History of the Chickasaw Nation


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the Five Civilized Tribes

(Organized February 3rd, 1950)
Cherokee * Chickasaw * Choctaw
Muscogee Creek * Seminole

ITCFCT NAGPRA Policy Statement

Treaty With the Chickasaw, January 10, 1786 Articles of a treaty, concluded at Hopewell, on the Keowee, near Seneca Old Town, Between Benjamin Hawkins, Andrew Pickens and Joseph Martin, Commissioners Plenipotentiary of the United States of America, of the one Part; and Piomingo, Head Warrior and First Minister of the Chickasaw Nation; Mingatushka, one of the leading Chiefs; and Latopoia, first beloved Man of the said Nation, Commissioners Plenipotentiary of all the Chickasaws, of the other Part. THE Commissioners Plenipotentiary of the United States of America give peace to the Chickasaw Nation, and receive them into the favor and protection of the said States, on the following conditions:

ARTICLE 1. The Commissioners Plenipotentiary of the Chickasaw nation, shall restore all the prisoners, citizens of the United States, to their entire liberty, if any there be in the Chickasaw nation. They shall also restore all the negroes, and all other property taken during the late war, from the citizens, if any there be in the Chickasaw nation, to such person, and at such time and place, as the Commissioners of the United States of America shall appoint.

ARTICLE II. The Commissioners Plenipotentiary of the Chickasaws, do hereby acknowledge the tribes and the towns of the Chickasaw nation, to be under the protection of the United States of America, and of no other sovereign whosoever.

ARTICLE III. The boundary of the lands hereby allotted to the Chickasaw nation to live and hunt on, within the limits of the United States of America, is, and shall be the following, viz. Beginning on the ridge that divides the waters running into the Cumberland, from those running into the Tennessee, at a point in a line to be run north-east, which shall strike the Tennessee at the mouth of Duck river; thence running westerly along the said ridge, till it shall strike the Ohio; thence down the southern banks thereof to the Mississippi; thence down the same, to the Choctaw line or Natches district; thence along the said line, or the line of the district eastwardly as far as the Chickasaws claimed, and lived and hunted on, the twenty-ninth of November, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-two. Thence the said boundary, eastwardly, shall be the lands allotted to the Choctaws and Cherokees to live and hunt on, and the lands at present in the possession of the Creeks; saving and reserving for the establishment of a trading post, a tract or parcel of land to be laid out at the lower port of the Muscle shoals, at the mouth of Ocochappo, in a circle, the diameter of which shall be five miles on the river, which post, and the lands annexed thereto, shall be to the use and under the government of the United States of America.

ARTICLE IV. If any citizen of the United States, or other person not being an Indian, shall attempt to settle on any of the lands hereby allotted to i the Chickasaws to live and hunt on, such person shall forfeit the protection of the United States of America, and the Chickasaws may punish him or not as they please.

ARTICLE V. If any Indian or Indians, or persons residing among them, or who shall take refuge in their nation, shall commit a robbery or murder, or other capital crime, on any citizen of the United States, or person under their protection, the tribe to which such offender or offenders may belong, or the nation, shall be bound to deliver him or them up to be punished according to the ordinances of the United States in Congress assembled: Provided, that the punishment shall not be greater, than if the robbery or murder, or other capital crime, had been committed by a citizen on a citizen.

ARTICLE VI. If any citizen of the United States of America, or person under their protection, shall commit a robbery or murder, or other capital crime, on any Indian, such offender or offenders shall be punished in the same manner as if the robbery or murder or other capital crime had been committed on a citizen of the United States of America; and the punishment shall be in presence of some of the Chickasaws, if any will attend at the time and place, and that they may have an opportunity so to do, due notice, if practicable, of such intended punishment, shall be sent to some one of the tribes.

ARTICLE VII. It is understood that the punishment of the innocent under the idea of retaliation is unjust, and shall not be practiced on either side, except where there is a manifest violation of this treaty; and then it shall be preceded, first by a demand of justice, and if refused, then by a declaration of hostilities.

ARTICLE VIII. For the benefit and comfort of the Indians, and for the prevention of injuries or oppressions on the part of the citizens or Indians, the United States in Congress assembled shall have the sole and exclusive right of regulating the trade with the Indians, and managing all their affairs in such manner as they think proper.

ARTICLE IX. Until the pleasure of Congress be known respecting the eighth article, all traders, citizens of the United States, shall have liberty to go to any of the tribes or towns of the Chickasaws to trade with them, and they shall be protected in their persons and property, and kindly treated.

ARTICLE X. The said Indians shall give notice to the citizens of the United States of America, of any designs which they may know or suspect. to be formed in any neighboring tribe, or by any person whosoever, against the peace, trade or interests of the United States of America.

ARTICLE XI. The hatchet shall he forever buried, and the peace given by 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 universe: and the contracting parties shall use their utmost endeavors to maintain the peace given as aforesaid, and friendship re-established.

In witness of all and every thing herein contained, between the said States and Chickasaws, we, their underwritten commissioners, by virtue of our full powers, have signed this definitive treaty, and have caused our seals to he hereunto affixed.

Done at Hopewell, on the Keowee, this tenth day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-six.

Benjamin Hawkins,
And'w. Pickens,
Jos. Martin,
Piomingo, his x mark,
Mingatushka, his x mark,
Latopoia, his x mark,


Witness:
Wm. Blount,
Wm. Hazard,
Sam. Taylor,
James Cole,
Sworn Interpreter.

The Avalon Project : 19th Century Documents
Treaties Between the United States and
Native Americans

Letters, government records and other relevant data.
Chickasaw Historical Research

Chickasaw History Tidbits
The Chickasaw originally occupied an area that is now northern Mississippi and the adjacent parts of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Alabama. The Chickasaw, who lived in dwellings constructed alongside streams and rivers rather than in villages, obtained food by hunting, fishing, and farming. Originally they were a warlike people, controlling a large territory and raiding nearby tribes such as the Choctaw, Creek, Cherokee, and Shawnee. Conquered people of other tribes, as well as some black American slaves, were absorbed into the Chickasaw tribe.

To learn more about the The Memorial of the Chickasaw Freedmen please visit "The Eloquent Protest of the Chickasaw Freedmen".

Throughout the colonial period the Chickasaw supported the English against the French, who tried unsuccessfully to subdue them. During the American Revolution some of their warriors fought in the Continental army; afterward the Chickasaw maintained friendly relations with the new nation. In the early 19th century they ceded most of their territory to the U.S. in various treaties. In the 1830s the entire 5000-member tribe was forcibly relocated to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). There they set up a system of self-government modeled on that of the U.S.; because of this system they were included as one of the so-called Five Civilized tribes. When Oklahoma was made a state in 1907, new settlers flooded Chickasaw lands. In 1990 the Chickasaw and their descendants numbered 20,631.

The Cherokee, the Choctaw, the Chickasaw, the Creek, and the Seminole, known as the Five Civilized Tribes because they resembled European nations in organization and economy.

The Chickasaws, who had a reputation as fierce fighters, drove De Soto westward, toward his discovery of the Mississippi River. In 1736, at the height of the French and Indian War, a bloddy battle erupted near Tupelo between the British-armed Chickasaws and the combined invading forces the French and the Choctaw Indians. Known as the Battle of Ackia, the engagement left the area in firm British control and contributed to the Crown's eventual domination of North America.

From the earliest Indian settlement, the Tupelo area was linked to the outside world via the now-historic Natchez Trace, which was established by the Chickasaws as a route of commerce with the Natchez Indians to the south. Traveled by the British in the 18th century, the Trace increased in importance as settlers poured into the frontier.

Tennessee Chickasaw
When whites entered the Tennessee area, in the 1500s, the state was occupied by essentially the same Native American peoples, the Chickasaw, the Yuchi, and the Cherokee. The Chickasaw, who were mainly from northern Mississippi and Alabama, claimed western Tennessee as their own. The Cherokee, who lived on the upper reaches of the Tennessee River, claimed the eastern part of Tennessee as their hunting ground. The Yuchi, who were part of the Creek, along with several other smaller tribes, were driven out to the south about 1700. About the same time, the Chickasaw and the Cherokee forced the Shawnee, who had lived in the north central region, to move north of the Ohio River. Middle Tennessee was a great hunting ground fought over by the Chickasaw and Cherokee, but inhabited by neither. Both tribes claimed much of Tennessee well into the 19th century.



Oklahoma and Chickasaw History
Chief Allen Wright, principal chief of the Choctaw Nation, suggested the word "Oklahoma" (meaning "Red People") in 1866 as the name for the proposed Indian Territory. In 1907 the word was made the official state name. The Townsite and adjoining Cemetery are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and on Oklahoma's list of Oldest Historical Places.

The name Boggy Depot was derived from the three rivers that flow nearby, the Clear Boggy, the Muddy Boggy, and the North Boggy. "Boggy" was the word given the rivers by the French trader who called the rivers "Vazzures," meaning miry or boggy. The name "Depot" was added after a Choctaw-Chickasaw treaty of 1837 required the Chickasaws to pay annuities on the Choctaw lands at the "Depot of the Boggy."

Old Boggy Depot Began in 1837 when Cyrus Harris, the future governor of the Chickasaw Nation, built a log cabin on the divide between clear Boggy River and Sandy Creek. With the settlement of the first Chickasaws along the Boggy and Blue Rivers in 1838, the Depot became a bustling community. The establishment of Fort Washita in 1842 caused the Fort Supply-Boggy Depot Road to become even more important along with the surge of white settlers to Texas in 1846, the gold rush to California in 1849, and an ever-increasing trade business.