Chickasaw lifestyle

The Chickasaw were known as the “Spartans of the Mississippi River”,because of their brave warlike, stature. They were seen as unconquerable, the Chickasaw tribe are descendants of people called the Chickemicaws, who were among the first inhabitants of the ancient Mexican empire and the Mississippian culture. These ancient people built earthwork mounds at their villages located throughout the Mississippi River valley. The Chickasaw people established villages across the Deep South and used dugout canoes to travel along the rivers and waterways. Their numbers diminished due to the diseases brought by the Europeans including the Spanish, French and British. They allied with the British against the French who attacked the Chickasaw in numerous military expeditions, attempting to break the stranglehold the Chickasaw imposed upon French commerce on the lower Mississippi. The French were defeated by the fierce warriors on every occasion. Following the War of Independence the ‘civilizing programs’ began. Many Chickasaw people adopted European practises such as European style dress, housing and farming techniques but were eventually sent to reservations. The Chickasaw tribe became known as one of the Five Civilised Tribes who also included the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw and Seminoles tribes.The Chickasaw clothes were primarily made from buckskin. The men wore breechcloths with thigh-high deerskin boots. The women wore a knee-length dress. The Chickasaw removed all body hair and made extensive use of tattooing and body paint. The warriors wore a scalp lock with a roach style headdress adorned with feathers. The most honored Chickasaw warriors wore a mantle of swan feathers. By the 1800’s the Chickasaw were greatly influenced by the American style of dress and the availability of trade cloth.