Pontotoc County, Mississippi
Genealogy and History
Peggy A. Young, County CoordinatorJeff Kemp - State Coordinator Denise Wells - Assistant State Coordinator
Ann Allen Geoghegan - Assistant State Coordinator
Sunday, 17-Nov-2024 21:17:52 CST
W. P. A. History of Pontotoc County, Mississippi
Chapter V: Indians
Mounds
About two miles south of West Point there are two mounds standing in a line north and south, about 140 yards from each other. The tradition of both the Chickasaws and Choctaws state that in years long past a great battle was fought between a company of Chickasaw and Choctaw warriors on the place where the two mounds stand. After the battle both parties agreed to bury their dead, without molestation. A large whole was excavated by each group, the dead warriors buried, and tw0o mounds were erected. The Chickasaws' dead occupied the northern part and the Choctaws the southern.
Archaeologists believe that the bodies were placed on scaffolds until their flesh was dried; they were then taken down and placed in a house. Here the bone scrapers removed the remaining flesh with their long finger nails. Sometimes these bones were placed in piles and cremated, or were buried in mounds made over the ash pits in which they had been cremated.
The mounds in Pontotoc County are principally located on the first ridge adjoining the lowlands. There have been unearthed from these specimens of broken pottery, stone and shell articles, animal bones, gunflints, copper heads, and nose rings.
On the second ridge there are a few mounds which contained some pieces shaped from deer antlers which have become fossilized, ear rings, beads, sherds, bones, gunflints, metal, broken potter, and thick glass. (1)
The CHENEY MOUND, located three-fourths of a mile east of the old county home, one mile north of the Natchez Trace group, is owned by W. M. Cheney. The approximate area of the site is one-sixteenth of an acre. Surface material found by survey was: sherds, beads, bones.
The CLARK MOUND, located two miles from Miller Creek channel, about one mile northwest of the Natchez Trace group, on an old Indian village and graveyard site, has an approximate area of three acres. It is owned by Mrs. Frank Clark, Pontotoc.
BRIDGES MOUND, located three hundred yards north-east of Miller Creek near an old Indian village site, covers an area of about three acres. It is owned by Jim Clayton, Route 3, Pontotoc. Surface material found by survey was: sherds, objects, shells, bones, gunflint, metal, etc., which are on display in the Pontotoc Museum.
HARDIN MOUNDS with an approximate area of one acre, are located one and one-fourth miles from Miller Creek channel on the property of Jim Inzer, Pontotoc.
RUSSELL MOUND, located two and one-half miles north west of the Longview Church Mound, near a small creek, is thirty feet in diameter and is owned by Porter H. Russell.
PHOTOGRAPH: Boulder Erected By John Foster Chapter D. A. R.
Commemorating the battle between Pierre D'Artaguette, French commander and Chickasaw Indians, May 20, 1736.
LONGVIEW CHURCH MOUND consists of one-sixteenth of an acre and is located near Longview Church, three hundred yards north of Mubby Creek channel, on the property of Mrs. Charlie Pounds.
COOPER MOUND located three miles east of Pontotoc, on the property of Zed McVay has an approximate area of an eighth of an acre. Surface material found by survey was: sherds, stone objects.
The INGOMAR GROUP was excavated by Edward Fukes of Smithsonian Institute, and several objects of the historic period were taken from them. THE SHILOH MOUND in Chickasaw County, with the result we have mentioned, indicates a more primitive origin." (2)
(1) Rev. Joseph Bullen's Journal, 1799
(2) Jim Watts, Pontotoc, Miss., who assisted state archaeologist in the excavation of the above mounds.