CHICKASAW TRADITIONS, CUSTOMS, ETC.  (cont.)
Page 543
 
 

I. CHICKASAW TERRITORY

The soil of what is now known as the State of Mississippi was occupied in whole or in part by the Chickasaws, Choctaws, Natchez, Chokchoomas, Yazoos, Koroas, Tunicas, Pascagoulas, Biloxis, and other less known tribes.

The Indians of Mississippi belonged to the Muskhogean Muscogee) family, except the Natchez, who belonged to the Natchesan family, the Biloxis, who belonged to the Sioux family,2 and the Tunicas (Tonicas), who belonged to a family by itself. The Tensas and Natchez belonged to the same family.3 Generally speaking, the country stretching from the Savannah and the Atlantic to the Mississippi, and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Tennessee river was occupied by the Muskhogean family, except some small portions, occupied by the Natchez, Uchees, “and some small settlements” of the Shawanese.4

The northern portions of Mississippi and a part of the present State of Tennessee were the earliest homes of the Chickasaws5 which history allows one to trace.  In the 18th century Pontotoc county was the center of their habitation; later historians report that the Chickasaws had settlements on the Mississippi, in West

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2 7th Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology.
37th Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology.
4Ibid.
5Gatschet in 1886 Name Chicasa, pronounced by themselves and by many tribes west of Miss, river, Shikasa, Shikasha. Gatschet, Mig. Leg. Cr.

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