Problems of a New Home

AS OUR aborigines are disappearing into oblivion a few of them have tenaciously retained a place in the progress and culture of the country. Five great tribes of Indians from time immemorial occupied the land that now comprises most of what are known as the Southern States. At an early day white settlers from the East coveting this beautiful country began pushing their settlements into it. Treaties were negotiated from time to time by which the whites were established in the country of the Indians who were thus subjected to a progressive divestiture of their country and corresponding limiting of their habitable domain. As the movement gathered momentum the resistance of the Indians began to take form and manifested itself by an intelligent demonstration of their rights. But this unequal conflict of interests resulted in the inevitable decision—the subjugation and spoliation of the weaker race of people who were driven from their ancestral domain to find homes in a wilderness region west of the Mississippi River lately acquired from France.

These Indians, the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek and Seminole, through their contact with the white settlers and missionaries, the struggle to retain their homes, and their innate intelligence, had acquired the rudiments of the white man's culture and were making amazing progress in civilized ways when this achievement was wrecked by the ruthless expulsion from their homes during the decade following the year 1830. But even after this desolating experience their courage and fortitude and resourcefulness enabled them to mend their broken institutions and renew their progress towards an enlightened and cultured existence.

The Choctaw Nation included a few leading men who entertained advanced ideas on the subject of education and industry long before the tribe emigrated from Mississippi. In 1801 the chiefs of the tribe requested to be furnished agricultural implements, to have a blacksmith settled among them, and instructors employed to teach their women to spin and weave; one chief asked for cotton cards, as his people already made cloth; and another complained that a cotton gin which he had applied for the year before, had not been sent to him. Doctor Morse furnishes an interesting picture of the Choctaw people in 1822: Within a few years, he says, they had made great advances in agriculture and other arts of civilized life. They raised corn, pulse, melons, and cotton. In one year they spun and wove 10,000 yards of cotton cloth. An ingenious Choctaw for a series of years raised cotton and with cards and spinning wheels made by him, he spun and wove it, and then made it into clothing. The Choctaw also raised a great many cattle. "They are friendly to travelers, for whose accommodation they have established a number of public inns, which for neatness and accommodation actually excell many among the whites."

At this period the Choctaw Indians were coming under the influence of the missionaries to whom they were indebted for much of the progress that characterized their condition. In August, 1818, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions established a missionary station in the Choctaw Nation, which they named Elliott after the celebrated New England missionary. Rev. Cyrus Byington was one of their earliest missionaries and many years later he wrote an account for the purpose of comparing their early condition with their improved state in 1852:

"There was a period, previous to the time when the missionaries went among them, that the Choctaws used the teeth of beaver, and the outer bark of cane and reed dried hard for knives. They made bags of the bark of trees, twisted and woven by hand. Ropes were made of the bark of trees. Blankets were made of turkey feathers. Fire was formerly produced by friction. Two dried pieces of ash wood were rubbed rapidly across each other till fire was produced. When they planted corn, it was not secured by any fence, nor was the land plowed—it was dug up with hoes, and planted without rows, or any order. This labor was performed by the women. The men were hunters, and followed various amusements, talked, smoked, and danced, and attended councils and feasts, weddings and funerals. The women also attended these.

"When the missionaries arrived in 1818, it was a rare thing to see a Choctaw warrior wear a hat, pantaloons, or shoes. Inquiry was made, and but very few were found who would not get drunk, when whiskey was offered them. In very few houses were there floors, windows, tables, beds or chairs. The principal articles of food were corn, sweet potatoes and beans. A species of hominy called tamfula was prepared from their corn, and served up in an earthen bowl with one spoon in it, made of the buffalo horn or of iron. The men ate first, and by themselves. The women and children ate afterwards. At times they had bear meat, venison, wild turkeys and pork for food.

"But many families suffered much for want of food. Their fields were small and poorly cultivated. There were few among them who could read..... The late Dr. Cornelius passed through the Choctaw Nation in 1817, and preached at the Agency. A white man who attended the meeting has since stated to the writer, that he had then resided among the Choctaws seven years, and during that time had not heard a sermon preached, a prayer offered, or a blessing asked at table. They had at that time no written form of government, no written laws, no trial by jury. The widow had no dowry, and children no inheritance in their father's property."

In another account written by Mr. Byington descriptive of the early condition of the Choctaw people, he said "they were ignorant of religion, and letters. Some eight or ten men had been partially educated, when we came here. They could read and write, and some of them understood figures a little. I do not remember a native Choctaw woman who had learned to read before the missionaries came to the...