Historical Choctaw Timeline

12,000 BCE
Paleo-Indians move into the American Southeast. Horatio Cushman, a Choctaw historian, writes that the Choctaw's ancestors witnessed the extinction of mammoths in the Tombigbee River area, which suggests that the Choctaws have been in the Mississippi area for at least 4,000–8,000 years.

800- 1500 CE
Mississippian culture flourishes.

1500
The Choctaw thrives on an agricultural based Economy.

1540
Conquistador DeSoto makes first major European contact with the Choctaws.

1690-1723
About 500 Choctaws sold as Slaves.

1775
Choctaw scouts serve under the commands of George Washington, Daniel Morgan, Anthony Wayne, and John Sullivan during the American Revolution.

1811
Pushmataha meets with Tecumseh of the Shawnee. Pushmataha responds to Tecumseh with "in marked contrast with the experience of the Shawnees, it will be seen that the whites and Indians in this section are living on friendly and mutually beneficial terms."

1824
Apuckshunubbee, Pushmataha, and Mosholatubbee travel to Washington City (Washington, D.C.) to conduct treaty negotiations. Both Apuckshunubbee and Pushmataha would die on this trip effectively crippling the Choctaw Nation's leadership.

1830
Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was signed. The Choctaw Nation moves to what would later be called Indian Territory. Many Choctaws didn't remove; Article XIV states any Choctaw wishing to stay in their ancient homeland my sign-up under this term and receive up to 640 acres of land (in Mississippi) with additional land for dependants.

1831
Choctaw removal will last for over 70 years. Alexis de Tocqueville, the French philosopher, witnessed the removals in Memphis. He would later write,

"There was one who could speak English and of whom I asked why the Chactas were leaving their country. 'To be free,' he answered, could never get any other reason out of him. We ... watch the expulsion ... of one of the most celebrated and ancient American peoples."

1832
Twenty-two year old George W. Harkins, who will later serve as Miko, writes to the Americans about removal,

"We as Choctaws rather chose to suffer and be free, than live under the degrading influence of laws, which our voice could not be heard in their formation ... We go forth sorrowful, knowing that wrong has been done."

1840s
Former Choctaw Miko Greenwood LeFlore becomes a Mississippi Senator and Representative.

1863
Eahtonteube (his English name was Jack Amos) and other 1st Battalion of Choctaws soldiers rescue drowning Confederate soldiers after a train rushing to the Battle of Vicksburg derails into the Chunky Creek.

1865
After the American Civil War the Choctaws in Mississippi fell into obscurity with many working as sharecroppers. This way of life lasted nearly a century.

1897
A Party of Choctaws consider removal to Mexico.

1934
Indian Reorganization Act established.

1945
Constitution and By-Laws of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians were approved by the Secretary of the Interior.

1994
The Silver Star Casino officially opens in August.

2000
The Pearl River Resort is launched.

2007
Beasley Denson takes the oath of office and becomes tribal Miko. He is the third leader of the tribe since the adoption of the modern constitution.

Wikipedia Choctaw Article