the abandoned Grand Village fort as the Natchez hid in

5243-485: The Natchez received the explorer Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville in peace and allowed a French missionary to settle among them. At this time, the Natchez were at war with the Chickasaw people, who had received guns from their British allies, and the Natchez expected to benefit similarly from their relationship with the French. Nonetheless, the British presence in the territory led the Natchez to split into pro-British and pro-French factions. The central village, called Natchez or

5350-451: The Natchez settlement, Perier appointed the Sieur de Chépart, who was described by as "rapacious, haughty, and tyrannical," abusing soldiers, settlers, and the Natchez alike. Perier and Chépart entered a partnership to develop a large plantation on Natchez land. According to archaeologist Karl Lorenz, who excavated several Natchez settlements, another factor that complicated relations between

5457-452: The Natchez spared the enslaved Africans due to a general sense of affinity between the Natchez and the Africans; some slaves even joined the Natchez, while others took the chance to escape to freedom. A group of Yazoo people who were accompanying Commandant du Codère remained neutral during the conflict but were inspired by the Natchez revolt. When they returned to Fort St. Pierre, they destroyed

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5564-527: The Natchez) and Perier for the massacre at Fort Rosalie and the subsequent Natchez war. To answer for his actions and the instability in the colony, Louis XV , the French king, ordered Perier back to France in 1732. Perier's replacement was his predecessor, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, whom the French state thought to be more experienced at dealing with the Native Americans of the region. A year earlier,

5671-460: The Native Americans held in collective stewardship. The United States systematically obtained Choctaw land for conventional European-American settlement through treaties, legislation, and threats of warfare. Although the Choctaw made treaties with Great Britain, France, Spain, and the Confederate States of America; the nation signed only nine treaties with the United States. Some treaties which

5778-464: The US made with other nations, such as the Treaty of San Lorenzo , indirectly affected the Choctaw. Reservations can be found in Louisiana ( Jena Band of Choctaw Indians ), Mississippi ( Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians ), and Oklahoma ( Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma ). The Oklahoma reservation is defined by treaty. Other population centers can be found throughout the United States. The Choctaw coalesced as

5885-619: The United States Bureau of Indian Affairs appointed chiefs of the Choctaw and other tribes in the former Indian Territory. During World War I , Choctaw soldiers served in the US military as some of the first Native American codetalkers , using the Choctaw language . Since the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, the Choctaw people in three areas have reconstituted their governments and gained federal recognition. The largest are

5992-597: The United States, the majority of Choctaw were forcibly relocated to Indian Territory from 1831 to 1833. The Choctaw government in Indian Territory maintained the tri-union tradition of their homeland by having three governmental districts. Each district had its own chief, who together with the town chiefs sat on the Choctaw National Council. Those Choctaw who chose to stay in the state of Mississippi were considered state and U.S. citizens; they were one of

6099-440: The alliance by smoking the peace calumet . The Natchez reacted to this slight by killing four French traders. Cadillac sent his lieutenant Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville to punish the Natchez. He deceived the Natchez leaders by inviting them to attend a parley, where they were ambushed and captured; he then forced the Natchez to exchange their leaders for the culprits who had attacked the French. A number of random Natchez from

6206-545: The colonial capital, heard the news of the massacre, they feared a general Indian uprising and were concerned that the Natchez might have conspired with other tribes. They first responded by ordering a massacre of the Chaouacha people – who had played no role in the revolt – and wiped out their entire village. The French and their Choctaw allies then retaliated against the Natchez villages, capturing hundreds of Natchez and selling them into slavery, although many managed to escape to

6313-509: The community, but in consideration of public services. The traditional Choctaw belief system evolved out of the North American Southeastern Ceremonial Complex. The Choctaw believed in a good spirit and an evil spirit. They may have been sun, or Hvshtahli , worshippers. The historian John Swanton wrote, [T]he Choctaws anciently regarded the sun as a deity ... the sun was ascribed the power of life and death. He

6420-455: The conspiracy remained conjectural. François-René de Chateaubriand depicted the massacre in his 1827 epic Les Natchez , incorporating his earlier best-selling novellas Atala and René into a longer narrative that greatly embellished the history of the French and the Natchez in Louisiana. In Chateaubriand's work, the grand conspiracy behind the massacre implausibly included native tribes from all across North America. Chateaubriand saw

6527-475: The conspiring tribes in order to count down the number of days remaining until the strike. The undetected destruction of a couple of the sticks in the Natchez Grand Village derailed the count, although the reason for the lost sticks differed in each historian's account. The other nations called off their participation in the plot because of the Natchez' premature attack, and therefore the very existence of

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6634-454: The defeat, the Natchez managed to regroup and make one last attack on the French at Fort St. Jean Baptiste in October 1731. With reinforcements from Spain and Native American allies, the French under the fort's commander Louis Juchereau de St. Denis mounted a counter attack and defeated the Natchez. Many Louisiana colonists — Dumont de Montigny in particular — blamed Chépart (who was killed by

6741-431: The details of the attack and its background, Dumont de Montigny and Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz , the leading 18th-century historians of Louisiana, drew on information collected from French women taken captive during the massacre. They explained that the Natchez had conspired with other nations but had attacked a few days earlier than the date agreed upon and that they had used a system of bundles of sticks held by each of

6848-501: The element of surprise for the French as the Natchez had already scattered. At first, the Natchez were well prepared for French retaliatory strikes, having stocked up several cannons as well as the firearms that they had used in the massacre two months earlier. The Natchez captured by the Choctaw and Tunica allies of the French were given over to the governor and sold into slavery, and some were publicly tortured to death in New Orleans. In late February 1730, with Louboëy seeking to catch

6955-461: The events were "simply too horrific" to recount. The Natchez had prepared by seizing the galley of the Company of the Indies anchored on the river so that no Frenchmen could board it and attempt to escape. They had also stationed warriors on the other side of the river to intercept those who might flee in that direction. The commandant at the Yazoo trading post of Fort St. Pierre , Monsieur du Codère,

7062-734: The evolution of their respective North American cultures for hundreds and even thousands of years. However, the Choctaw people as they are known today are believed to have coalesced during the 16th century . The original peoples involved in this coalescence likely formed in Alabama and were made up of populations such as the Plaquemine culture . Prior to their arrival in the Americas the founding populations of both North and South American indigenous peoples are generally explained to be Beringian populations broken down into several groups which are illuminated within

7169-505: The executed Indians in 1717 and 1723, the Natchez beheaded the dead Frenchmen and brought the severed heads for the Great Sun to view. News of the Fort Rosalie attack reached New Orleans in early December, and the colonists there began to panic. The city depended upon grain and other supplies from the Illinois settlement, and shipments up and down the Mississippi River would be threatened by

7276-508: The fact that both the French and the Natchez were defeated in colonial wars before the birth of the United States. Choctaw 212,000 (Nation of Oklahoma 2023) 11,000 (Mississippi Band 2020) The Choctaw ( Choctaw : Chahta Choctaw pronunciation: [tʃahtá(ʔ)] ) are a Native American people originally based in the Southeastern Woodlands , in what is now Mississippi and Alabama . The Choctaw language

7383-590: The fields of Archeology , Anthropology , and Genomics . Advances in DNA science and technology are allowing for many breakthroughs in the study of the genetic history of the Indigenous peoples of North and South America . Until modern times the connection between North and South American indigenous people was unknown in modern scholarship. The Choctaw language is a member of the Muskogean language family. The Choctaw language

7490-420: The first major non-European ethnic groups to be granted citizenship. Article 14 in the 1830 treaty with the Choctaw stated Choctaws may wish to become citizens of the United States under the 14th Article of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek on all of the combined lands which were consolidated under Article I from all previous treaties between the United States and the Choctaw. During the American Civil War ,

7597-428: The fort, killing the Jesuit priest and 17 French soldiers. The Natchez lost only about 12 warriors during the attack. Eight warriors died attacking the homestead of the La Loire des Ursins family, where the men had been able to prepare a defense against the intruding Natchez. Chépart himself was taken captive by the Natchez, who were at first unsure what to do with him, but finally decided that he should be killed by

7704-429: The funeral of Tattooed Serpent, a number of commoner class servants of the War Chief were sacrificed by garrotting, following the Natchez custom. According to Le Page du Pratz, two of his wives, one of his sisters ( La Glorieuse ), his first warrior, his doctor, his head servant and the servant's wife, his nurse, and a craftsman of war clubs all chose to die and be interred with him, as well as several old women. An infant

7811-471: The individuals iksa. The Choctaw people existed in a matrilineal kinship system, with children born into the iksa of their mother and the mother's iksa conferring her children's social status. Another tradition of this maternally oriented system was the role of the maternal uncle as an important figure in the lives of his sister's children. Maternal uncles acted as fathers and caretakers to the children of their sisters. The Choctaw people's adoration of woman and

7918-642: The known iksas when Swanton's aforementioned book was published are as follows: After the U.S. government had broken several treaties with the Choctaw people, and eventually when the Choctaw were forcibly removed from their traditional lands in Mississippi during the American tragedy of the Trail of Tears , the Choctaw reestablished themselves in Indian Territory according to the three most powerful districts in their lost homeland. The Choctaw named these three districts after

8025-748: The land of present-day Alabama and Mississippi in North America . (Caitlin, Letters and Notes, 1841) A Choctaw origin in South America is supported by DNA evidence as well as the similarities between the beliefs, art, and customs of the people of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex in North America and the Indigenous peoples of South America . The ancestral people of the Choctaw and other indigenous peoples in North America have participated in

8132-404: The land, wrote Dumont de Montigny, but only if they were given until after the harvest to relocate their temple and graves. Chépart agreed to give them the time in exchange for pelts, oil, poultry, and grain — a request the Natchez promised to fulfill later. After Chépart announced to the Natchez the complete removal of the tribe from their land in the near future, the Natchez began to prepare for

8239-462: The leading chiefs from each of those districts. Moshulatubbee was the name given for the district of the Okla Tannap, Apuckshunubbee was given for Okla Falaya, and Pushmataha was given for Okla Hannali. Early Choctaw communities worked communally and shared their harvest. They had trouble understanding why English settlers allowed their poor to suffer from hunger. In Ireland, the generosity of

8346-483: The loss of Fort Rosalie. After the Natchez attack on Fort Rosalie, Perier decided that the complete destruction of the Natchez people was required to ensure the prosperity and safety of the colony. He forbade the entry of a delegation of Choctaw people into the city, for fear that they were using the pretext of a friendly visit to launch an attack, but he secured the neutrality with the Choctaws and then he engaged in

8453-465: The modern Choctaw people. After the United States was formed and its settlers began to move into the Southeast, the Choctaw were among the Five Civilized Tribes , who adopted many of their ways. Many Choctaw transitioned to yeoman farming methods and incorporated European Americans and African Americans (as tribal members, prisoners, and slaves) into their society. Most Choctaw allied with

8560-410: The murder of a Natchez chief's son by a colonist, to which the Natchez responded by killing a Frenchman named Guenot. Bienville then sent French soldiers from New Orleans to attack the Natchez at their fields and settlements, and the Natchez surrendered. Their plea for peace was met following the execution of one of their chiefs by the French. Chronicler Le Page du Pratz, who lived among the Natchez and

8667-466: The name is derived from the Choctaw phrase Hacha hatak (river people). This view has little support. One Choctaw origin story relates how in pre-historic times the Choctaw people lived in areas near or around what is now known as the Yucatan Peninsula . This story explains that when the ancient South American homeland of the Choctaw people became overcrowded many of them sailed across the sea to

8774-417: The night before the massacre, when he was drunk. On the morning of November 28, 1729, the Natchez came to Chépart with corn, poultry, and deerskins, also carrying with them a calumet — well known as a peace symbol. The commandant, still somewhat intoxicated from drinking the night before, was certain that the Natchez had no violent intentions, and he challenged those who had warned of an attack to prove that

8881-544: The north and take refuge among the Chickasaw people . The Natchez waged low-intensity warfare against the French over the following years, but retaliatory expeditions against Natchez refugees among the Chickasaw in 1730 and 1731 forced them to move on and live as refugees among the Creek and Cherokee tribes. By 1741, the Natchez had established a town in the northern parts of the Upper Creek Nation. There, with permission from

8988-490: The number of the Choctaws as 22,707. Emmanuel Domenech estimated the Choctaw at up to 25,000 people in about 1860. Enumeration published in 1886 counted 18,000 Choctaws in Oklahoma as of year 1884. The census of 1910 counted 15,917 Choctaws. Around years 1916–1919 there were in Oklahoma 17,488 Choctaws by blood, 1,651 by intermarriage and 6,029 freedmen, and in addition to that there were also at that time 3,099 Mississippi Choctaws and around 200 Choctaws living elsewhere. In

9095-529: The oldest field sport in North America, was also known as the "little brother of war" because of its roughness and substitution for war. When disputes arose between Choctaw communities, stickball provided a civil way to settle issues. The stickball games would involve as few as twenty or as many as 300 players. The goal posts could be from a few hundred feet apart to a few miles. Goal posts were sometimes located within each opposing team's village. A Jesuit priest referenced stickball in 1729, and George Catlin painted

9202-499: The other major tribes of the region. French colonial governor Étienne Perier, in a report to superiors in France written one week after the revolt, claimed that many of the Indian nations in the lower Mississippi Valley had plotted with the Natchez to attack the French on the same day and that even the Choctaw, who had been close allies of the French, were part of the plot. Perier then cancelled

9309-436: The pro-British villages were executed. This caused French–Natchez relations to deteriorate further. As part of the terms of the peace accord following this First Natchez War, the Natchez promised to supply labor and materials for the construction of a fort for the French. By 1717, French colonists had established Fort Rosalie and a trading post in what is now Natchez, Mississippi , seeking to protect their trade monopoly in

9416-504: The promise. In the Chickasaw Campaign of 1736 , the French, under Governor Bienville, attacked the Chickasaw villages of Apeony and Ackia, and then retreated, suffering significant casualties, but inflicting few. In the Chickasaw Campaign of 1739 , Bienville summoned more than 1,000 troops to be sent over from France. Bienville's army ascended the Mississippi River to the site of present-day Memphis, Tennessee , and attempted to build

9523-491: The prosecution of the war of extermination against the Natchez. Perier ordered slaves and French troops to march downstream and massacre a small village of Chaouacha people who had played no part in the uprising in Natchez. His superiors in Paris reprimanded the leader for this act, which may have been intended to prevent any alliance between slaves and Native Americans against the French colonists. Despite continuing to ally with

9630-559: The region from British incursions. The French also granted numerous concessions for large tobacco plantations, as well as smaller farms, on land acquired from the Natchez. Relations between Natchez and colonists were generally friendly—some Frenchmen even married and had children with Natchez women—but there were tensions. There were reports of colonists abusing Natchez, forcing them to provide labor or goods, and as more colonists arrived, their concessions gradually encroached on Natchez lands. From 1722 to 1724, brief armed conflicts between

9737-511: The rest of the Natchez and their chiefs escaped in the night. The next morning, only two sick men and one woman were found in the fort. Perier burned the fort and on the 28th, the French began their march back to New Orleans. As soon as he reached New Orleans, Perier sent the chiefs Great Sun, the Little Sun, the 45 other male prisoners and 450 women and children to Saint-Domingue , where they were sold as slaves. Although significantly weakened by

9844-458: The rumors were accurate. While Chépart was accepting the goods, the Natchez started firing, giving the signal for a coordinated attack on Fort Rosalie and on the outlying farms and concessions in the area now covered by the city of Natchez. Chépart ran to call his soldiers to arms, but they had already been killed. The details of the attack are mostly unknown, as chroniclers such as Le Page du Pratz, who talked with several eyewitnesses, stated that

9951-427: The site of the Grand Village of the Natchez, a mile or so east of Fort Rosalie, which had been rebuilt. They killed about 80 men and captured 18 women, and released some French women who had been captured during the massacre of Fort Rosalie. The French relied on allied support from Tunica and Choctaw warriors. The Choctaw attacked the Natchez without the French, killing 100 and capturing women and children. This ruined

10058-459: The social and ceremonial life of the Choctaw Indians . The main iksas holding significant sway over all others at the time of his writings were the Okla Falaya meaning "Long People", the eastern Okla Tannap meaning "People on the Other Side", and the southern Okla Hannali meaning "Six Towns People." Swanton reported from both personal contact and previous scholarship in his writings. The names of

10165-400: The subject. The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians continue to practice the sport. Chunkey was a game using a disk-shaped stone that was about 1–2 inches in length. Players would throw the disk down a 200-foot (61 m) corridor so that it could roll past the players at great speed. As the disk rolled down the corridor, players would throw wooden shafts at it. The object of the game

10272-631: The sun ..." Choctaw culture as it's understood today has its historical roots going back to the 16th century. Prior to this period what is known of the Choctaw culture comes from oral traditions and the obvious participation of the Choctaw people in the wider Southeastern Ceremonial Complex . From at least the 16th century until the present-day a definable Choctaw culture has been expressed through rich traditions of song, dance, dress, beading, pottery, basketry, and stickball. Choctaw people maintain their ancient traditions in their personal and daily lives as well as participating in community events. One example

10379-476: The sun made sure that all talks were honest. The sun as a symbol of great power and reverence is a major component of southeastern Indian cultures. Choctaw prophets were known to have addressed the sun. John Swanton wrote, "an old Choctaw informed Wright that before the arrival of the missionaries , they had no conception of prayer. He added, "I have indeed heard it asserted by some, that anciently their hopaii, or prophets, on some occasions were accustomed to address

10486-511: The totem indicates they should proceed to the north while another leader, Chahta's brother "Chiksa'", proposes the indication is to proceed to the east. The people chose which leader they would follow which split them into two groups. Those who followed Chahta became the Chahta or Choctaw people and those who followed Chiksa' became the Chiksa' or Chickasaw people. Henry Halbert, a historian, suggests that

10593-636: The troops of the Colony and two battalions of marines commanded by his brother Antoine-Alexis Perier de Salvert , attacked the stronghold of the Natchez. During the siege of the fort, the French troops used iron grenades , both fired from mortars and thrown by hand. On January 24, the Natchez made propositions of peace and some chiefs met Perier who proposed them to enter into a cabin which seemed to be deserted, but as soon as they crossed its threshold, they were made prisoners. On January 25, 45 men, and 450 women and children surrendered and were taken as prisoners, but

10700-547: Was a close friend of Tattooed Serpent, records that he once asked his friend why the Natchez were resentful towards the French. Tattooed Serpent answered that the French seemed to have "two hearts, a good one today, and tomorrow a bad one", and proceeded to tell how Natchez life had been better before the French arrived. He finished by saying, "Before the arrival of the French we lived like men who can be satisfied with what they have, whereas today we live like slaves, who are not suffered to do as they please." The most faithful ally of

10807-692: Was buried in a trench inside the temple floor, while his retainers were buried in other locations atop the mound surrounding the temple. After a few months time, the bodies were disinterred and their defleshed bones were stored as bundle burials in the temple. Natchez revolt#First, Second and Third Natchez Wars The Natchez revolt , or the Natchez massacre , was an attack by the Natchez Native American people on French colonists near present-day Natchez, Mississippi , on November 28, 1729. The Natchez and French had lived alongside each other in

10914-439: Was represented as looking down upon the earth, and as long as he kept his flaming eye fixed on any one, the person was safe ... fire, as the most striking representation of the sun, was considered as possessing intelligence, and as acting in concert with the sun ... [having] constant intercourse with the sun ... The word nanpisa (the one who sees) expressed the reverence the Choctaw had for the sun. Anthropologist theorize that

11021-424: Was sacrificed, strangled by his parents. These retainers had their faces painted red and were drugged with large doses of nicotine or Jimson weed before their deaths. During the funeral procession, the chief's body was carried to the temple on a litter made of cane matting and cedar poles. The temple was located on top of a low platform mound . The retainers were ritually strangled at the temple. Tattooed Serpent

11128-526: Was succeeded by his sister's second eldest son, who took the same name. As an emblem of the office, he was decorated with the elaborate tattoo of a serpent circling his body from his foot to his mouth. In 1723, Tattooed Serpent helped the French negotiate a peace treaty after the Second Natchez War 1723, which ended the attacks on the French by the Natchez of the White Apple Village . He was such

11235-419: Was to strike the disk or prevent your opponents from hitting it. Other games included using corn, cane, and moccasins. The corn game used five to seven kernels of corn. One side was blackened and the other side white. Players won points based on each color. One point was awarded for the black side and 5–7 points for the white side. There were usually only two players. Land was the most valuable asset, which

11342-431: Was visiting Fort Rosalie with a Jesuit priest when they heard gunshots. They turned around to return to their ship, but warriors caught up with them, killing and scalping them. The Natchez killed almost all of the 150 Frenchmen at Fort Rosalie, and only about 20 managed to escape, some fleeing to New Orleans. Most of the dead were unarmed. Women, children, and enslaved Africans were mostly spared; many were locked inside

11449-515: Was well known among the American frontiersmen of the early 19th century . In 1870, a Christian Missionary and fluent Choctaw speaker Cyrus Byington published a Choctaw Dictionary Grammar of the Choctaw Language. Revised additions include contributions from American historian Henry S. Halbert , who was also a fluent Choctaw speaker, and Anthropologist John R. Swanton. Choctaw or Chahta, as it

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