List of Choctaw chiefs is a record of the political leaders who served the

Choctaws 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 ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

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 ...

, and Oklahoma.

Original three divisions

The eastern Choctaw Nation, in what is now Mississippi and Alabama, was divided into three regions: Okla Hannali, Okla Falaya, and Okla Tannip.

Okla Hannali (Six Towns)

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 ...

* Oklahoma or Tapenahomma (Nephew of Pushmataha) * General Hummingbird * Nitakechi * Sam Garland

Okla Falaya

* Apukshunnubbee * Robert Cole *

Greenwood Leflore Greenwood LeFlore or Greenwood Le Fleur (June 3, 1800 – August 31, 1865) served as the elected Principal Chief of the Choctaw in 1830 before removal. Before that, the nation was governed by three district chiefs and a council of chiefs. A wea ...

* Chief Red Wing Turkey Okla Falya Clan

Okla Tannip

* Homastubbee * Mushulatubbee * David Folsom

District Chiefs in the New Indian Territory

After removal, the Choctaws set up their government also divided up in three regions: Apukshunnubbee, Mushulatubbee, and Pushmataha. The regions were named after the three influential Choctaw leaders of the "old country." George-W-Harkins

Peter P Pitchlynn around the time of the American Civil War

Moshulatubbee District

* Mushulatubbee, 1834–1836 * Joseph Kincaid, 1836–1838 * John McKinney, 1838–1842 * Nathaniel Folsom, 1842–1846 * Peter Folsom, 1846–1850 * Cornelius McCurtain, 1850–1854 * David McCoy, 1854–1857

Apukshunnubbee District

* Thomas LeFlore, 1834-1838 * James Fletcher, 1838-1842 * Thomas LeFlore, 1842-1850 * George W. Harkins, 1850–1857

Pushmataha District

* Nitakechi, 1834-1838 * Pierre Juzan, 1838-1841 * Isaac Folsom, 1841-1846 * Nitakechi, Died * Salas Fisher, 1846-1854 * George Folsom, 1850-1854 * Nicholas Cochnauer, 1854-1857

Unified leadership as governor

* Alfred Wade, 1857-1858 * Tandy Walker, 1858-1859 *

Basil LeFlore Basil LeFlore (c.1811 - 15 October 1886) was the last elected governor of the Choctaw Nation before the Civil War. He was the brother of a former chief Greenwood LeFlore. He was one of three Choctaw chiefs who used the title ''governor'' followi ...

, 1859-1860

Principal Chiefs

* George Hudson, 1860-1862 * Samuel Garland, 1862-1864 *

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 ...

, 1864-1866 * Allen Wright, 1866-1870 * William Bryant, 1870-1874 * Coleman Cole, 1874-1878 * Isaac Garvin, 1878-1880 * Jack McCurtain, 1880-1884 * Edmund McCurtain, 1884-1886 * Thompson McKinney, 1886-1888 * Benjamin Franklin Smallwood, 1888-1890 * Wilson Jones, 1890-1894 * Jefferson Gardner, 1894-1896 *

Green McCurtain Greenwood "Green" McCurtain (November 28, 1848 – December 27, 1910) was a tribal administrator and Principal Chief of the Choctaw Republic (1896–1900 and 1902–1906), serving a total of four elected two-year terms. He was the third of his bro ...

, 1896-1900 * Gilbert Dukes, 1900-1902 * Green McCurtain, 1902-1906 The Choctaw Nation was temporarily discontinued in 1906 with the advent of Oklahoma statehood.

Choctaw Nation "token" government

Chiefs were appointed by the U.S. President after U. S. Congress stripped recognition of the Choctaw national government. * Green McCurtain, 1906-1910, appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt * Victor Locke, Jr., 1910-1918, appointed by President Howard Taft * William F. Semple, 1918-1922, appointed by President Woodrow Wilson * William H. Harrison, 1922-1929, appointed by President Warren G. Harding * Ben Dwight, 1930-1936, appointed by President Herbert Hoover * William Durant, 1937-1948, appointed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt * Harry J. W. Belvin, 1948-1970, appointed by President Harry S. Truman
(Choctaw were allowed to elect their delegate in 1948 and 1954 which the president confirmed.)

Current tribes

Indian termination policy Indian termination is a phrase describing United States policies relating to Native Americans from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s. It was shaped by a series of laws and practices with the intent of assimilating Native Americans into mainstream ...

was a policy that the United States Congress legislated in 1953 to assimilate the Native American communities with mainstream America. In 1959, the Choctaw Termination Act was passed. Unless repealed by the federal government, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma would effectively be terminated as a sovereign nation as of August 25, 1970. After a long struggle for recognition, the Mississippi Choctaw received recognition in 1918. The Mississippi Choctaw soon received lands, educational benefits, and a long overdue health care system. In 1945, lands in Neshoba County, Mississippi and the surrounding counties were set aside as a federal Indian reservation. There are eight communities of reservation land: Bogue Chitto, Bogue Homa, Conehatta, Crystal Ridge,

Pearl River The Pearl River, also known by its Chinese name Zhujiang or Zhu Jiang in Mandarin pinyin or Chu Kiang and formerly often known as the , is an extensive river system in southern China. The name "Pearl River" is also often used as a catch-a ...

, Red Water,

Tucker Tucker may refer to: Places United States * Tucker, Arkansas * Tucker, Georgia * Tucker, Mississippi * Tucker, Missouri * Tucker, Utah, ghost town * Tucker County, West Virginia Outer space * Tucker (crater), a small lunar impact crater in the s ...

, and Standing Pine. The

Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 The Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of June 18, 1934, or the Wheeler–Howard Act, was U.S. federal legislation that dealt with the status of American Indians in the United States. It was the centerpiece of what has been often called the "Indian ...

allowed the Mississippi Choctaws to become re-organized on April 20, 1945 as the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.

Oklahoma Choctaws

Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma

* Harry J. W. Belvin, 1948, 1954, 1971–1975 * C. David Gardner, 1975–1978 * Hollis E. Roberts, 1978–1997 * Gregory E. Pyle, 1997–2014 *

Gary Batton Gary Dale Batton (born December 15, 1966) is a tribal administrator and politician, the current and 47th Chief of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. It is the third-largest federally recognized tribe and second-largest reservation in total area. Bat ...

, 2014–Present

Mississippi Choctaws

Pre-reorganization Era (Before 1945)

* Wesley Johnson (Wesley Wakatubee), 1913-c. 1914 (Chief) * Ed Willis * Pat Chitto * Joe Chitto

Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians (1945-Present)

* Emmette York (Chairman) * Phillip Martin (Chairman) * Calvin Isaac (Chief) * Phillip Martin, 1978—2007 (Chief) * Beasley Denson, 2007—2011 (Chief/Miko) * Phyliss J. Anderson, 2011—2019 (Chief) * Cyrus Ben, 2019—present (Chief)

Louisiana Choctaws

Jena Band of Choctaw Indians

*Christina M. Norris, present"Tribal Governments by Area: Southeast."
''National Congress of American Indians''. (retrieved 7 Sept 2010)

Notes

External links

{{Choctaw Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma politicians Choctaw