CHICKASAW, thilea-sa, the most active and warlike tribe of the great Muskhogean (q.v.) Indian stock; a branch of the Choctaw (q.v.), and according to their own tradition, not separated till after the united tribe crossed the Mississippi eastward. They occupied north eastern Mississippi, and the adjacent part of western Tennessee to the Ohio. Their chief settlements were on the head-waters of the Tombigbee and Yazoo, about the present Ponto toc and Chickasaw counties, and trail led to them from the site of Memphis, 160 miles off, their principal Mississippi landing. They were first found by De Soto, who reached the village of "Chicaca" with 200 houses, on the west bank of the Yazoo, 17 Dec. 1540, and remained there till March; but when he undertook to impress some of the Indians as porters, he was repeat edly assailed, the village fired, his path barred by a stockade and he lost many men before he beat them off. English traders penetrated thither in the 17th century. After the French settlement at Mobile, the rivalry of the two nations first set them against the French, and for a time cut off the Mississippi trade from both; but with the French, as the only real colonists in that region, they were in constant and envenomed hostility for many years, and Bienville and D'Artaguette led expeditions against them again and again, not even a nom inal peace in 1740 putting an end to their war fare. With Oglethorpe of Georgia they had friendly relations. At this time they had four large contiguous settlements, with the houses in each scattered over a space 1 to 2 miles wide and 4 to 10 long; the chief was called Chookka Pharaah, or Long House. Their sachem was called the mico. In 1765 Governor Johnstone of West them and the Choctaws to hold a council with him at Mobile, where a trade tariff was framed; hut the white traders among them soon precipitated fresh troubles. After the Revolution, at the great general treaty of Hopewell, 28 Nov. 1785, their mico Pio and others made a treaty delimiting their lands from the Ohio River to the Mississippi State line. Their number was then estimated at 800 to 1,200. The reliability of these estimates may be judged from the fact that they are said to have had 10,000 warriors when they crossed the Mississippi, 450 in 1755, 750 in 1764 and 500 in 176& In 1793 they joined the whites against the Creeks, and continued friendly to the set tlers. In 1805, 1816 and 1818, they gradually ceded all lands north of the Mississippi line. About 1800, as the hunting grounds narrowed, the tribe began to migrate west of the Missis sippi, as did the Cherokees and others. In 1822 there were in Mississippi 3625 on a reli able count, with eight towns, and a progressive civilization: they were industrious farmers and cattlemen, marketing live stock among the whites. By the treaty of Pontotoc Creek, 20 Oct. 1822, they made another large cession of lands; and by that of Washington, 24 May 1834, they gave up all the remainder, the two cessions comprising 6,442,400 acres, or over 10,000 square miles, for which they received $3,646,000. On 17 Jan. 1837 they bought of the
Choctaws for $530,000 a district on the Red River west and south of the Washita (the extreme western part of the subsequent Indian Territory, now incorporated in Oklahoma), to be inalienable except with the consent of the Choctaws; relinquished their governmental organization and became a part of that nation, with proportionate representation in its govern ment. A considerable number, instead of re maining with the tribe, scattered through the Choctaws, buying and taking up lands at pleasure. They lagged behind the Choctaws in progress, however ; a smallpox epidemic carried off several hundred; the government annuity made them lazy; and they opened no schools till 1851. Aggrieved at being repre sented in the Choctaw government only accord ing to numbers, instead of equally as a tribe, they appealed to the President, and on 27 June 1855 were given separate title to their district as the Chickasaw Nation. They organized a government with a council and two-chambered legislature, and advanced rapidly. In the Civil War, as slaveholders, and having Southern agents, they joined the Confederate side; lost aoout one-fourth of their people, and were liable to the penalties of treason. By the treaty of Fort Smith, September 1865, they were conditionally restored to their rights. On 28 April 1866 all the old treaties were renewed; but they were forced to sell to the government 7,000,000 acres of land, nearly 11,000 square miles, for $315,000, the money to go to their former slaves unless they admitted them to full tribal citizenship. They held off for some years, but finally acceded on 10 Jan. 1873. The in 1915 numbered 10,966, of whom 5,659 were blood Indians, 645 of intermarriage descent and 4,662 freedmen. Under treaties with the United States government, the lands in the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations were held in common by members of both tribes, the Choc taw lands comprising 6,953,848 acres and the Chickasaw lands 4,707,903 acres. Owing to their allied interests citizens of both nations had the right to select their allotments of land in either or both nations at their options. In view of this common interest, matters pertaining to these two nations are treated under one head. There have been allotted to citizens and freed men of these two nations a total of 8,091,386 acres, leaving 3,569,565 acres, of which 98,474 acres have been reserved for various purposes, not including 431,080 acres segregated for coal and asphalt, but including reservations made therefrom for coal leases. Tracts comprising 2,431,361 acres were sold for $14,053,760. Over one-half of the sales price, together with in terest thereon, was collected and deposited in the United States Treasury to the credit of these nations. See also CHOCTAW; INDIAN AFFAIRS.