Mississippi's American Indians by James F. Barnett

Author:James F. Barnett [Barnett, James F.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Native American, United States, State & Local, South (AL; AR; FL; GA; KY; LA; MS; NC; SC; TN; VA; WV)
ISBN: 9781617032455
Google: MVVeswEACAAJ
Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
Published: 2012-03-19T03:05:11+00:00

Figure 9. Chickasaw land cessions.

Traders and government officials calculated the Choctaws’ debt at more than twice that of the Chickasaws. Armed with this persuasive argument, U.S. commissioners began preliminary land cession negotiations with the Choctaw chiefs and head warriors at St. Stephens in the spring of 1805. These proceedings included plenty of food and liquor, making for a rather raucous atmosphere that came to characterize future treaty negotiations.25 The commissioners Robertson and Dinsmoor and chiefs led by Apuckshunubee (Pukshunnubbee, Western/Upper Towns Division), Mingo Homastubbee (Eastern/Lower Towns Division), and Pushmataha (Sixtowns Division) reconvened in November at the Choctaw village of Pooshpukanuk (Pooshapukanuk, Pashiakona) in the western part of present-day Noxubee County and signed the Treaty of Mount Dexter on November 16, 1805. Out of the $50,500 treaty settlement, the representatives of Panton, Leslie & Company received $46,000. Two thousand dollars went to pay for “depredations” against white settlers by “evil disposed persons of the Chaktaw [sic] nation,” and trader/interpreter John Pitchlynn came away with $2,500 for “certain losses sustained” and “as a grateful testimonial” on behalf of the tribe. The United States gained approximately 4.1 million acres; however, the Choctaws claimed a victory of sorts by refusing to cede the Mississippi River land that Jefferson desired. Instead, the tribe gave up a huge tract along the U.S. border with Spanish West Florida, which roughly corresponds to the present-day Mississippi counties of Lincoln, Pike, Lawrence, Walthall, Jefferson Davis, Lamar, Covington, Perry, Jones, Wayne, and Greene (Figure 10). Also included in the cession was a large tract in present-day Alabama situated north and east of the land the Choctaws ceded in the Treaty of Hoe Buckintoopa. Jefferson was disappointed with the results of the Mount Dexter treaty and delayed its submission to the U.S. Senate for ratification for two years. As for the Choctaws, they had managed to hold on to their hunting land in the Lower Yazoo Basin and the access it provided to more hunting lands west of the Mississippi River.26

As the Chickasaw treaty did earlier in the year, the U.S. commissioners at Mount Dexter awarded the Choctaw leaders who helped bring about the land cession. Apuckshunubee, Mingo Homastubbee, and Pushmataha, who were flattered with the title of “Great Medal Mingos,” each received $500 plus annuities of $150 to continue as long as they held office. The Choctaw tribe as a whole received an annuity of $3,000 worth of merchandise. Other beneficiaries of the treaty included Alzira and Sophia Mitchell, mixed-blood daughters of Samuel Mitchell and his Choctaw wife, Molly, who were awarded a 5,120-acre tract on the Tombigbee River. As mentioned above, Mitchell served briefly as federal agent to the Choctaws before receiving the agent’s post with the Chickasaws.27

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