Study Notes: The Chickasaws

“The Chickasaws breathe nothing but war and are unquestionably the bravest on the continent.” Governor of French Louisiana in 1726

            The Chickasaw were a feared and dominating Native American tribe that controlled their land and made a name for themselves through their war-like personalities. Originally the Chickasaws lived in northern Mississippi, and they were the second largest Native American group of Mississippi. In the 18^th century they could be counted as few as 2,000 to as many as 5,000 people.

            The Chickasaws found a way to trade with the new settlers and to survive in the strange culture that was expanding in their land.  The Chickasaws traded slaves with the French and the English.  They traded their enemies that were caught in warfare.  This slave trade helped the Chickasaws remain in their territory for as long as they did.  They traded the slaves for ammunition, guns, and horses, which helped them in war to get more slaves.  The Chickasaws managed to cut themselves out a large territory during this time in the 1700’s because other tribes did not want to be near them, for fear of being caught and sold in the slave trade.   They controlled the northern third of Mississippi, western half of Tennessee, and a portion of Alabama.  After the slave trade died, they became big players in the deer skin trade.  They remained successful controlling and feared Native Americans.  In this time the Chickasaws were considered perhaps the fiercest warriors in the southeast. (Until the Civil War they had never lost a major military engagement or war.)

            The Chickasaws and the Choctaws were similar.  They lived in close proximity to each other, spoke similar languages, and traced their families through the mother’s line.  There were about seven or so villages in their territory, and each village had a chief, and a chief of war.  The tribe was usually at war so the chief of war was usually in charge.  The Chickasaws boys are taught at a young age to withstand pain and deprivation without complaint, and they are taught martial arts also. 

            In the battle of Ackia, French Governor Bienville made the decision to attack the Chickasaw.  He thought that if they were attacked from two different sides at the same time they would be defeated.  The problem was that one side was late, and the Chickasaws easily defeated both when they came.  This was the in the height of their power.  After this, in the 1750’s they began to decline in numbers, because neighbors to the west and north now had guns and ammunition and had not forgotten the pain that they had gone through in the slave raid times.  This brought the Chickasaws numbers down below 2,000, and because of this their deer skin trades were failing.

            The Chickasaws saw that they needed a change.  They changed themselves and stopped with the deer skins and started raising cattle.  With their Nation and Territory spread out into smaller groups they had plenty of land and did well with the cattle, they kept the villages separated for defensive purposes.  They even started raising cash crops such as cotton, and had a very prosperous plantation. 

            The United State Government started to reduce the size of the Chickasaws land in the beginning of the 1800’s.  The white settlers wanted the land and frequently moved onto Indian Territory without permission.  The Chickasaws took them to court but never had the courts on their side, so they always lost.  By 1836, the white setters could not tolerate the Chickasaws and the Federal Government forced them to sign a treaty.  The removal was almost complete, and very few Chickasaw’s remain in their original territory.  They were given money and land in Oklahoma in exchange for the lands in Mississippi.

            Today the Chickasaw Nation is the thirteenth largest federally recognized tribe in the United States.  The word Chickasaw is the English spelling of the Indian word Chikasha that means, “rebel” or “comes from Chicsa.”  The Chickasaw’s were on of the “Five Civilized Tribes” that the Federal Government forcibly removed from their land.  There are quite a few well known public  Chickasaw people, including John Harrington, NASA Astronaut, and first Native American in Space; Tom Cole, Republican U.S. Congressman from Oklahoma; Amanda Cobb, author and professor of American Studies; Hulk Hogan, Professional Wrestler; Rodd Redwing, Bee Ho Gray, and Molly Culver, all actors.  The Governor of the Chickasaw Nation since 1987 is Bill Anoatubby.