Historical Scholarship: Indian Removal - The Choctaw Experience
Indian Removal: The Choctaw
Experience
The Choctaw Nation of Mississippi
is one that carries a rich cultural legacy dating back to pre-colonial times in
America. During the 19th century they experienced many trials and
changes through Westward expansion, such as the Indian Removal Act and the
Trail of Tears. But despite their relocation and reduction in subsistence, the
Choctaw Nation has managed to retain many aspects of their original culture.
Even though they have adopted many American ways after their emigration, they
have held on to their existence and what it means to be an Indigenous American
from Choctaw Nation. Although it is common knowledge that many perished due to
their lack of immunity from viruses that traveled along with the European
immigrants, not much is mentioned of how their lives, cultures, and traditions
changed. Many may also know of the land that was lost to the Indigenous people
during this time, but not how they adapted to survive and managed to continue
the legacies of which a few are still remembered and mentioned currently.
Historical
Relevance
For 19th century religious and
political leaders, Manifest Destiny was about both land acquisition and
fulfilling a divine mission. During this period, the idea of American
exceptionalism was linked to a feeling that the United States had a special
role in North America. Many believed it was their duty to spread civilization
and influence the western territories. And it was considered inevitable because
the West was seen as the next frontier of a mission. The 19th century witnessed
the progression of difficult changes for Indigenous peoples in the American
West as a result of assimilation policies or plans to relocate them from their
native homelands during Westward expansion. One of such, the Indian Removal Act
of 1830, led to the displacement of thousands of Indigenous Americans, mainly
from the southeastern territories in vicinities just west of the Mississippi
River. Indigenous Nations of the Five Civilized Tribes, along with other
tribes, underwent a long migratory journey labeled the “Trail of Tears.” Despite
the extensive struggles Indigenous American communities have endured, these
communities have also maintained significant efforts for cultural preservation
and irridentism.
There is moderate amount of
previous research done on the causes and effects of Indian Removal on Nations
of the Five Civilized Tribes. In “Removing the Heart of the Choctaw People:
Indian Removal from a Native Perspective,” Donna L. Akers suggests, “America’s
philosophical and cultural beliefs have been examined in an effort to
understand the underpinnings of Manifest Destiny and America’s insatiable drive
for land and dominance. […] What has rarely been examined, however, is what
Removal meant to Native people, from a Native point of view.”[1] Her perspective on the
experience of the Choctaw people in the American West was realized by the lack
of Indigenous perspectives on Indian Removal. She also suggests, “The archives
and other written sources that are usually mined by modern scholars are almost
exclusively written by non-Native people.”[2]
Methodology
The sources located for this body
of research on Indian removal and the Choctaw experience were investigated for historical
relevance and accuracy. Of these resources, three of the most important pieces
of information on the legal provisions crafted to initiate the process are the U.S.
Congress. An Act to Provide for the Allotment of Lands in Severalty to
Indians on the Various Reservations (Dawes Act). Statutes at Large 24,
388-91, 1887., also known as the General Allotment Act, which authorized
the division of tribal lands into individual allotments to assimilate Native
Americans into American society; the U.S. Congress. Indian Appropriations
Act. 31st Congress, 2nd Session, Chapter 14, 1851., which established the
reservation system by setting aside land for Native American tribes and marking
a significant shift in U.S. policy. It has been described as the legislation
which would provide vocational training and assist in assimilation of Natives
into American society. Although it was proposed as a way to encourage natives
to leave reservations, it actually justified the ending of subsidies directed
to Indigenous communities; and the U.S. Congress. Indian Removal Act.
21st Congress, 1st Session, Chapter 148, 1830., which outlined the forced
relocation of Indigenous tribes originally residing east of the Mississippi
into designated Indian Territory in
present day Oklahoma. President Andrew Jackson signed it.
Scholarly sources which provide
previously done research on this topic include Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart at
Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West. New York: Holt,
Rinehart & Winston, 1970. Brown highlights battles for land such as Wounded
Knee, and details the challenges faced by Indigenous populations directly
affected by the new settlements popping up west of the Appalachians. The book
includes background surrounding the native experience from the beginning of
colonization to the 19th century issues and eventual encroachments
which catalyzed the Indian Wars. The View from Officers' Row: Army
Perceptions of Western Indians. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990, by
Sherry Smith also provided great insight for this project. Smith documents some
of the main turning points and foundational practices of the Army in the
American West, which challenged the sovereignty of Indigenous nations and
pushed them west of the Mississippi. The View from Officers' Row covers the major battles and features of the
Indian Wars, and highlights the appreciation some of the soldiers and their
spouses developed for the Indigenous people and the many stories that were
shared, suggesting that the soldiers and military leaders connected with the
Natives more than any other group in the American West
Historical
Background of the Indigenous Tribe
In order to understand the effects
of Indian removal on the Choctaw tribe, it is necessary to understand the
placement and situation of their tribes in the era immediately prior to Indian
Removal. This reflection will illuminate the cultural practices and traditions
held by the Choctaw Nation fore to and during the encroachment of new settlers
in their territories. However, it is difficult to locate extensive historical
information and data on Indigenous tribes prior to the 18th century.
Akers statement on this situation reads, “Oral narratives contain an
illimitable opportunity for Native cultural understanding and knowledge.
Although they may evolve over the years, this makes them not less reliable than
written records, but more so—if one is seeking information regarding the Native
perception of events within their cultural context. To understand the historical
experience of the Choctaws, it is essential to enter their world to the
greatest extent possible.”[3] She writes about the
fertile landscape of the Mississippi Choctaw tribe and how it was transformed
into cotton plantations, even in the states neighboring east and west. Another practice
Akers highlights are the cultural ties and matrilineal kinship. She poses, “Choctaw
society was based on matrilineal kinship. Clans provided the fundamental
Choctaw identity, and heritage was reckoned through the mother’s line. During
the late eighteenth century, a few white men moved among the Choctaws as
traders, adventurers, or outcasts of their own European or American homelands.
Some married Choctaw women and spent their lives enveloped in Choctaw society.”[4]
The
Role of Westward Expansion in Indian Removal
The history of Indigenous Americans
in the American West is a chronicle of transposition, hardship, and resilience.
The 19th-century Westward Expansion and Manifest Destiny upended the lives of
many native peoples, but they persevered. Although the 20th century presented
new challenges, it also witnessed Indigenous American communities progressing
efforts on cultural endurance and sovereignty. What factors advanced the
relocation of Indigenous American tribes in the 19th century, and how did the
subsequent Indian Removal Act of 1830 impact Indigenous American tribes? An
analysis of what situations and occurrences encouraged expansion westward gives
comprehension to the role of Manifest Destiny
in Indian Removal. From previously done research, we know that “prior to 1800,
and perhaps in the first decade of that century, the United States recognized
the strength and military prowess of the Choctaws and sought to engage in a
diplomatic relationship between equals. In the next two decades, however,
Choctaw power declined precipitously, relative to that of the American nation.
As a result, Americans began to view their relations with the Choctaws as one
of superior to inferior—in both the military and political sense.[5]” During these two decades,
the concept of the American West began to accelerate, and the greatest
expansion of the United States was taking root.
As the population in the states
continued to increase, settlers increased in their migration west. Although the
precipice of repositioning Indigenous American tribes likely began with the
first groups of new settlers, it became a more serious matted at the start of
the 19th century. According to Akers, “The 1820s saw the rise of
Andrew Jackson to national prominence. He was extremely popular in the
backwoods areas of the American South, where he consistently called for the
expulsion of the resident Native nations. The momentum of expansionism
escalated exponentially during this decade.”[6] She cited the treaties
between previous government leaders with Indigenous leaders, which were not
enforced on new setters arriving in Native lands, such as with the Choctaw
Nation.
Although this Indigenous nation had
become somewhat accustomed to adjusting to settlers trickling into nearby lands,
they were surprised to find that Jackson would not honor the treaties. Akers
asserts, “The Choctaws were confident, because of their traditional
expectations of the behavior of allies and friends, that the American
government would stem the incursions into their lands, and would guarantee, as
promised, their continued sovereignty and territorial integrity. Despite
Jackson’s long personal history with the Choctaws, however, he now formed the
core of those calling for their dispossession and exile. This betrayal was met
with disbelief and shock. As a traditional people, the Choctaws found the pace
of events and the sudden shift in American policy from assimilation to
dispossession incomprehensible. Even the most bicultural adapted Choctaws never
believed that betrayal on such a scale actually would occur.”[7] As did other Indigenous
tribes, the Choctaw people viewed their land as sacred and their connection to
it was vital to life. Being removed from this land to the Choctaw meant the
loss of life, the loss of their traditions, culture, and fundamental ways of
life. “Like the old man’s herbs, the Choctaws believed they could not be
separated from their mother, the land of which they were a part. The Choctaws
could no more be separated from these lands and survive than could the pine
forests of the Southeast be uprooted and transplanted hundreds of miles to the
West. The Choctaws were part of their homelands. Separation from it meant their
death.”[8]
Indian
Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act authorized
the forced relocation of Indigenous peoples, removing them of their hearth
lands. The act had long standing effects on Indigenous communities and
cultures, including loss of heritage, community, and identity for many tribes.
As Westward Expansion gained acceleration, Indigenous tribes resisted the
infringement of settlers and of the U.S. Army. According to historian Steven
Crum, “In September 1830 the U.S. government negotiated the Treaty of Dancing
Rabbit Creek with some leaders of the Choctaw Nation. The treaty reinforced the
congressional Indian Removal Act of 1830, which paved the way for the
large-scale physical removal of tens of thousands of tribal people of the
southeast, including many of the Choctaw. […] Over a two-year period, from 1831
to 1833, roughly thirteen thousand to fifteen thousand Choctaw, or about half
of the tribe, moved to the region we now call southeastern Oklahoma.”[9]
The irony in this relocation to the
west was the Indigenous belief that the west represented a place where souls
went to meet their end. Even though this belief may have been seen as
mythological, in some ways it proved to be material. Steven Crum details this
belief when he writes, “Compounding the enormity of the thought of separation
from their homelands was the Choctaw understanding of the west as the direction
of death. [...] Once the shilup arrived in the west, it went to a place of
happiness and delight, shilup i yokni. However, murderers were excluded from
this happy ending. They were unable to find the path leading to the land of happiness
and instead remained in view of, but unable to reach, that destination. This
place of the murderous spirits was called atuklant illi, the Second Death. The
horror this place conjured up in the minds of Choctaws cannot be overestimated.
It was the land of the living dead, the place where the most horrible spirits
roamed in unending despair and hopelessness.”[10] Crum’s description of the
Native idea of the west sounds like a place related to hell. He also discusses
the inability to remain close to personal possessions in their homes and ancestral remains buried on Indigenous lands,
which added another layer of fear to
those forced to relocate. “The American arrangements for their physical removal
left the Choctaws no choice. They had to abandon the bones of the dead. Under
the best of circumstances, there was no way for them physically to disinter all
the remains and transport them. […] Most necessities remained behind, such as
the hominy mortars which the women considered their most essential tool for
food preparation.”[11]
The Tribal Law Journal provides
some discourse the removal of the Choctaw people from their ancestral lands. It
outlines the “Treaty of Dancing Rabbit” and ways it used to begin the total
removal process. It states, “Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act in 1830, which
authorized his administration to seek removal of all southern Natives, in
combination with the 1830 signing of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, led to
many Choctaws being displaced and forcibly removed to Indian Territory in
present day Oklahoma.”[12]
Subsequently, the Choctaw people
were forced to relocate west to what would eventually become the state of
Oklahoma. “The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was the instrument used by the
United States government to force the Choctaws from their homes. Under the
guise of legality, this treaty was procured in 1830 by fraud and deception,
against the consent of almost the entire Choctaw Nation.” The move changed the
lives of these people in many ways. Agricultural practices long held in
Mississippi by Natives were no longer viable in their new conditions, and the loss
of possessions and loved ones compounded the loss of their original territory. “The
men stopped hunting, the women stopped planting, starvation and disease
followed. Children wailed all night from hunger and inattention. […] Loud
exclamations are heard against the treaty in almost every part of the nation.”[13] This research indicates
that families gathered in 1831 to leave the Mississippi lands for Indian
Territory, with the women using their skirts to cover their heads while they
sang “death songs’ through the night. It adds, “The warriors sat stoically,
facing away from the fires, into the woods. In the morning, as the soldiers
stirred the reluctant Choctaws, men and women lovingly touched the leaves and
branches of the trees as they departed. They left in autumn, as one of the
worst winters in memory struck throughout the South. When they reached the
Mississippi River, they were stopped indefinitely by ice floes obstructing
passage. The ferries and steamboats stopped running, forcing parties of
Choctaws to camp out night after night in freezing rain.”[14] They ceded over 30,00
square miles of land, as it was transferred to the government.
Trail
of Tears
The ordered removal led to a long
forced migratory journey that resulted in many deaths known as the Trail of
Tears. Historical research helps us to discover the ways the Choctaw nations
received the information about their displacement and how the Indigenous group initially
reacted to it. The Trail of Tears is an example of the experiences Indigenous
peoples endured during their forced relocation and its results for the
Indigenous were an immense loss of life and culture. The Choctaw people were
one of the first Indigenous tribes to be forcibly removed from their homes and
their journey was difficult and deadly, with some individuals suffering from
disease, hunger, and exhaustion along the route. Donna Akers asserts, “Many
Choctaws died or became seriously ill due to exposure, disease, and inhumane
arrangements for their journey. Most of the nation was forced to walk the
entire journey, which was more than five hundred miles. […]The men, women,
children, and elderly walked in chest deep swamp water for thirty miles. They
went without food for nearly six days, and many began dying from exposure and
starvation. […] One witness reported that among the bodies of the dead Choctaws
were one hundred horses standing up in the mud, stiff from death..”[15]
There are many descriptions of the
events happening along the Trail of Tears in the sources chosen for this
research. Details of the march from Mississippi to Oklahoma, along with the
conditions tribal members faced in their emigration. The historian writes, “Yet
another party traveled through sleet and snow for twenty-four hours, most
barefoot and nearly naked, in order to reach Vicksburg without exhausting their
inadequate supplies. The disgusted U.S. Army captain who was their official
escort, reported that ‘If I could have done it with propriety I would have
given them shoes. I distributed all the tents, and this party are entirely
without.’ He complained about the inadequate provisions made for the Choctaws
and said that the sight of these people and their suffering would convince
anyone of the need for an additional allowance for transportation.[…]Agent
William Armstrong reported that these Choctaws had suffered dreadfully from
cholera, stating, ‘The woods are filled with the graves of the victims. . . .
Death was hourly among us and road lined with the sick.’”[16] This discourse highlights
a member of the military who was not pleased about the condition of the Choctaw
on the Trail of Tears. Although there are likely other soldiers who shared his
sentiment, it is unusual to hear their stories.
Reservation
System
As the Dawes Act was passed in
1887, remaining tribal lands were separated into individual allotments as a
last effort to assimilate Indigenous Americans. In addition to the land
appropriations, Indigenous American cultures were disrupted by the boarding
schools that were designed to "civilize" young Indigenous Americans. What
were the cultural, social, and economic implications of the Dawes Act of 1887
on Indigenous American communities? According to Akers, “The enormous death
toll produced social and political chaos. The council of elders that governed
each town no longer existed when the Choctaws tried to rebuild in the West. The
clans could not survive the death of so many of the elders. [,,,] Since clans
traveled together, some suffered death dis proportionately, thus upsetting the
checks and balances of power so carefully constructed over the centuries by the
Choctaw. Their deaths also severely impacted the transmission and survival of
cultural knowledge and ritual.”[17] Details from creation of
the reservation system color the analysis with ways that Indigenous people
adapted to their new placements. It will study the authenticity of their
sovereignty and how these communities have evolved despite the challenges
presented in their displacement.
One of the factors that challenged
the resumption of practices and traditions for the Choctaw nation upon their
arrival in Indian territory was the immense loss of elders and tribal members
who diffused the culture to the younger members. There was difficulty in
piecing together the communities in the reflection of their existence in
Mississippi. “The deaths of so many of their people prevented the Choctaws from
replicating the physical organization essential to their identity in the new
lands of the West. This severe blow to kinship and identity rent the Nation and
exacerbated the confusion and depression they suffered after their arrival.”[18] However, as time passed,
some tribal members found ways to reconnect with relatives and reinvent new
means of surviving. The Choctaw were agrarian and attempted to extrapolate
sustenance from the new lands on which they resided. Akers contends, “The
Choctaws always have been survivors and have shown themselves adept at meeting
the challenges of a changing environment. Within a few years the majority had
found kinsmen, erected shelters, and cleared fields.”[19] However, there were some
of the Choctaw people who had a more difficult time accepting their new fate. Some
detoured on the Trail and others sent messages to tribal bands who were left in
Mississippi with discouragement. “Word traveled to and from the old nation in
the Southeast and the new lands in the years of the Removal. Choctaw families
in the West reported the great tragedy befalling the nation. Some of the newly
arrived émigrés turned around and started back. Others wrote kin that they
should not come west.”[20]
One cultural aspect the Choctaw
were able to maintain on reservations was language. Although many of the tribes
children attended Indian Boarding Schools, as a community, they were able to
retain enough to keep the language from total extinction. “The traditional
orthography is the preferred writing system in Oklahoma. It has seen some
changes throughout its 200-year history, most notably some alignment of vowel
characters with the phonetic values of these characters in English.”[21]
Preservation
of Culture
By what means were Native American
populations able to preserve their languages, traditions, and customs in the
20th century despite the effects of forced assimilation policies? At the
opening of the 20th century, many Indigenous American communities had suffered
and endured substantial hardships. However, these communities maintained
significant efforts for cultural preservation and irredentism.. Despite their
isolation, Indigenous American cultures began to thrive again in the 20th
century and to gain recognition. Additionally, during the end of the 20th
century, Indigenous tribes gained noticeable economic progress with casinos and
other business ventures. Preservation of the language was one of the ways the
Choctaw nation were able to maintain culture. “While sporadic written records
of the language appear as early as 1715, systematic writing of Choctaw only
began with the arrival of American missionaries, led by Rev. Cyrus Byington in
1819. The first texts published in Choctaw were parts of the Bible, and these
are still the longest published texts in the language today..”[22] In today’s society, there
are Indigenous people who identify with tribes that live in urban settings or
away from reservations. This has led to a hierarchal diffusion of culture
induce into Indigenous communities. Crum stated, “…the Choctaw Nation appeared
to have become visibly Americanized in the years after Indian removal. This was
a major reason the larger society labeled them as one of the ‘Five Civilized
Tribes’ of eastern Indian Territory.”[23]
Conclusion
Still today, Indigenous American
communities face immense challenges, like poverty and unemployment. Nevertheless,
the story of Indigenous Americans in the American West is also a testament to
resilience and survival. “The story of the American policy of Indian Removal
must be reexamined and retold. It was not merely an official, dry, legal
instrument as it often is portrayed.”[24] Indigenous Americans have
shown extraordinary strength in retaining their cultures, languages, and
traditions in the face of centuries of adversity, and theirs is a story of
resistance, survival, and cultural revitalization. There many Choctaw people
which accepted Protestantism and became members of various Christian
denominations. “Many Choctaws today are affiliated with the Methodist,
Presbyterian, or Baptist faiths. Seven OK and one MS bilingual hymns and
doxologies form this section of the corpus, with a total number of 234-word
tokens.”[25]
Indigenous American communities have persisted, fought to recover their lands,
and continued to work at preserving their heritage and determining their
future. They have adapted to the changes brought on by Westward Expansion and
even adopted some cultural idioms learned from those who settled in the
American West. And the ongoing Indigenous American legacy is one of strength,
and their ongoing fight for justice continues to inspire descendants of Native
Americans.
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[1] Donna
L. Akers. "Removing the Heart of the Choctaw People: Indian Removal from a
Native Perspective/" American Indian Culture and Research Journal
23, no. 3. page 60.
[2] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
Page 65.
[5] Ibid.
Page 66.
[6]Ibid.
[7]Ibid.
[8]
Ibid. Page 69.
[9] Steven
Crum, "The Choctaw Nation: Changing the Appearance of American Higher
Education, 1830–1907," History of Education Quarterly 47, no. 1
(February 2007): 49.
[10]
Ibid, page 69
[11]
ibid
[12] Austin
C. Megli, "The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma: History, Influences, and
Contemporary Setting of the Choctaw Legal Structure," Tribal Law
Journal 18, no. 1 (2017): 4.
[13] Steven
Crum, "The Choctaw Nation: Changing the Appearance of American Higher
Education, 1830–1907," History of Education Quarterly 47, no. 1. Page
70.
[14]
Ibid
[15] Akers.
Page 71.
[16] Jason
Lewis, Home in the Choctaw Diaspora: Survival and Remembrance Away from
Nanih Waiya (master's thesis, University of Kansas. Page 22-23.
[17] Akers.
Page 72.
[18]
ibid
[19]
Ibid
[20]
Ibid
[21]Jacqueline
Brixey and Ron Artstein, "PROJECT NOTES ChoCo: A Multimodal Corpus of the
Choctaw Language," Language Resources & Evaluation 55 (2021):
244, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10579-020-09494-5. p, 244
[22] Ibid.
[23] Crum.
Page 68.
[24] Akers.
Page 74.
[25] Jacqueline Brixey and Ron Artstein,
"PROJECT NOTES ChoCo: A Multimodal Corpus of the Choctaw Language," Language
Resources & Evaluation 55 (2021): 244,
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10579-020-09494-5.p.250.
