English: Title: Bulletin

Identifier: bulletin3011907smit Year: 1901 (1900s) Authors: Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology Subjects: Ethnology Publisher: Washington : G. P. O. Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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Text Appearing Before Image: 288 CHOCTAW [B. A. sued by a white hunter to the mountain which bears his name and driven over the diffs or shot to death. Before dying he is reported to have cursed the English and their cattle, and to this is attributed the fact that none of these animals thrive in Burton (Drake, Aboriginal Races, 285, 1880). It is possible that the chief has been conjured up to account for the name of the mountain. (a. f. c.) Choctaw (])0ssibly a corruption of the Spanish rhito, 'flat' or 'flattened,' al- luding to the custom of these Indians of flatteningthe head). An important tribe of the Muskhogean stock, formerly occu- pying middle and s. Mississippi, their ter- ritory extending, in their most flourishing days, for some distance e. of Tombigbee r., probably as far as Dallas co., Ga.

Text Appearing After Image: ALLEN WRIGHT — CHOCTAW Ethnically they belong to the Choctaw branch of the Muskhogean family, which included the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Huma, and their allies, and some small tribes which formerly lived along Yazoo r. The dialects of the members of this branch are so closely related that they may be considered as practically identical (Gatschet, Creek Migr. Leg., i, 53,1884). The earliest notice of these Indians is found in the De Soto narratives for 1540. The giant Tascalusa, whom he met in his march down Coosa valley and carried to Mauvila, was a Choctaw chieftain; and the natives who fought the Spaniards so fiercely at this town belonged to a closely related tribe. When the French, about the beginning of the 18th century, began to settle colonies at Mobile, Biloxi, and New Orleans, the Choctaw came early into friendly relations with them and were their allies in their wars against other Indian tribes. In the French war on the Natchez, in 1730, a large body of Choctaw warriors served under a French officer. They c-ontinued this friendship until the English traders succeeded indrawingover to the English interest some of the e. Choctaw towns. This brought on a war between them and the main bod\', who still adhered to the French, which contin- ued until 1763. The tribe was constantly at war with the Creeks and Chickasaw. After the French had surrendered their American possessions to Great Britain, in 1763, and to some extent previously thereto, members of the tribe began to move across the Mississippi, where, in 1780, Milfort (Memoire, 95, 1802) met some of their bands who were then at war M'ith the Caddo. About 1809 a Choctaw village existed on Wichita r., and another on Bayou Chicot, Opelousas parish, La. Morse (1820) says there were 1,200 of tliem on the Sabine and Neches rs., and about 140 on Red r., near Pecan point (Rep. to Sec. War, 373, 1822). It is stated by some historians that this tribe, or parties of it, participated in the Creek war; this, however, is emphatic- all v denied by Halbert (Creek War of 1813 and 1814, 124, 1895), who was informed in 1877 by some of the oldest mendjers of the tribe that the Choc- taw manifested no hostility toward the Americans during this conflict. A small band of perhaps 30 were probably the only Choctaw with the Creeks. The larger part of those in Mississippi began to migrate to Indian Ter. in 1832, hav- ing ceded most of their lands to the United States in various treaties (Royce, Indian Land Cessions, 18th Rep. B. A. E., 1899). The Choctaw were preeminently the agriculturists of the southern Indians. Though brave, their wars in most in- stances were defensive. No mention is made of the "great house," or "the square," in Choctaw towns, as they ex- isted in the Creek communities, nor of the busk (q. v.). The game of chunkey (q. V.), as well as the ball play (q. v.), was extensively practised by them. It was their custom to clean the bones of the dead before depositing them in boxes or baskets in the bone-houses, the work be- ing performed by "certain old gentle- men with very long nails," who allowed their nails to grow long for this purpose. The people of this tribe also followed the custom of setting up poles around the new graves, on which they hung hoops, wreaths, etc., to aid the spirit in its ascent. As their name seems to imply, they practised artificial head flattening.

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