Chickasaw - A tribe of the Muskhogean family closely related to the Creek and the Choctaw in the early days.  They are noted as one of the warlike tribes of the Gulf area, and the one tribe encountered by the Spaniards who came nearest to destroying De Soto's army in 1451.

The Chickasaw formerly ranged a section which is now in northern Mississippi and portions of Tennessee.  They were slaveholding people, but when the Civil War ended they freed their slaves and adopted them into the tribe.  They became members of the Five Civilized Tribes after they were moved to Oklahoma by the Government.

The Chickasaw language, similar to that of the mobile Indians, served as a means of commercial and tribal intercourse for all tribes along the Mississippi River.  Their chiefs were called "mingos."  Today they are in Oklahoma.  There are towns of the name in Alabama and Ohio and a Chickasha in Oklahoma.
 
 

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[ Five Civilized Tribes ][ Mingo ][ Mobile ]