Dancing Rabbit Designs

(But first...a history lesson you won't learn in school!)

Mississippi Choctaw: The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek

On average the relations between the Choctaw and the various European powers were friendly. This friendly relationship came to an abrupt halt when the United States came into sole possession of the region, and, hungry for land adopted an imperialistic attitude toward the Choctaw.

In 1830 the U.S. government passed the Indian Removal Act which was to affect all southeastern Native Americans and immediately followed it up with the Choctaw-specific Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. To this day there is a tombstone-like marker at Dancing Rabbit Creek to commemorate the signing.

The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek abrogated all previous agreements and called for removal of all Choctaw from their remaining ancestral lands to reservations in what was to eventually become Oklahoma by 1833, though each individual had the option of accepting a parcel of land and remaining in Mississippi. However, the price of doing this was the loss of Choctaw identity and the acceptance of U.S. and Mississippi citizenship.

The First removal began in October of 1831 with 4000 Choctaw being transported on foot and by wagons to the Mississippi then west on steamboats. Due to poor planning and bad weather, however, the river leg of the journey was shortened and the Choctaw were forced to walk much farther than had been planned. Most of the first wave didn't arrive, tired and ill, in Oklahoma until March 1832. The second wave contained 550 Choctaw and was much more harsh. Due to cost overruns encountered in the first removal, the second wave was required to walk most of the way, was provided with fewer rations and was hit by a cholera outbreak while en route. Having heard about the travails of the first two removal efforts, only about 800 Choctaw showed up for the third and final trek. This final wave went relatively smoothly and concluded the removal effort even though almost 6000 Choctaw remained in Mississippi to take advantage of the promise of land.

So many of those who remained were cheated out of their land by corrupt officials of the state and local governments that in 1842 the Federal government was once again forced to intercede. This time in a slightly less unfriendly way. Choctaw who had been lost their land were reimbursed, but only if they relocated to the reservation in Oklahoma. As a result of this fresh round of removal only 3000 Choctaw remained in Mississippi.