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Peter Pitchlynn
Peter Pitchlynn (Choctaw: Hatchootucknee, lit. 'Snapping Turtle') (January 30, 1806 – January 17, 1881) was a Choctaw military and political leader. A long-time diplomat between his tribe and the federal government, he served as principal chief of the Choctaw Republic from 1864 to 1866 and surrendered to the Union on behalf of the nation at the end of the Civil War.
Educated both in Choctaw culture and American schools, in 1825 Pitchlynn helped found the Choctaw Academy in Kentucky and later served as its superintendent. He also worked to reduce the sale of alcohol in their territory. After joining his people on the forced removal to Indian Territory in the 1830s, he was appointed by the National Council in 1845 as the Choctaw Delegate (akin to an ambassadorship) to Washington. At the time, the Nation was proposing to be recognized by the US Congress as a territory.
After the war, Pitchlynn returned to Washington, D.C., to represent Choctaw interests and work for concessions from the government for the Choctaw lands sold under pressure to the United States in 1830 during Indian removal. He died in Washington, D.C., and is buried there.
Peter Perkins Pitchlynn was born on January 30, 1806, in present-day Noxubee County, Mississippi, which at the time, was part of the Old Choctaw Nation. A mixed blood, he was the first son of Sophia Folsom, a Choctaw woman of partly Anglo-American descent; her mother Natika was Choctaw and her father was Ebenezer Folsom, an Anglo-American trader. Sophia's Choctaw name was Lk-lo-ha-wah (Loved but lost). His father was Major John Pitchlynn, a man of Scots descent. The father was raised from childhood by the Choctaw after the death of his father Isaac, a widower. John Pitchlynn served George Washington as an interpreter for negotiations with the Choctaw. Sophia Folsom and John Pitchlynn had married in 1804. As the Choctaw had a matrilineal kinship system of property and hereditary leadership, Peter was born into his mother's clan and people; through her family, he gained status in the tribe.
One of ten children born to the Pitchlynns, after several years at home, Peter was sent to a Tennessee boarding school about 200 miles from Mississippi. Later he attended an academy in Columbia, Tennessee. To complete his education, he studied at and graduated from the University of Nashville, considered one of the finest institutions of the time. It started small like many colleges; its 1827 graduating class held 12 students.
After he obtained his degree, Pitchlynn returned to his family home in Mississippi, where he became a farmer. The Choctaw were among the Southeast tribes that used enslaved African Americans as workers on their farms.
In 1824, Pitchlynn was made the head of the Lighthorse, the Choctaw Nation's mounted police, and received the rank of colonel. Among other lawkeeping duties, he supervised the removal of whiskey from tribal lands.
He soon married Rhoda Folsom, a first cousin. As part of changing practices, they were married by a missionary, Reverend Cyrus Kingsbury. They had several children: Lycurgus, Peter P. Jr., Leonidas, Rhoda Mary (married D.L. Kannedy), Malvinia (married Loring S.W. Folsom). After his wife's death, Pitchlynn corresponded regularly with his older children while they were away at school, trying to give them guidance. Lycurgus attended a school in Tennessee and Peter Jr. one in Oxford, Georgia.
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Peter Pitchlynn
Peter Pitchlynn (Choctaw: Hatchootucknee, lit. 'Snapping Turtle') (January 30, 1806 – January 17, 1881) was a Choctaw military and political leader. A long-time diplomat between his tribe and the federal government, he served as principal chief of the Choctaw Republic from 1864 to 1866 and surrendered to the Union on behalf of the nation at the end of the Civil War.
Educated both in Choctaw culture and American schools, in 1825 Pitchlynn helped found the Choctaw Academy in Kentucky and later served as its superintendent. He also worked to reduce the sale of alcohol in their territory. After joining his people on the forced removal to Indian Territory in the 1830s, he was appointed by the National Council in 1845 as the Choctaw Delegate (akin to an ambassadorship) to Washington. At the time, the Nation was proposing to be recognized by the US Congress as a territory.
After the war, Pitchlynn returned to Washington, D.C., to represent Choctaw interests and work for concessions from the government for the Choctaw lands sold under pressure to the United States in 1830 during Indian removal. He died in Washington, D.C., and is buried there.
Peter Perkins Pitchlynn was born on January 30, 1806, in present-day Noxubee County, Mississippi, which at the time, was part of the Old Choctaw Nation. A mixed blood, he was the first son of Sophia Folsom, a Choctaw woman of partly Anglo-American descent; her mother Natika was Choctaw and her father was Ebenezer Folsom, an Anglo-American trader. Sophia's Choctaw name was Lk-lo-ha-wah (Loved but lost). His father was Major John Pitchlynn, a man of Scots descent. The father was raised from childhood by the Choctaw after the death of his father Isaac, a widower. John Pitchlynn served George Washington as an interpreter for negotiations with the Choctaw. Sophia Folsom and John Pitchlynn had married in 1804. As the Choctaw had a matrilineal kinship system of property and hereditary leadership, Peter was born into his mother's clan and people; through her family, he gained status in the tribe.
One of ten children born to the Pitchlynns, after several years at home, Peter was sent to a Tennessee boarding school about 200 miles from Mississippi. Later he attended an academy in Columbia, Tennessee. To complete his education, he studied at and graduated from the University of Nashville, considered one of the finest institutions of the time. It started small like many colleges; its 1827 graduating class held 12 students.
After he obtained his degree, Pitchlynn returned to his family home in Mississippi, where he became a farmer. The Choctaw were among the Southeast tribes that used enslaved African Americans as workers on their farms.
In 1824, Pitchlynn was made the head of the Lighthorse, the Choctaw Nation's mounted police, and received the rank of colonel. Among other lawkeeping duties, he supervised the removal of whiskey from tribal lands.
He soon married Rhoda Folsom, a first cousin. As part of changing practices, they were married by a missionary, Reverend Cyrus Kingsbury. They had several children: Lycurgus, Peter P. Jr., Leonidas, Rhoda Mary (married D.L. Kannedy), Malvinia (married Loring S.W. Folsom). After his wife's death, Pitchlynn corresponded regularly with his older children while they were away at school, trying to give them guidance. Lycurgus attended a school in Tennessee and Peter Jr. one in Oxford, Georgia.