The Chickasaw Tribe is one of the Five Civilized Tribes and is located in Oklahoma. They were fierce fighters and had a trading network stretching from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. They migrated from Alabama and signed a treaty with the Confederacy during the US Civil War. They formed their own government in 1856 and ratified a new tribal constitution in 1983.
The Chickasaw Tribe is a Native American nation that is part of the group known as the Five Civilized Tribes. These five tribes – Chickasaw, Choctaw, Cherokee, Creek and Seminole – received this designation due to how they adapted to European lifestyles and customs. The Chickasaw Nation is currently located in Oklahoma with its capital at Tishomingo.
Hernando De Soto, the Spanish explorer, recorded the first European contact with the Chickasaw tribe in 1540. While no one knows where the Chickasaw came from, oral tradition claims they were descended from one of two brothers; Chaska, the father of the Chickasaw tribe, and Chocta, the father of the Choctaw tribe. The relationship between the two is evident from the similarity of their languages and customs, although they had become strong adversaries by the time of European settlement in America. There is also a general consensus that they are descended from the mysterious mound builders who settled in what is now Alabama.
Tradition indicates that the Chickasaw tribe migrated southeast from somewhere west, although their earliest known homeland was along the Tennessee River near Huntsville, Alabama. By the early 18th century, they had migrated into northeastern Tennessee along the upper reaches of the Tombigbee and Yazoo rivers. They expanded over a long stretch of the river system as far north as Memphis, Tennessee, living in a series of large, well-established villages, some of which covered several square miles. The tribe kept some of their original villages in Alabama and established outposts in Pennsylvania and South Carolina to better compete in their established trading business. At one point, the Chickasaw tribe maintained a trading network that stretched from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.
While the Chickasaw were basically farmers, ranchers, and traders, they were a warlike people who fought continuously with the French and several neighboring tribes, including the Choctaw, Creek, Cherokee, Shawnee, Osage, and Illinois, among others. As a result of their fierce fighting, they became known as the Spartans of the lower Mississippi Valley. The Chickasaw tribe sided with the British against the French during the French and Indian War and thrived on the removal of the French from their lands. During the US Civil War, the tribe signed a treaty with the Confederacy and fought in a special unit of the Confederate Army.
In 1837, as part of a series of Indian moves, the Chickasaw tribe left their lands east of the Mississippi and moved into Indian Territory in what became Oklahoma. At first they lived with their old enemies, the Choctaws, but in 1856 they separated to form their own government which consisted of a constitution and three branches; legislative, judicial and executive. Tribal officials were appointed following popular elections. After Oklahoma became a state, the federal government began appointing Chickasaw officials, but legislation passed in 1970 allowed the Five Tribes to once again elect their own leaders. In 1983, a new tribal constitution was ratified.
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