Seven years ago, I wrote a column about a missionary from Mayhew having dinner with Moshulitubbee, a Choctaw chief, at his house northeast of present-day Brooksville.

With the association of food, Native Americans and Thanksgiving, I thought about another article on the history of frontier dining in the Columbus Starkville West Point area. What I stumbled into were accounts from the 1820s of the interactions between the Choctaws and missionaries at Mayhew. Three weeks ago, my column was the story of Anna Burnham as a missionary and teacher among the Choctaw. Two of the accounts I found were by Mr. Hooper and Mr. Byington, missionaries and teachers with whom Miss Burnham worked.

The site of the Mayhew Mission is near Tibbee Creek in Oktibbeha County between present-day Starkville and West Point. Mission journals and letters from 1822 and 1823 provide a description of the countryside and people at the time of Hooper’s dinner with Moshulitubbee. On Dec. 28, 1823, Mr. Byington, a missionary from Mayhew, visited a village of a chief about 16 miles from Mayhew. That is about the right distance to be and probably was Moshulitubbee’s Prairie Village. Byington wrote, “Within two miles of the house … are about 20 families. … There are three looms in this village – one of them made by a Choctaw. The Indians raise corn, cotton. Sweet potatoes, beans &c. The women generally at work, picking cotton, spinning, sewing or cooking.”

In April 1822, William Goodell was traveling from Columbus to the Choctaw mission at Mayhew. His route followed what is now known as the Old West Point Road and crossed a large prairie. Goodell described the scene along the road: “Flowers of red, purple, yellow and indeed of every hue, are scattered, by a bountiful God, in rich profusion, and in all the beauty and innocence of Eden, on each side of the path; and their fragrance is as if the very incense of heaven were there offered. You can stand in almost any place, and count flowers of ten or twelve different hues.”

In a Sept. 19, 1822, letter published in The Christian Mirror of Portland, Maine, Mr. Hooper, a teacher working at Mayhew, wrote that on the morning of July 23, 1822, he set out from Mayhew for the house of the “Choctaw “King.” The king he referred to was Moshulitubbee. He was one of the three principal chiefs of the Choctaw Nation and had two houses in what is now Noxubee County, one near Brooksville and the other at Mashulaville. Hooper wrote that after setting out from Mayhew, he proceeded four or five miles and stopped at an Indian’s house where he obtained directions.

He continued: “I then ascertained my course, and proceeded onward; sometimes traveling in a path, at other times striking through the pathless forests and prairies. … It was most delightful after traveling, sometimes 4 or 5 miles through woods, to behold suddenly opening before me, the most charming landscapes, adorned with a luxuriant herbage. It seemed strikingly to represent a Christian pilgrim, who having wandered through the wilderness of this world, opens his eyes on the fields of immortal glory, and traverses the paradise of God. I found three houses, or rather neighborhoods, during the first 20 miles and arrived at the king’s residence at 4 o’clock, P.M. The king recognized my countenance, hastened to meet me. Taking me by the hand, he said, in broken English, ‘come into the house.’ Having introduced me to the queen, he directed his interpreter (a slave) to say to me, ‘we are friends; you must tarry with me all night. I will go with you a part of the way tomorrow.’

The king’s house has three apartments. In front is a piazza about 10 feet by 25. The piazza is floored with plank. After accomplishing some business with the king we walked out to view his fields, flocks and herds. He gave orders to one of his sons and some laborers to kill an ox. We then walked into the piazza and passed an hour in miscellaneous conversation. The king remarked that a big council had been recently holden at his house, and no whiskey was drank on the occasion. The interpreter at length informed us that supper was ready.

On entering the room I was not a little surprised to see a table set in so much order. A neat linen was spread over the table, and on it was some of the fatted ox, well cooked. Also sweet potatoes, corn bread, imported tea, and wild honey. The only thing that was Choctaw was a large native bowl of tomfullah, with two spoons made of the horns of a buffalo.

Having seated ourselves, the king, through his interpreter, desired me to ask a blessing. I remarked at the table that it gave me much pleasure that the great Spirit had so bountifully rewarded the labour of his hands. This led him to ask whether I could tell him where the first seed corn came from. … Before rising from the table, he bowed toward me to return thanks. While the queen and young children were supping, the king at my request, related some of the traditions of his fathers, among which was the following: ‘There was once a great rain, which caused the waters to rise above the hills and mountains. The whole race of men, with the exception of one family, was drowned. This family having a big boat, floated on the waters, and thus were preserved from the general destruction. The waters at length subsiding, the family came out of the big boat, on to the dry ground.’”

Hooper further said of the next morning: “After having some conversation with the slaves about eternal things, I took leave of the queen, and the dear little boys who are my pupils. The king and an adult son accompanied me 15 miles to Major Pitchlynn’s.” Pitchlynn lived at Plymouth Bluff, about five miles east of Mayhew. This 20-mile total identifies Moshulitubbee’s house, where the dinner was held, as his prairie home near Brooksville.

Rufus Ward is a local historian.

Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at [email protected].

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