Historical Overview
The Decades and the Villages - 1760 -1770
Historical Overview
The French and Indian War ended in 1763 with France ceding Britain New France and Louisiana east of the Mississippi River. The Louisiana French early in the decade found the Choctaws (MPA V 241, 253) again receiving English traders. And for good reason, Louisiana lacked supplies particularly for the Indians.
Kerlerec (MPA V 252) noted a lack of men, ammunition and food in June 1760 and taking partial credit for the Cherokee uprising against the English declared, "I have also had war declared upon the Chickasaws by the said Cherokees." He also incited the old Chickasaw nemesis, "I have just obliged the Choctaws to declare the most active war on the Chickasaw and drive the English from their nation" (MPA V 257).
But Kerlerec learned from Louis XV that the articles of peace had been drafted in Europe ceding to England Louisiana east of the Mississippi save New Orleans (MPA V 274). Kerlerec and the French were finished in Louisiana; Kerlerec left the colony in June 1763 and the French handed over their Louisiana lands and forts to the English. In March of 1765 a Congress was held at Mobile for the Chickasaw and Choctaw to meet the British West Florida Governor and Indian Superintendent. The Louisiana cession changed the British management of their frontier Indians again by establishing a central seat of Indian management in Pensacola under an Indian agent system.
The French sponsored wars against the Nation came to an end. Still, the Chickasaw had enemies and in 1769 the Nation defeated a Cherokee force in the Old Fields (ISEUS 112). Also Malcolm McGee (Draper 5) reported that a Creek force attacked the Nation in 1769 but that ended in peace in 1770 or 1771.
McGee (Draper 6) reported that Chickasaw agent John McIntosh "brought cattle into the nation from Mobile about 1770" and others followed. The cattle provided the Chickasaw with an alternative food source and a means of sustenance different from the dwindling deer populations.
The French pressure applied against the Chickasaw since 1723 ended with the French removal in 1763. The history of Louisiana and Carolina and their Indian allies shifted to Pensacola.
Village Locations
The Purcell Map (Swanton BAE 73 Plate 7), Figure 11, was compiled not later than 1770 for the British Indian Trade. Note that seven Chickasaw villages are shown and named, see Table 1. All of the villages are phonetically related as shown on Table 1. The map situates the Nation villages very close together. We may assume that the Chickasaw Nation remained at Old Town in their cluster, Figure 10, as sporadic wars with other Indians continued through the decade.
Yaneka was not record on the Purcell Map as being a village of the Nation. Despite this, a letter by John Stuart in 1766 (SCIAD 1754-1765 270) indicated only a "small Party" of exodus Chickasaws remained on the Savannah River. Perhaps the group that was recorded on the French Memoir of 1755 stayed and moved in with other villages of the Nation.