The Choctaw and Chickasaw of northeast Mississippi in the early 1800s were a civilized, cultured people. This is especially true of the Choctaws living during the 1820s and 30s on the prairies of what is now the Starkville, Columbus, Macon area. The Choctaws on the farms and in the villages of the prairie lived in a fashion little different than that of the Anglo-American settlers around Columbus.

This showed up again last week when I bought a book, J Olenry’s 1835 edition of Modern Geography, which commented on the lifestyles of the Indians in northeast Mississippi: “The northern and northeastern portion of the state (Mississippi) are inhabited by the Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians, who have made considerable advancement in the arts of civilized life. The book’s description of Mississippi included the illustration of a Choctaw village in Mississippi. It showed a village composed of log cabins and frame houses.

It was not that different than Columbus would have appeared in the 1820s. The first frame house in Columbus was built in 1819 and log houses continued to be built until 1830 when their construction was banned within the town.

The Choctaws who lived in the prairies west of the Tombigbee during the early 1800s lived in log or frame houses, raised livestock, farmed, used English-made dishes, and often enjoyed an economic status equal to and sometimes higher than the Anglo-American settlers moving into the area. 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 with Choctaw captains or chiefs living 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.

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 mid-1820s children of two Choctaw families were even attending Franklin Academy, the Columbus public school that had been founded in 1821.

What was it like to dine with local Choctaw Indians in the 1820s? Such a dinner was described by a Mr. Hood, a missionary from the Mayhew Choctaw Mission. In 1822 he dined with Moshulitubbee, one of the principal Choctaw chiefs and described his meal: “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 (a corn mush), with two spoons made of the horns of a buffalo… Having seated ourselves, the king, through his interpreter, desired me to ask a blessing.” It was a meal not that different from one served in any Columbus home of that time.

A staple of the Choctaw diet was corn. Different types of corn were planted including a “flint or flour corn” that contained both white and blue kernels. According to John Swanton in his “Source Material for the Social and Ceremonial Life of the Choctaw Indians,” that corn was used for roasting ears. Swanton also mentioned that the Choctaws even had popcorn. Other vegetables included beans, squash and pumpkin.

Surface collections from three c. 1810 to 1832 Choctaw house sites in Lowndes County show a wide range of mostly Staffordshire English earthenware cups, bowls plates and a silver spoon. Transfer printed pieces in blue, red, black and brown were popular. There were fragments of hand painted dinnerware of blue and white and of multicolored small floral patterns. Blue “shell” edge decorated wares were also popular. I have found fragments of a plate and a vegetable bowl made by James Clews of Staffordshire, England between 1825 and 1834 on two different Choctaw sites and at an 1819-1836 downtown Columbus house site. The pattern is Lafayette Landing at Castle Garden New York. They are a dark blue transfer-printed earthenware. The Choctaw dinnerware was identical to the dinnerware used in Columbus at the same time.

TishaHoma, a Choctaw who lived in southern Lowndes County, died in 1836 and his personal property was inventoried for the probate of his estate: “An Inventory of assessment of the goods & Chattels of Tish Homa otherwise called Captain Red Pepper. To wit:1 Gray Mare yearling, 1 Bay Horse,1 Brown Horse, 1 Blue roan Mare & colt, 1 Negro Girl slave named Sally, 18 years old, 1 Large Brass Kettle, 1 Small kettle,1 Pot,1 Oven, 1 Shot Gun, 13 Bottles, 9 Plates, 1 Pitcher, 1 Tin Pan, 1 Water Bucket, 2 Spanish Saddle & Side Saddle, 1 Over Coat, 2 Axes, 2 Hoes, 1 Sifter, 2 Candlesticks,1 Hatchet. & 1 Hammer, 1 Broken set of Knives & Forks, 1 Pair Fire Tongs, 2 Chairs, 1 Bell & Collar, 1 Bridle, 1 Table, 1 Plough.”

In 1903, William Love, a historian whose farm was in southern Lowndes County, published an article, “Mingo Moshulitubbee’s (another spelling is Mushulatubbee) Prairie Village,” in Volume 7 of the Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society. The village was located a few miles northeast of present-day Brooksville. Love wrote that, “Major Thomas G Blewett, bought the home and two sections of land of Moshulitubbee at some time in the early part of 1832. Major Blewett often stated to various persons that he was informed by Moshulitubbee that the great council of 1811 with Tecumseh was held there and that he was present and was an eye witness to everything that occurred; that Moshulitubbee called his attention more than once to the large red oak tree under which the council was held and to the several small lakes in the lowlands around which encamped the large number of Choctaws who attended the council.”

In 1832, Moshulatubbee, the faithful friend of the Anglo-American settlers, left his homeland and his two story frame home with a porch across the front in the Indian removal after the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. He traveled the Choctaw Trail of Tears, a branch of which cut through the northwest corner of present-day Starkville, headed to a new home far from his beloved prairie village.

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