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ad to move. “The Choctaws, with an estimated population of 23,400, were the first of the Southeastern Indians to be removed....Choctaws became apprehensive and refused to leave Mississippi....In 1830 [Mississippi] abolished the Choctaw government and passed other measures designed to frighten the Choctaws into leaving. “In 1830, Jackson’s men bribed a minority of Choctaw leaders into signing the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek.” Treaties A good starting point is to review the treaties that involved the Choctaw generally, as well as in what eventually became Hancock County. Treaties by which the Choctaws ceded land were signed at Mount Dexter in 1805, Doak’s Stand in 1820, and Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1830. It is not clear which treaty, if any, governed the Choctaws of Hancock County. Although there is some attribution to Mount Dexter, this is contradicted by other evidence. The WPA report states that South Mississippi was acquired from the Choctaws through the treaty of Mount Dexter, 1805 (Mississippi — A guide to the Magnolia State, New York, Viking Press 1938 p.63). The legendary chief Pushmataha was a signer to the 1805 treaty. It appears, however, that the section of Mississippi which includes Hancock County was not included in Mount Dexter Treaty, which ceded all the lands in the southern part of the territory between the Pearl and Pascagoula rivers but not that portion lying south of the 31 st parallel. From the standpoint of a practical view of history, the Hancock County section was taken from Spain by the United States in 1810 as a result of the West Florida Revolt. It was added to Mississippi Territory in 1812. This transaction was not ratified, however, until several years later, when the Adams-Onis treated was ratified in 1819. History records in several ways that the United States government had already been acting as though the transfer had been concluded. It is also historically accurate, however, that the secretary of state of the United States, John Quincy Adams, concurred with the representative of the Catholic Majesty of Spain that the transfer was formalized on February 22, 1819. To understand the realities of the passage of Mississippi Territory below the 31st parallel, one must accept a state of mind that in today’s parlance would be said to have been already a done deal in 1810. Adams and Onis may have been signifying an acceptance of this concept when they included only a mention of West Florida, without even detailing a land description, whereas almost the whole document relates in great detail to land masses west of the Mississippi River. Back to Mount Dexter One map shows the area south of the 31st parallel as “Coast Addition - 1812.” If at that time it came under the terms of the Mount Dexter Treaty, this may account for the fact that many deeds in Hancock County were entered into by Indians as vendors. Unlike the other and more coercive treaties, Mount Dexter did not require the Indians to leave. THE TREATY OF DANCING RABBIT CREEK - 1830 Because there can be doubt as to whether previous Choctaw treaties included Hancock County, the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek takes on significance even though it purported to cover an area of central Mississippi. Article 1 of Dancing Rabbit clearly states, “,..[A]11 other treaties heretofore existing and inconsistent with the provisions of this are hereby declared null and void.” Article 3 says, “,..[T]he Choctaw nation of Indians consent, and hereby cede to the United States the entire country they own and possess East of the Mississippi river....”
Choctaws of Hancock County Guerin-Article-2006-(2)