In the 17th century the Choctaw arranged themselves into three independent groups: the eastern, western, and southern Choctaw. These different bands struck up different allegiances with the European settlers, although the American War of Independence saw all three Choctaw groups band together to take the side of independence against the British monarchy.
Because the Choctaw had embraced many of the practices of the white settlers, they were credited with the title of one of the Five Civilized Tribes in the 19th century. The other four tribes considered by the Europeans to be “civilized” were the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole. The Choctaw were also one of the tribes who kept slaves.
Nine treaties were made between the Choctaw and the U.S. Government; this resulted in vast tracts of former Choctaw land being ceded to the Government, and the tribe itself relocating to the Indian Territory in Oklahoma. The Choctaw had the dubious honor of being the first Native Americans to undergo such forced removal, although they did manage to negotiate a sizeable chunk of land for themselves. One of the features of the Choctaw, which no doubt led to their “civilized” status, was their system of self-governance, which divided the tribe into three, each with its own chief. There was also a Choctaw delegate to represent the tribe at the center of the U.S. Government in Washington, D.C.
After the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1831, the Choctaw were the first large non-European group to be given the status of U.S. citizens.
In the First World War, a number of Choctaw soldiers served in the U.S. Army. The Choctaw language is a difficult one for nonspeakers to decipher, and so was used as a code to transmit messages on behalf of intelligence officers in order to make sure the German enemy wouldn’t be able to discover the plans of the Allied armies (See Choctaw Code Talkers).
CHOCTAW CODE TALKERS
During the First World War, despite the fact that the American military tried to befuddle the German enemy by means of various codes and ciphers, the Germans had a high success rate in deciphering these messages. But one Colonel Bloor had an epiphany one day when he realized that he had a number of Native Americans—including several who spoke the Choctaw language—in his division, which was based in France.
The first test of the new “code” took place toward the end of the war, in 1918, and resulted in the successful withdrawal of two battalions, with no interference from the Germans. This told Bloor that it was unlikely that the enemy had any idea what language was being spoken, an assumption that was corroborated by a German officer who was subsequently captured. The “code talkers” used field telephones to communicate with one another. The only downside was that the Choctaw language simply did not have words to translate some of the modern military terminology and technicalities; however, the Choctaw soldiers were able to improvise.
Nineteen Choctaw men formed this band of “code talkers.” They rarely spoke about what they had done and did not gain the acclaim that the Navajo code talkers, operating during the Second World War, achieved. However, all 19 of the men were awarded posthumous medals, the Choctaw Medal of Valor, in 1989.
CLIFF DWELLING
Various Native American peoples lived in dwellings on or in cliffs, either perched on ledges or in caves or other natural hollows, which might be enlarged by digging and scraping or the addition of adobe. The Anasazi in particular lived in such a way.
CLOWN SOCIETY
There were many different secret societies among the various Native American peoples, and the Clown Society was one of these. Members of this particular society were known to the Sioux, for example, as Heyoka. The Sacred Clown had an important part to play in many societies, was beyond authority and therefore able to poke fun at any form of officialdom without fear of reprisal. An important aspect of the Heyoka was the ability to ask the sorts of questions that others might be afraid to ask.
A prospective member of a Clown Society has to be initiated; naturally the initiation rites are a closed matter, but it has been recorded that one of the rites involves eating dirt and smearing the body with mud. This might seem to be antisocial behavior but is in keeping with the contrary nature of the Heyoka.
It is in the nature of a clown to be funny; the Heyoka is trained in all forms of humor, from wit to slapstick. Each Heyoka develops his own makeup and costume; once he is wearing his disguise, then anything is permissible.
COCHISE
“Nobody wants peace more than I do. Why shut me up on a reservation? We will make peace; we will keep it faithfully. But let us go around free as Americans do. Let us go wherever we please.”
1805–1874
A famous chief of the Chiricahua Apache, at the core of Cochise’s reputation was his resistance to the white man’s invasions in the 19th century. In the Apache language his name, Cheis, means “strong like the oak” or “hardwood,” a name that proved to be entirely appropriate. Cochise is most infamous for having held off the U.S. Army for four years, with just 200 men, when the Government tried to force them to move onto a reservation in New Mexico. Cochise County in Arizona is named in his honor.
Cochise’s tribe originally occupied that part of the United States which would become Arizona and New Mexico, as well as Sonora. The Chiricahua were already used to invasions; they had resisted the encroachment of the Spanish and the Mexicans into their territory. Consistently losing to the Chiricahua in various skirmishes, the Spanish rethought their approach, employing wilier means than mere warfare. They devised a strategy whereby the Chiricahua would become dependent on cheap liquor and the substandard guns issued to them by the Colonial Government. This worked for a while, and Spain gained control of the land; however, Mexico managed to win it from Spain. As a result, the supplies of liquor and guns to the Chiricahua dried up. The more traditional method of warfare flared up once again, since the tribe were no longer reliant on cheap alcohol to befuddle them.
In an attempt to subdue the Chiricahua, the Mexicans decided on a policy of killing them off. Mercenaries, who were paid per scalp, were employed in this endeavor. Cochise’s father was a victim of this policy, and it was this tragedy that proved to be the driving factor behind his desire for vengeance, not only for his father in particular, but for his people as a whole. A mark of Cochise’s effectiveness was that when he was captured by the Mexicans in 1848, he was ransomed in exchange for a dozen Mexican prisoners of war.
Tensions on the U.S./Mexican border were nothing new, not to the Apaches and the Europeans in any case, although there was a relatively settled period in the 1850s after the United States acquired the area. But since the U.S. persisted in encroaching further into Apache grounds, the skirmishes continued, and in 1861 things blew up when Cochise and his men were (falsely) accused of kidnapping the son of a local rancher, and stealing his cattle. This crime had in fact been committed by a different band of Apaches. In a case that became known as The Bascom Affair, which is cited as a key trigger in the Apache War, a young Army officer invited Cochise into the camp, where he was then accused of the kidnapping. Cochise denied everything and even offered to help find those guilty, but when the officer made moves to arrest him, Cochise struck back with a knife, which