Chickasaw Indians Overview
From the Muskhogean Language Family, Chikashsha, means ‘rebel’ or ‘comes from Chicsa’. Later, the spelling was corrupted to Chickasaw.
The Chickasaw Indians sided with the Americans during the Revolutionary War and sided with the Confederacy during the United States Civil War.
Enemies: French, Choctaws, Quapaws and Shawnee
Known as great hunters and warriors, the Chickasaw lived in the Mississippi Valley region, including Mississippi, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama.
Chickasaw Houses
Towns were spread out with a council house used for meetings, ceremonies, and ballgames in the center.
Most Chickasaw families had two homes, one made of woven mats and bark roofs for summer and another circular in shape, three feet below ground level, and plastered and whitewashed for winter.
In addition, families had a storage building for corn and supplies.
First Contact with Europeans
The Chickasaw first encountered Europeans in 1540 when Hernando de Soto explored their region. He was driven out of the area, and the tribe didn’t face outsiders again until about 100 years later when English traders arrived.
Wanting to barter with these traders, the tribe expanded its hunting ground and began conquering other tribes.
The Chickasaw Indians first allied with the British and then with the U.S. to prevent the French and Spanish from taking their lands.
By the 1830s, the Chickasaw had signed numerous treaties with the U.S. ceding their land and in 1834 moved to Oklahoma.
Chickasaw Chiefs
The addition of ‘mingo’ to someones name was set aside solely for chiefs and eventually came to mean the same thing.