Initial Choctaw - US Political Relations
Throughout the 18th century, the Choctaws were divided into three geographic and political divisions that reflected the makeup and diverse ethnic origins of the tribe: the western division, dispersed around the upper Pearl River watershed; the eastern division, situated: around the upper Chickasawhawy River and lower Tombigbee River watersheds; and the southern division (or Six Towns), located along the upper Leaf River and mid-Chickasawhay River watersheds.
Treaties
The Ellicot Stone was installed in 1799 by a joint U.S.-Survey party. It is a boundary marker in northern Mobile County that demarcated the line between Mississippi Territory (U.S.) and West Florida (Spanish)
Choctaw Trading House at St. Stephens (1802)
Plans were authorized to establish a Chocin Trading House (or factor*) near st Steplens in Mashnglon Count, Lurated on the Tombigbee River close to its junclion with the Alabama River. on the east-west Indian trail from the Lower Creek terrilory to Natchez on the Mississippi River, the post could compete for all the trade coming down the rivers, plus all the trials «unveryiny toward Mobile.
Treaty of Fort Confederation (1802)
The Choctaw Nation ceded a tract of north Mobile and agreed to the drawing of boundary lines to delineate the eastern and northern boundaries of the Choctaw Nation. One of the Choctaw Cheifs signed this treaty on behalf of the Lower Towns was "Poosha Mattahaw" (Pushmataha) of the Six Tows District, who lived near St. Stephens. Turner Brashears signed and witnessed this treaty. Descendants of the Choctaw Brashear's family are members of the modern MOWA Tribe.
Treaty of Hoe Buckintoopa (St. Stephens) (1803)
As the American colonist population grew, the need for more farmland increased. U.S. agents continued to pressure the Choctaw Nation to turn over more land, ultimately forcing them lo cede 853,000 acres of land be redefining the boundary lines agreed to in the Treaty of 1802.
Mount Dexter Treaty (1805)
Pressure from US officials continued, resulting in the Choctaw Nation ceding an additional 4.142.720 acres across the southern portion of the Mississippi and into Alabama, which included the southern portion of present-day Choctaw County and the remaining portion of Washington County. Alabama, to the Tombigbee River.
Regardless, Choctaw residents continued to live on their traditional hunting lands in present-day Alabama. After a treaty displaced him, Piamingo Homelah, for example, moved his band of Six Town Choctaw to High Hill, an isolated area northwest of present day McIntosh where his descendants still live.
What were the Choctaws given as compensation for the Treaty?
What the Choctaks were given as compensation for the Treaty of Hoe Buckintoopa: Fifteen pieces of strouds (cloth), three rifles, one hundred and fifty blankets, two-hundred-and-fifty pounds of powder, two-hundred-and-fifty pounds of lead, one bridle, one man's saddle, and one black silk hankerchief.” The Choctaw chiefs who signed for these goods were Pio Mingo, Pasa Mastubby Mingo, Tappena Oakchia, Tuskenung Cooche, Cussoonuckchia, and Pushapia, chiefs residing on the Tombigbees, near St. Stephens. Young Gaines, an interpreter who signed the treaty as a witness, had four children by Kalioko, a Choctaw woman. Their daughter, Rose Gaines, has many descendants among the MOWA Choctaw tribe
Viney Reed Tayor was the granddaughter of Piamingo Hometah, a Six Towns Choctaw and the Chief of Hobuckintopa. One of her descendants, Wilford ‘Longhair’ Taylor, served as Cheif of the MOWA Choctaw in the late 1990s.
Treaty of Hopewell (1786)
Established a pulitical relationship between the U.S. and the Chuelas Nalion, recognizing that Americans who resided on Choctan lands would come under the jurisdiction of Choctaw law. It also gave the U.S. the right lo construct three trading posts in the Choctaw Nation and gave the United States Congress the right to regulale made in the area.
Treaty of San Lorenzo (1795)
Defined the border between the US and Spanish Florida, leaving the Choctaws on U.S.-controlled lands.
Mississippi Territory Created (1798)
Congress created the Mississippi Territory (later the states of Mississippi and Alabama), Choctaws were dispersed throughout the Gulf coastal plain, living on individual family farms. Several Choclaws and Creeks intermarried with Spaniards and Americans
Treaty of Fort Adams (1801)
The Choctaw Nation ceded 2.6 million acres of land for $2,000 in the southwestern corner of the nation, allowing the US. the right to construct a road through the Choctaw Nation from Natchez, Mississippi, to Nashville, Tennessee.
Natchez Trace
Excavation of Old St. Stephens, a bustling trade town and Alabama’s First Capital
