List of Choctaw chiefs

List of Choctaw chiefs is a record of the political leaders who served the Choctaws in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma.

Original three divisions

The eastern Choctaw Nation, in what is now Mississippi and Alabama, was divided into three regions: Okla Hannali, Okla Falaya, and Okla Tannip.

Okla Hannali (Six Towns)

Yowannee Mingo^[1]
Pushmataha
Oklahoma or Tapenahomma (Nephew of Pushmataha)
General Hummingbird
Nitakechi
Sam Garland

Okla Falaya

Apukshunnubbee
Robert Cole
Greenwood Leflore
Chief Red Wing Turkey Okla Falya Clan

Okla Tannip

Homastubbee
Mushulatubbee
David Folsom

District Chiefs in the New Indian Territory

After removal, the Choctaws set up their government also divided up in three regions: Apukshunnubbee, Mushulatubbee, and Pushmataha. The regions were named after the three influential Choctaw leaders of the "old country."

Moshulatubbee District

Mushulatubbee, 1834–1836
Joseph Kincaid, 1836–1838
John McKinney, 1838–1842
Nathaniel Folsom, 1842–1846
Peter Folsom, 1846–1850
Cornelius McCurtain, 1850–1854
David McCoy, 1854–1857

Apukshunnubbee District

Thomas LeFlore, 1834-1838
James Fletcher, 1838-1842
Thomas LeFlore, 1842-1850
George W. Harkins, 1850–1857

Pushmataha District

Nitakechi, 1834-1838
Pierre Juzan, 1838-1841
Isaac Folsom, 1841-1846
Nitakechi, Died
Salas Fisher, 1846-1854
George Folsom, 1850-1854
Nicholas Cochnauer, 1854-1857

Unified leadership as governor

Alfred Wade, 1857-1858
Tandy Walker, 1858-1859
Basil LeFlore, 1859-1860

Principal Chiefs

George Hudson, 1860-1862
Samuel Garland, 1862-1864
Peter Pitchlynn, 1864-1866
Allen Wright, 1866-1870
William Bryant, 1870-1874
Coleman Cole, 1874-1878
Isaac Garvin, 1878-1880
Jackson McCurtain, 1880-1884
Edmund McCurtain, 1884-1886
Thompson McKinney, 1886-1888
Benjamin Franklin Smallwood, 1888-1890
Wilson Jones, 1890-1894
Jefferson Gardner, 1894-1896
Green McCurtain, 1896-1900
Gilbert Dukes, 1900-1902
Green McCurtain, 1902-1906

The Choctaw Nation was temporarily discontinued in 1906 with the advent of Oklahoma statehood.

Choctaw Nation "token" government

Chiefs were appointed by the U.S. President after U. S. Congress stripped recognition of the Choctaw national government.

Green McCurtain, 1906-1910, appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt
Victor Locke, Jr., 1910-1918, appointed by President Howard Taft
William F. Semple, 1918-1922, appointed by President Woodrow Wilson ^[2]
William H. Harrison, 1922-1929, appointed by President Warren G. Harding
Ben Dwight, 1930-1936, appointed by President Herbert Hoover
William Durant, 1937-1948, appointed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Harry J. W. Belvin, 1948-1970, appointed by President Harry S. Truman
(Choctaw were allowed to elect their delegate in 1948 and 1954 which the president confirmed.)

Current tribes

Indian termination policy was a policy that the United States Congress legislated in 1953 to assimilate the Native American communities with mainstream America. In 1959, the Choctaw Termination Act was passed.^[3] Unless repealed by the federal government, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma would effectively be terminated as a sovereign nation as of August 25, 1970.^[3]

After a long struggle for recognition, the Mississippi Choctaw received recognition in 1918. The Mississippi Choctaw soon received lands, educational benefits, and a long overdue health care system.

In 1945, lands in Neshoba County, Mississippi and the surrounding counties were set aside as a federal Indian reservation. There are eight communities of reservation land: Bogue Chitto, Bogue Homa, Conehatta, Crystal Ridge, Pearl River, Red Water, Tucker, and Standing Pine. The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 allowed the Mississippi Choctaws to become re-organized on April 20, 1945 as the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.

Oklahoma Choctaws

Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma

Harry J. W. Belvin, 1948, 1954, 1971–1975
C. David Gardner, 1975–1978
Hollis E. Roberts, 1978–1997
Gregory E. Pyle, 1997–2014
Gary Batton, 2014–Present

Mississippi Choctaws

Pre-reorganization Era (Before 1945)

Wesley Johnson (Wesley Wakatubee), 1913-c. 1914 (Chief)
Ed Willis
Pat Chitto
Joe Chitto

Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians (1945-Present)

Emmette York (Chairman)
Phillip Martin (Chairman)
Calvin Isaac (Chief)
Phillip Martin, 1978—2007 (Chief)
Beasley Denson, 2007—2011 (Chief/Miko)
Phyliss J. Anderson, 2011—2019^[4] (Chief)
Cyrus Ben, 2019—present (Chief)

Louisiana Choctaws

Jena Band of Choctaw Indians

Christina M. Norris, present^[5]

Notes

^ https://home.nps.gov/articles/choctaw-warriors-consider-alliances.htm ^{[bare URL]}
^ "Chiefs | Choctaw Nation".
^ ^a ^b "U.S. House of Representatives Resolution 108, 83rd Congress, 1953. (U.S. Statutes at Large, 67: B132.)". Digital History. Archived from the original on 2007-06-08. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
^ Meyers, Debbie Burt. "Anderson unseats Denson." The Neshoba Democrat. 7 Sept 2011 (retrieved 24 Sept 2011)
^ "Tribal Governments by Area: Southeast." Archived 2010-09-26 at the Wayback Machine National Congress of American Indians. (retrieved 7 Sept 2010)

External links

Choctaw chiefs

[1] ttps://home.nps.gov/articles/choctaw-warriors-consider-alliances.htm ^{[bare URL]}

[2] "Chiefs | Choctaw Nation".

[indian_termination-3] "U.S. House of Representatives Resolution 108, 83rd Congress, 1953. (U.S. Statutes at Large, 67: B132.)". Digital History. Archived from the original on 2007-06-08. Retrieved 2008-05-02.

[4] Meyers, Debbie Burt. "Anderson unseats Denson." The Neshoba Democrat. 7 Sept 2011 (retrieved 24 Sept 2011)

[5] "Tribal Governments by Area: Southeast." Archived 2010-09-26 at the Wayback Machine National Congress of American Indians. (retrieved 7 Sept 2010)

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