In the mid-1700s, the Choctaw tribe in Mississippi split into two factions: western Choctaws, who traded with the French, and the eastern Choctaws, who supported the English. 

According to the Choctaw Nation, tribe members moved to several areas of Louisiana to avoid the tension. In New Orleans, they could buy, sell and trade.

“Choctaws prospered and grew in Louisiana until we became the most known native group in the region,” the Choctaw Nation states. “We lived in small family groups, hunted for game and traded the game for European goods.”

The American Battlefield Trust states that the War of 1812 helped Choctaw boys become men. Based on tradition, Choctaw boys gained manhood status by engaging in successful warfare. 

“For this reason and because the United States recognized Choctaw recruits as soldiers in the U.S. Army,” American Battlefield states, “Choctaw men eagerly joined the war.”

According to the National Park Service, as many as 60 Choctaw soldiers patrolled Chef Menteur Road along the Gentilly Plain in New Orleans after the British captured Lake Borgne on Dec. 14, 1814. Nine days later, 18 Choctaw soldiers joined Gen. Andrew Jackson for an attack. They “sniped at the British pickets from under cover of the cypress swamps,” the Park Service states. The Choctaw soldiers killed more than 50 British soldiers leading up to the Battle of New Orleans on Jan. 8, 1815.

By the middle 1830s, however, the Choctaw and other tribes were forced to move west of the Mississippi River to a new Indian Territory.

“Choctaw history in Louisiana may not be as well-known as that of Mississippi and Oklahoma, but it is of great importance,” the Choctaw Nation states. “It teaches us that while we had the unfortunate event of being removed from our homelands, we still thrived in whatever environment was thrown our way.”

For more tales from New Orleans history, visit the Back in the Day archives.

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Tammy C. Barney is an award-winning columnist who spent most of her career at two major newspapers, The Times-Picayune and The Orlando Sentinel. She served as a bureau chief, assistant city editor, TV...