DICTIONARY OF INDIANS. 



Choctaw. — Continued. 



Fourth division, or Choctaw branch, 

 of the Muskhogean family. This 

 branch included the Choctaw, Chick- 

 asaw, Houma, and some small tribes 

 which formerly lived along Yazoo 

 river. The languages of the members 

 of this branch are so closely related 

 that they may be considered as prac- 

 tically identical (Gatschet, Creek Mig. 

 Leg., I, 53, 1884). 



The earliest notice of these Indians 

 is that recorded by De Soto. The 

 giant Tuscalusa, whom he met in his 

 march down Coosa valley, and carried 

 to Mauvila, the capital of his province, 

 was a Choctaw chieftain; and the In- 

 dians who fought the Spaniards so 

 fiercely at this town were, in part at 

 least, Choctaw. When the French, 

 about the beginning of the i8th cen- 

 tury, began to settle colonies at Mo- 

 bile, Biloxi, and New Orleans, the 

 Choctaw came early into friendly re- 

 lations with them, and were their 

 allies in their wars against other In- 

 dian tribes. In the French war on the 

 Natches in 1730, a large body of 

 Choctaw warriors served under a 

 French officer. They continued this 

 friendship vintil the English traders 

 succeeded in drawing over to the Eng- 

 lish interest some of the eastern Choc- 

 taw towns. This brought on a war 

 between them and the main body, 

 who still adhered to the French, 

 which continued until 1763, when 

 peace was made between the two par- 

 ties. The tribe was at war with the 

 Creeks at various times, especially 

 from 1765 to 1 77 1, and it was also in 

 constant warfare with the Chickasaw. 

 After the French had surrendered 

 their possessions to Great Britain in 

 1763, and to some extent previously 

 thereto, members of the tribe began 

 to move across the Mississippi to the 

 west, where, in 1780, Milfort (Mem- 

 moire, 95, 1802) met some of their 

 bands who were then at war with 

 the Caddq. About 1809 a Choctaw 

 village existed on Wachita river, and 

 another on Bayou Chicot, Opelousas 

 parish, Louisiana. Morse (1820) says 

 there were 1 200 of them on the Sabine 

 and Nechez rivers, and about 140 on 

 Red river, near Nanatsoho (Rep. on 

 Ind. Af?., 373, 1822). It is stated by 

 some historians that this tribe, or par- 

 ties of it, participated in the Creek 

 war (Claiborne, Mississippi, 396) ; 

 this, however, is emphatically denied 

 by Halbert (Creek War of 18 13 and 

 1 8 1 4 , 124), who states that he was in- 

 formed (1877) by some of the oldest 

 members of the tribe that the Choc- 



taw showed no manifestation of hos- 

 tility to the Americans during this 

 war. The larger part of those in Mis- 

 sissippi began to migrate to Indian 

 Territory in 1835, having ceded most 

 of their lands to the United States in 

 various treaties (see Royce, Indian 

 Land Cessions, 18th Rep. Bur. Am. 

 Eth., pt. 11). 



The Choctaw were pre-eminently 

 the agriciilturists of the southern 

 Indians. Though brave, their wars 

 in most instances were defensive. No 

 mention is made of the "great house," 

 or "the square," in Choctaw towns, 

 as they existed in the Creek communi- 

 ties, nor of the green-corn dance. The 

 game of "chunke," as well as the 

 game of ball, were played extensively 

 among them. It was their custom to 

 clean the bones of the dead before de- 

 positing in boxes or baskets in the 

 bone-houses This cleaning of the 

 bones or removal of the flesh was per- 

 formed by "certain old gentlemen 

 with very long nails," who allowed 

 their nails to grow long for this pur- 

 pose. The people of this tribe also 

 followed the custom of setting up 

 poles around their new graves, on 

 which they hung hoops, wreaths, etc., 

 for the assistance of the spirit in its 

 ascent. They followed the cvistom of 

 flattening the head. 



The population of the tribe when 

 they first came into relation with the 

 French, about the year 1700, has been 

 estimated at from 15,000 to 20,000. 

 The population in 190 1 numbered 

 16,000, exclusive of 4250 "Choctaw 

 Freedmen" (negroes). These are all 

 under the Union agency, Indian Ter- 

 ritory. The number of the remnant 

 of the tribe still in Mississippi is not 

 known. 



There are, or at least were, formerly 

 several dialects spoken in different 

 sections; these, however, differed so 

 little that they have not been consid- 

 ered worthy of special mention. The 

 tribe was formerly divided into two 

 sections: one, including the main 

 body, formed the upper section, occu- 

 pying the central portions of the 

 state of Mississippi, and were always 

 referred to and spoken of as the tribe. 

 The others were known as the Gulf 

 Coast Choctaw, who, according to 

 Milfort (op. cit.), seem to have been 

 somewhat inferior in culture to, and 

 somewhat lower in morals than, their 

 northern brethren. 



According to Morgan (Ancient Soci- 

 ety, 99, 162, 1877) the Choctaw were 

 divided socially into two phratries, 

 each including four gentes, as foUojvs: 



