Greenwood Leflore
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Greenwood LeFlore or Greenwood Le Fleur (June 3, 1800 – August 31, 1865) served as the elected Principal Chief of the
Choctaw The Choctaw (in the Choctaw language, Chahta) are a Native American people originally based in the Southeastern Woodlands, in what is now Alabama and Mississippi. Their Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choctaw people are ...
in 1830 before removal. Before that, the nation was governed by three district chiefs and a council of chiefs. A wealthy and regionally influential Choctaw of
mixed-race Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-ethn ...
, who belonged to the Choctaw elite due to his mother's rank, LeFlore had many connections in state and federal government. In 1830 LeFlore led other chiefs in signing the
Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was a treaty which was signed on September 27, 1830, and proclaimed on February 24, 1831, between the Choctaw American Indian tribe and the United States Government. This treaty was the first removal treaty wh ...
, which ceded the remaining Choctaw lands in Mississippi to the US government and agreed to removal to
Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...
. It also provided that Choctaw who chose to stay in Mississippi would have reserved lands, but the United States government failed to follow through on this provision. While many leaders argued that removal was inevitable, others opposed the treaty and made death threats against LeFlore. Ousted by the tribal council in a coup, he stayed in Mississippi, where he settled in Carroll County and accepted United States citizenship. He was elected to the state government as a legislator and senator in the 1840s. During the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, he sided with the
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.


Background

LeFlore was the first son of Rebecca Cravatt, a high-ranking Choctaw daughter of the chief
Pushmataha Pushmataha (c. 1764 – December 24, 1824; also spelled Pooshawattaha, Pooshamallaha, or Poosha Matthaw), the "Indian General", was one of the three regional chiefs of the major divisions of the Choctaw in the 19th century. Many historians cons ...
, and Louis LeFleur, a French
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and explorer from
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who worked for
Panton, Leslie & Company Panton, Leslie & Company was a company of Scottish merchants active in trading in the Bahamas and with the Native Americans of what is now the Southeastern United States during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The origins of Panton, Leslie ...
, based in Spanish Florida. Because the Choctaw had a
matrilineal Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's Lineage (anthropology), lineage – and which can in ...
system for property and hereditary leadership, LeFlore gained elite status from his mother's family and
clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...
. By the 1820s, as the historian Greg O'Brien notes, the Choctaw called such mixed-race children ''itibapishi toba'' (to become a brother or sister), which emphasized the connection to Choctaw, or ''issish iklanna'' (half-blood), which seemed to imitate Euro-American concepts. O'Brien notes the importance of their being first of all, part of the Choctaw elites. Choctaw chiefs recognized the advantage of using such mixed-race elite men as "trailblazers into an unprecedented universe of capitalist accumulation and renewable wealth." Some, like LeFlore, gained a Euro-American education that enabled them to negotiate the changing world developing in the American South. When LeFlore was twelve, his father sent him to
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to be educated by Americans.


Marriage and family

At age 17, LeFlore married Rosa Donly in Nashville, whom he met there and brought back with him to the Choctaw Nation when he returned in 1817. After her death, he married again, to a woman named Priscilla. He had ten children (these were probably Greenwood's brothers and sisters, not his children): William, Benjamin, Basil, Clarissa, Forbis, Jackson, Emily, and three other daughters. According to other records his children included: Jane (married William Spring), John Donley LeFlore, Jackson LeFlore, and Greenwood LeFlore by Rosa Donly; and Rebecca (married James Clark Harris) and Clarissa (married Chief Edmond Aaron McCurtain) by Rosa's sister Priscilla Donly.


Advocate of civilization

While LeFlore was not said to be popular among the full-blood tribal men, he became powerful and influential within the tribe at an early age, largely because of his mother's clan and maternal uncle's position and his own skills. With other leaders, he struggled to resist European-American encroachment while adapting to some of the new ways and the increasing pressure from the United States government in support of removal. When Leflore was 22, he became a chief of the western division of the
Choctaw Nation The Choctaw Nation ( Choctaw: ''Chahta Okla'') is a Native American territory covering about , occupying portions of southeastern Oklahoma in the United States. The Choctaw Nation is the third-largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...
, when it was still in Mississippi. He is credited with abolishing the Choctaw "blood for blood" law, which dictated rounds of revenge for murders. LeFlore supported the "civilization" program, which U.S. President
George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
and
Henry Knox Henry Knox (July 25, 1750 – October 25, 1806), a Founding Father of the United States, was a senior general of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, serving as chief of artillery in most of Washington's campaigns. Following the ...
developed during the Washington administration. Particularly after Andrew Jackson's election as president in 1828, he encouraged the Choctaw to make permanent residences, cultivate the land in agriculture,
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to Christianity, and send their children to United States schools for education.


Removal or U.S. citizenship

Despite being recognized as one of the "
Five Civilized Tribes The term Five Civilized Tribes was applied by European Americans in the colonial and early federal period in the history of the United States to the five major Native American nations in the Southeast—the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek ...
", the Choctaw were under pressure from encroaching European-American settlers. The settlers kept entering the Choctaw Nation lands in great numbers. The US government wanted to remove the Choctaw to lands west of the
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
. With the election of
Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...
as president in 1828, who supported Indian removal, many Choctaw claimed that removal was inevitable. They concluded they could not give armed resistance. After passage of the
Indian Removal Act The Indian Removal Act was signed into law on May 28, 1830, by United States President Andrew Jackson. The law, as described by Congress, provided "for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for ...
of 1830, the chiefs of the western and eastern districts resigned, and on March 15, 1830, the council elected LeFlore as principal chief, the first time that power had been so centralized among the Choctaw. He drafted a treaty which he sent to Washington, to try to secure the best terms for the Choctaw. United States representatives came out to the Choctaw for a treaty council, where LeFlore used his formidable personal political capital and position as head of a unified tribe to secure the largest and most desirable areas of what would later be called
Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...
. In addition, he believed that Article XIV would be honored and allow the Choctaw to keep some reserves in Mississippi. He regarded removal as inevitable, given his assessment of the politics and the sheer numbers of the growing European-American population. The treaty included provisions allowing those Choctaw who chose to do so, to remain in Mississippi and become a citizen of the United States.
ART. XIV. Each Choctaw head of a family being desirous to remain and become a citizen of the States, shall be permitted to do so, by signifying his intention to the Agent within six months from the ratification of this Treaty, and he or she shall thereupon be entitled to a reservation of one section of six hundred and forty acres of land, to be bounded by sectional lines of survey; in like manner shall be entitled to one half that quantity for each unmarried child which is living with him over ten years of age; and a quarter section to such child as may be under 10 years of age, to adjoin the location of the parent. If they reside upon said lands intending to become citizens of the States for five years after the ratification of this Treaty, in that case a grant in fee simple shall issue; said reservation shall include the present improvement of the head of the family, or a portion of it. Persons who claim under this article shall not lose the privilege of a Choctaw citizen, but if they ever remove are not to be entitled to any portion of the Choctaw annuity.
William Ward, who was the U.S. agent for the Indians, "refused to enroll the Choctaw claimants' reserves" in Mississippi, which undermined LeFlore's objectives for the treaty and led him to consider it a failure.Carson (2008), p. 231 LeFlore's accomplishments in unifying and strengthening the Choctaw people are still honored as the historian James Taylor Carson writes, "He was a Choctaw nationalist who sought to carve out a new and powerful nation for his people within the Cotton Kingdom of the Old South."Carson (2008), "Greenwood LeFlore", pp. 223-224 His pragmatic approach to their removal from ancestral lands is still controversial. Many Choctaw at the time believed that LeFlore had let them down and could have refused removal.
Mushulatubbee Mushulatubbee ( Choctaw ', "Determined to Kill") (born c. 1750–1770, died c. 1838) was the chief of the Choctaw ''Okla Tannap'' ("Lower Towns"), one of the three major Choctaw divisions during the early 19th century. When the Principal Chief Gr ...
, who had resigned, took back his office as Chief of the Western Division (which would later become the new Choctaw Nation in the post-removal
Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...
), and rejected many of the civilizing measures which the national council had ordered during the previous two years. The Western Division council led a movement to depose LeFlore, and in a successful coup, they elected his nephew George W. Harkins in his place. Jackson and other American leaders at the time had generally low opinions of mixed-race leaders, related more to their own ideas of race than an ability to appraise the Native American leaders. Carson believes that such negative opinions have affected the writing of historians for decades and their assessments of men such as LeFlore. He considers LeFlore and leaders like him to have been a new Creole generation, raised as Choctaw but absorbing what they could of the changing world to make a place for their peoples. In the event, the Choctaw were awarded the largest territory of any removed tribe. It was located in the fertile, forested southeast corner of what is now Oklahoma. LeFlore did receive a grant of land in Mississippi, for 1,000 acres (4 km²) of land (his grant by the treaty, including allowances for unmarried children living with him.)


LeFlore as a U.S. citizen

In the 1840s, LeFlore was elected
Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
representative and
senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
. He was a fixture of Mississippi high society and a personal friend of
Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as a ...
. He was elected to represent Carroll County in the state house for two terms, and elected by the legislature as a state senator, serving one term. He became a wealthy planter and amassed a huge estate, where slaves worked acres of cotton.


Malmaison

Leflore wanted a manor house that befitted his status as a wealthy planter. He commissioned James Harris, a Georgian, to design it. Leflore was an admirer of Napoleon Bonaparte and Josephine, and had the house designed in French style. When he sought a name for the house, "he decided on the name of the
Château de Malmaison The Château de Malmaison () is a French château situated near the left bank of the Seine, about west of the centre of Paris, in the commune of Rueil-Malmaison. Formerly the residence of Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais, along with the Tuileri ...
, ten miles west of Paris on the Seine." LeFlore called his Carroll County home ''Malmaison''. LeFlore occupied the Malmaison until his death in 1865. To furnish his mansion, LeFlore imported most of the furniture from France, where it had been made to order. Silver, glass, and china came in sets of dozens. The drawing room set was of 30 pieces of solid mahogany, finished in genuine gold and upholstered in silk damask. The house held mirrors, tables, large four-poster beds of
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with silken and satin canopies, and four tapestry curtains depicting the four palaces of Napoleon and Josephine: Versailles, Malmaison, Saint Cloud and Fontainebleau.
Malmaison was one of the show places of Mississippi. It was a great tourist attraction and was visited annually by hundreds from all parts of the United States. Around it clung the memories of the transition of Mississippi from Indian territory to its present status.
LeFlore descendants used the mansion until it was destroyed in a fire in 1942. Only a few pieces of crystal and silver, and some chairs were salvaged from the ruins of the mansion. The horse carriage used to transport LeFlore to visit Andrew Jackson and other Washington, D.C. officials had been saved and has been preserved.


American Civil War and Death

LeFlore was pro-Unionist and was against the idea of secession. He died a few months after the war ended. He was 65. LeFlore was buried wrapped in the American flag, on the estate. He left in addition to the mansion, an estate of 15,000 acres and 400 slaves. With
emancipation Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure economic and social rights, political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranchis ...
, the slaves became
freedmen A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), abolitionism, emancipation (gra ...
, but many may have stayed on the plantation to work for his descendants. Carson describes LeFlore:
He was first and foremost a man whose family had positioned him to draw together Choctaw and Anglo-American worlds. He owned slaves which became freedmen, read and wrote, and prayed at camp meetings, but he also presided over a political hierarchy of pipe lighters and captains, provided food, shelter, and educational opportunities for his followers, and promulgated his vision of the Choctaw future at the foot of the mound anih Waiyathat had given his people life.Carson (2008), p. 232


See also

*
Apuckshunubbee Apuckshunubbee (c. 1740 – October 18, 1824) was one of three principal chiefs of the Choctaw Native American tribe in the early nineteenth century, from before 1800. He led the western or ''Okla Falaya'' ("Long People") District of the Choctaw ...
*
Mosholatubbee Mushulatubbee ( Choctaw ', "Determined to Kill") (born c. 1750–1770, died c. 1838) was the chief of the Choctaw ''Okla Tannap'' ("Lower Towns"), one of the three major Choctaw divisions during the early 19th century. When the Principal Chief Gr ...
*
Pushmataha Pushmataha (c. 1764 – December 24, 1824; also spelled Pooshawattaha, Pooshamallaha, or Poosha Matthaw), the "Indian General", was one of the three regional chiefs of the major divisions of the Choctaw in the 19th century. Many historians cons ...
* George W. Harkins *
Peter Pitchlynn Peter Perkins Pitchlynn ( cho, Hatchootucknee, italic=no, ) (January 30, 1806 – January 17, 1881) was a Choctaw chief of Choctaw and Anglo-American ancestry. He was principal chief of the Choctaw Republic from 1864-1866 and surrendered to the ...
* Phillip Martin *
List of Choctaw Treaties List of Choctaw Treaties is a comprehensive chronological list of historic agreements that directly or indirectly affected the Choctaw people, a Native American tribe, with other nations. Choctaw land was systematically obtained through treat ...


Citations


External links


Greenwood LeFlore portrait and other images
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leflore, Greenwood 1800 births 1865 deaths 19th-century American politicians Choctaw people Leaders ousted by a coup Members of the Mississippi House of Representatives Mississippi Whigs Mississippi state senators Native American leaders Native American slave owners Native American state legislators Native Americans in the American Civil War 19th-century Native Americans