Finally in 1830, years after the death of Pushmataha, the progressive, visionary Greenwood LeFlore and other district chiefs signed a new document, the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. This time the tribe gave up all lands east of the Mississippi River and promised to clear out for Indian Territory by 1833.
The treaty also mandated pensions for twenty old Choctaw warriors among the hundreds who had fought for American independence against the British more than a half-century before. They served under generals such as George Washington, Anthony Wayne, and Daniel Morgan.
The government provided transportation, food, and one year’s living support for the entire tribe, also promising never to enfold the Choctaws and their splendid new tribal estates into any U.S. political jurisdiction or legal authority. It would prove to be the first of several such promises to the southeastern tribes. McIntosh Creeks Leave As the 1820s unfolded, pressure by the American government, state of Georgia, and white settlers fueled by bitter memories of the vicious Red Stick
Read the entire Oklahoma story in John J. Dwyer's The Oklahomans: The Story of Oklahoma and Its People volume 1 of a 2-part series on the 46th state and the people who make this state very special. |