Old Indian Treaty Boundary Cache Traditional Cache

The Chickasaw
Although generally the least known of the "Five Civilized Tribes" (Chickasaw, Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole), no other tribe played a more significant role in Britain's victory over France for control of North America. Variously described as the "Unconquered and Unconquerable" or the "Spartans of the lower Mississippi Valley," the Chickasaw were the most formidable warriors of the American Southeast, and anyone who messed with them came to regret it, if they survived! From the high ground overlooking the Mississippi River at Memphis, the Chickasaw took on all comers, including tribes four to five times their size and never lost until they picked the wrong side in the American Civil War. Even then, the Chickasaw Nation was the last Confederate government to surrender to Union forces.

Clothing was primarily buckskin with the men preferring a breechcloth with thigh-high deerskin boots to protect their legs from the underbrush. The women wore a simple short dress with both sexes utilizing buffalo robes in colder weather. Rather than the stereotypical Lakota (Sioux) war bonnet, the ultimate badge of honor for Chickasaw warriors was a mantle of swan feathers. Both men and women wore their hair long, with warriors switching to the scalplock for war. Warpaint varied according to clan. Like their neighbors, the Chickasaw removed all body hair and made extensive use of tattooing.

The Chickasaw believed in a supreme Creator Spirit, lesser good and evil spirits, and a life after death. However, unlike many tribes, the Chickasaw buried their dead facing west. Another southeastern characteristic was the "ball game," a brutal contact sport played each summer with the all-day games involving entire towns and hundreds of players. Compared to a Chickasaw or Choctaw ball game, modern football appears to be an activity created for pre-schoolers.

Taken from http://www.tolatsga.org/chick.html

The Choctaw
The Choctaws lived in a matriarchal society. The father had no control over his own children who were under the supervision of their oldest maternal uncle. Chieftainship passed from uncle to nephew rather than from father to son.

The fundamental belief in immortality was obvious in the burial customs, the most curious and most distinctive of all Choctaw ceremonies. When a member of the tribe died, the body was covered with skins and bark and placed on an elevated platform which was erected near his house for that purpose even if the death occurred far from home, the body was carefully brought back and placed near the house. Beside the corpse, food and drink were placed, a change of clothing, and favorite utensils and ornaments, which would be needed by the spirit in its long journey to the other world. A dog was killed to provide the deceased with a companion, and after the introduction of horses, ponies were also sacrificed so that the spirit might ride. For the first few days, a fire was kept constantly burning to furnish light and warmth for the journey.

Men wore a yard-long buckskin breechcloth while women wrapped themselves in a skirt of similar material. Both wore moccasins and leggings. In winter, they wore robes of fur, feathers or bark. Ornaments were beads of nuts, seeds, bones, shells and colored stones. Men wore their hair long enough to enable them to make two braids, one on each side of the head. In front, the hair was cut straight across above the eyebrow. Women allowed their hair to grow very long. Feathers were also used in their hair, the kind and size of the feather denoted rank or status of the person wearing it.

As might have been expected from their interest in agriculture and their devotion to practical concerns, the Choctaws were an un-warlike people. They rarely made hostile excursions into the territory of their neighbors, but when their own country was invaded they defended their homes with great courage. The women sometimes accompanied their husbands to battle, standing beside them, handing them arrows, and exhorting them to fight bravely. Like other Indians the Choctaws depended more upon cunning than open combat, and they exercised a patience and skill in surprising their enemy that to white men seemed almost supernatural.

Taken from http://www.choctawnation.com/History/