For 350 years the Chickasaws-one of the Five Civilized Tribes-made a sustained effort to preserve their tribal institutions and independence in the face of increasing encroachments by white men. This is the first book-length account of their valiant-but doomed-struggle. Against an ethnohistorical background, the author relates the story of the Chickasaws from their first recorded contacts with Europeans in the lower Mississippi Valley in 1540 to final dissolution of the Chickasaw Nation in 1906. Included are the years of alliance with the British, the dealings with the Americans, and the inevitable removal to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) in 1837 under pressure from settlers in Mississippi and Alabama. Among the significant events in Chickasaw history were the tribe’s surprisingly strong alliance with the South during the Civil War and the federal actions thereafter which eventually resulted in the absorption of the Chickasaw Nation into the emerging state of Oklahoma.

The first comprehensive history of the Lower Chickasaws in the Savannah River Valley Edward J. Cashin, the preeminent historian of colonial Georgia history, offers an account of the Lower Chickasaws, who settled on the Savannah River near Augusta in the early eighteenth century and remained an integral part of the region until the American Revolution. Fierce allies to the English settlers, the Chickasaws served as trading partners, loyal protectors, and diplomatic representatives to other southeastern tribes. In the absence of their benevolence, the English settlements would not have developed as rapidly or securely in the Savannah River Valley. Aided by his unique access to the modern Chickasaw Nation, Cashin has woven together details on the eastern Chickasaws from diverse source materials to create this cohesive narrative set against the shifting backdrop of the southern frontier. The Chickasaws offered primary allegiance to South Carolina and Georgia at different times in their history but always served as a link in ongoing trade between Charleston and the Chickasaw homeland in what is now Mississippi. By recounting the political, social, and military interactions between the native peoples and settlers, Cashin introduces readers to a colorful cast of Chickasaw leaders, including Squirrel King, the Doctor, and Mingo Stoby, each an important component to a story that has until now gone untold.

Tells the story of the Chickasaw people through vivid photography and rich essays.

"Examines the life of Chickasaws in Chikashiyaakni tingba, the original homeland, before their removal to Indian Territory in the first half of the nineteenth century. John P. Dyson draws on his extensive first-hand research and his knowledge of Chickasaw language to add to our understanding of this period of Chickasaw history"--Amazon.com.

A thorough examination of the Chickasaw Indians, tracing their history as far back as the documentation and archeological record will allow Before the Chickasaws were removed to lands in Oklahoma in the 1800s, the heart of the Chickasaw Nation was located east of the Mississippi River in the upper watershed of the Tombigbee River in what is today northeastern Mississippi. Their lands had been called "splendid and fertile" by French governor Bienville at the time they were being coveted by early European settlers. The people were also termed “splendid” and described by documents of the 1700s as “tall, well made, and of an unparalleled courage. . . . The men have regular features, well-shaped and neatly dressed; they are fierce, and have a high opinion of themselves.” The progenitors of the sociopolitical entity termed by European chroniclers progressively as Chicasa, Chicaca, Chicacha, Chicasaws, and finally Chickasaw may have migrated from west of the Mississippi River in prehistoric times. Or migrating people may have joined indigenous populations. Despite this longevity in their ancestral lands, the Chickasaw were the only one of the original "five civilized tribes" to leave no remnant community in the Southeast at the time of removal. Atkinson thoroughly researches the Chickasaw Indians, tracing their history as far back as the documentation and archaeological record will allow. He historicizes from a Native viewpoint and outlines political events leading to removal, while addressing important issues such as slave-holding among Chickasaws, involvement of Chickasaw and neighboring Indian tribes in the American Revolution, and the lives of Chickasaw women. Splendid Land, Splendid People will become a fundamental resource for current information and further research on the Chickasaw. A wide audience of librarians, anthropologists, historians, and general readers have long awaited publication of this important volume.

Chronicles the political life of an important Chickasaw leader.

Chickasaw Society and Religion brings back into print one of the most important ethnographic sources on Chickasaw Indian society and culture ever produced, making it available to a new generation of students and scholars. The Smithsonian Institution ethnologist John Swanton published his work on the Chickasaws in 1928 as part of the Forty-fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, and, like Swanton?s many other works on Southeastern Indians, it has remained one of the primary sources for scholars and students of Chickasaw and Southeastern Indian culture. Swanton combed printed and archival documents in constructing a picture of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Chickasaw life. Swanton?s keen eye for detail and his impressive knowledge of Southeastern Indian cultures make this study the starting point for all Chickasaw scholarship. Swanton broaches topics as diverse as Chickasaw marriage patterns, naming, government, education, gender roles, subsistence, religion, burial customs, and medicine. He also displays an intimate understanding of Chickasaw language throughout the essay that will aid future researchers.