The Chickasaws and Choctaws who were here at the time of Anglo-American settlement were a cultured, civilized people. They were not as Native Americans are often portrayed by Hollywood or on T.V.

They wore European style clothes, ate off of fine English dinnerware, lived in log or frame houses, had farms and many were educated.

My research on Choctaws, who between 1810 and 1832 lived on the prairies between present-day Columbus and Starkville, has provided a picture of a lifestyle not much different than that of the early Anglo-American settlers at that time. On a farm near Artesia, I found the location and records of two Choctaw families who lived there by 1813 until the early 1830s. Their house sites were in present-day cultivated fields allowing for a surface collection of artifacts left by those two families.

What I discovered was not what I had expected. The families lived in dwelling houses probably of log construction, farmed at least six acres, used English dishes of a middle-class price range, and lived a lifestyle comparable to that of the Anglo-American farmers east of the Tombigbee around Columbus.

Cushman, in his 1899 “History of the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Natchez Indians,” spoke of most Choctaws living in two-room log houses like those of early white settlers, but Choctaw captains or chiefs lived in frame houses. Moshulitubbee, a chief who lived in present-day Noxubee County, had a two-story frame house with a porch across the front.

In 1822 Mr. Hooper, a missionary from Mayhew, had dinner at one of Moshulitubbee’s two houses. In a letter he described his experience, “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 held 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.”

Choctaw and Chickasaw children could attend one of several missionary schools in the area, such as the Chickasaw’s Charity Hall near present-day Amory or the Choctaw’s Mayhew northeast of present-day Starkville. In the mid1820s children of two Choctaw families were even attending Franklin Academy, the Columbus public school. The educational and cultural achievements of the Choctaws in the Columbus area are exemplified by Peter Pitchlynn.

Peter’s father, John Pitchlynn, was the long serving U.S. Choctaw interpreter originally appointed by George Washington, and his mother was Choctaw. Peter was born on the Noxubee River in 1806. The family moved to Plymouth Bluff in 1810 and Peter grew up there. In the 1820s, he had a house southwest of present-day Artesia but moved to the Indian Territory (Oklahoma) with Indian Removal after the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1830. He became the Choctaw delegate (nonvoting) to the U.S. Congress and served as Chief of the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma.

In 1840 Pitchlynn, who was married, was said to have bested Henry Clay, a bachelor, in a friendly public debate on marriage. He also met Charles Dickens on a steamboat traveling the Ohio River. Dickens called him “a gentleman of Nature’s making” and wrote of the meeting in his book “American Notes,” “There chanced to be on board this boat, in addition to the usual dreary crowd of passengers, one Pitchlynn, a chief of the Choctaw tribe of Indians, who sent in his card to me, and with whom I had the pleasure of a long conversation.

“He spoke English perfectly well, though he had not begun to learn the language, he told me, until he was a young man grown. He had read many books; and Scott’s poetry appeared to have left a strong impression on his mind: especially the opening of ‘The Lady of the Lake,’ and the great battle scene in ‘Marmion.’ … He was dressed in our ordinary everyday costume, which hung about his fine figure loosely, and with indifferent grace. He told me that he had been away from his home, west of the Mississippi, seventeen months: and was now returning. He had been chiefly at Washington on some negotiations pending between his Tribe and the Government. … He had no love for Washington; tired of towns and cities very soon; and longed for the Forest and the Prairie. I asked him what he thought of Congress. He answered, with a smile, that it wanted dignity, in an Indian’s eyes. … (We spoke) of Mr. Catlin’s gallery, which he praised highly: observing that his own portrait was among the collection, and that all the likenesses were ‘elegant.’”

By 1805 Choctaws and Chickasaws living in what is now the Columbus, Starkville, West Point, Macon, Aberdeen and Amory area were living lifestyles little different from that of the early Anglo-American settlers. At that time the Choctaws lived in log or frame houses, raised horses, cattle and hogs, farmed with extensive corn fields, and many of their children attended Indian Mission schools. The children of two families even attended the Columbus public school.

In addition, Choctaws and Chickasaws sold agricultural products and deer skins to merchants in Columbus and shopped in Columbus. Many merchants in Columbus were opposed to Indian removal as they were such good customers.

The artifacts found on area Indian sites from the 1820s are much the same as found on1820s house sites in Columbus and many of the English china pieces are even the identical patterns. The Choctaws and Chickasaws were a civilized and cultured people.

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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