296 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 43 



After the destruction of this Chocchuma stronghold the Choctaws next cap- 

 tured a Chocchuma fort, situated some 3 miles northwest of Starkeville, on the 

 spot afterwards occupied by the residence of Dr. Calvin Cushman, the mis- 

 sionary. Tradition has failed to preserve any details of the capture of this 

 place. 



About 6 miles west of Bellefontaiue, on the old Grenada road, is the site 

 of a Chocchuma village. The chief who lived there, Chula Homma (Red Fox), 

 is said to have been one of the most powerful chiefs of this tribe. The village 

 was captured and burned by the Choctaw. , Chula Homma and his warriors 

 were all slain, and the women and children became the slaves of the con- 

 querors. When the whites first visited that region, about 1S33, they found 

 living on the site of the A^illage an Indian, Coleman Cole, who claimed to be a 

 grandson of one of the captive women. From him a party of surveyors learned 

 the tradition of the village. 



According to tradition, the animosity of the Choctaw and Chickasaw toward 

 the Chocchuma was so fierce and unrelenting in this aboriginal war that they 

 killed every dog, cat, and chicken found in the Chocchuma villages. 



The Mr, Cushman referred to in this quotation gives a longer 

 account of the war, which he represents as having taken place in 

 1721, and as lasting three years." He adds that a descendant of the 

 last survivor, named Coleman Cole, " became a chief of the Choctaw 

 and died in 1884 at his home a few miles east of x^toka, Choctaw Na- 

 tion, Indian Territor3^" As may be seen bj^^ the foregoing quotations, 

 his date must be far too early, and the bloody protracted struggle he 

 described is neither true to Indian life nor possible when the tribe so 

 destroyed did not count more than a hundred and fifty souls. Very 

 likely a bitter struggle, though a short one, took place before the 

 Chakchiuma Avere finally absorbed into the Chickasaw, but the im- 

 portance of that particular struggle was probably magnified by 

 memories of the numberless other contests we know to have taken 

 place between the same combatants during the ages preceding. 



The Taposa 



The Taposa were on Yazoo river some distance — according to 

 La Harpe, 8 leagues — above the tribe just considered. '' They are 

 spoken of as allies of the Chickasaw,'' and Du Pratz states that their 

 language lacked the r sound,'' but most accounts give nothing 

 more regarding them than the name. In 1699 De Montigny esti- 

 mated the number of their cabins and those of the tribe just con- 

 sidered at 70,"^ while Du Pratz (1718-1726) assigns them 25 by them- 

 selves. '^ Ultimately they were probably absorbed into the Chickasaw. 



" H. B, Cushman, Hist, of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Natchez Indians, 242-246. 



»La Ilarpe, .Tour. Hist., 311, 1831. 



" Du Pratz, Hist, de La Louisiane, ii, 226. 



^ Compte Rendu Cong. Internat. des Amer., 15th soss., i, 36. 



