Chickasaw Removal

A uniquely detailed account of the removal of the Chickasaw Nation from their original homelands to Indian Territory

In the early nineteenth century, the Chickasaw Indians were a beleaguered people. Anglo-American settlers were streaming illegally into their homelands east of the Mississippi River. Then, in 1830, the Indian Removal Act forced the Chickasaw Nation, along with other eastern tribes, to remove to Indian Territory, in present-day Oklahoma. This book provides the most detailed account to date of the Chickasaw removal, from their harrowing journey west to their first difficult years in an unfamiliar land.

The Chickasaw removal began in 1837, a few years after the departures of the Choctaws and Creeks. In their gripping account of the Chickasaws’ forced trek, authors Amanda L. Paige, Fuller L. Bumpers, and Daniel F. Littlefield, Jr., describe the array of characters the Chickasaws came across, including missionaries, whiskey peddlers, profiteering government agents, and contractors, some of whom purchased and distributed rations they knew would go rancid before the removing parties passed by their way stations.

Although several histories have spotlighted the politics and events of the Removal Era, this book is a unique illumination of the “whole business” of removal, including details of the places where the Chickasaws camped, bought supplies, sought medical attention, and buried their dead. The story continues into Indian Territory, where the Chickasaws faced a new set of obstacles but eventually persevered to become the strong and successful nation they are today.