Chikasaw
Chikasaw (alt. Chikashsha, Chickasaw) was a Native American nation.
History
The Chikasaw nation was a decentralized network of tribes and villages. British traders intermarried and became influential statesmen. Levi Colbert was the son of one such marriage and became a prominent chief.
Jefferson encouraged debt among the tribe, then coerced debtors to sell land. By Jackson's term, Chikasaw territory was reduced to a stretch in Alabama and Mississippi.
The Chikasaw nation purchased land from the removed Choctaws in 1837 and sold their territory east of the Mississippi in the Treaty of Pontotoc. Those that refused removal were taken into concentration camps and then taken by boat to Memphis, then marched across Arkansas. The food they were forced to purchase was rotten, molded, infested, and to a large degree was simply never delivered.
The Chikasaw people settled in Washita Valley. They faced raids from the Shawnee, Kickapoo, Kiowa, and Comache. Fort Washita was constructed to aid in their defense.
The Chikasaw joined with the Confederacy during the Civil War. Tribal lands were confiscated in the aftermath. There is no federally recognized tribe.