To Thomas Jefferson from Chinubbee and Others, 25 January 1805
From Chinubbee and Others
Chickisaw Nation Jany. 25th 1805
A Talk from the principal Chiefs and the King of the Chickisaws to The President of The United States
My Great Father, I must with Reluctence inform you of our unhappy Sutuation, we were told, you sent, agent among us, to be a Father and Ruler, and Guide for us but he, is not, Therefore I am Under the Necessity of Complaining to you of his bad conduck, he dos not consider our Interest as Red people, Therefore we must, adress our on happy Circumstance to you, but your worship I hope will take it to consideration and send us a Ruler in our nation That will Be not a Drunkard—or Specculator, I wish to Know it was, that, you have send him to do,—he is always from Home, never attend, to his Business that you have Send, to do for us and yours—My Farther about two or three years ago your send us, your laws in prent, and, there you said, the Liquor, Shou,d be Stop, and That, Mr Mitchel called all my people and Explain, to Them, there Should be no Liquor Brought into the Nation, my people all agreed to it, since, our Agent, himself went to the Chickisaw Bluffs, Bought Quantity of Wisky—and placed a chocktaw half Bred on the Traise from the Natchez—and, There, he has Opened a Tavern to accomodate the Travelers,—and has Opened a plantation on the Chocktaws lands and has, a large plantation on our land also, when he came Here first he asked me for about ten, acres, for to raise Bread., & he said that wou,d be a’plenty—and since that Opened Upward, fifty Acers—and selling Grain to the Travelers,—
Sir When your Troops Came, to my, nation they all stood in need for Corn for there Horses, & at that time the corn was scarce in the nation, but however, we considered, we could not see our white Bothers suffer, & we furnish them and took a receipt therof for the Amount from the Officers—and made Application to our Agent Mr Mitchell, to recd, this money at Nashville for us, and has recd, and put it to his own privite use to, pay his Debt—it makes my people very Unhappy—we have been Kept out of Our money, 12 months upwards—it is very hard to be Serve so—as you have paid the money to us to be Kept out of it
Sir I am your Most obt Humble Servent,
Chenabie. The King of the Chicksaw
Charls Son
Okoye
RC (PHi: Daniel Parker Papers); in an unidentified hand, including signatures; endorsed by TJ as received 27 Feb. and “Chickasaw talk” and so recorded in SJL; endorsed by Dearborn: “A Talk, from the King & certain Chiefs of the Chickasaws.”
Chinubbee (d. 1819) became “king” of the Chickasaws following the death of his brother Taski Etoka in 1794. At that time, Chinubbee was described as about 50 years old, “of very good intentions,” and strongly under the influence of the pro-Spanish Chickasaw chief Ugulayacabe. He led the delegation at the Chickasaw Bluffs treaty in 1801, which permitted a road to Natchez to pass through Chickasaw territory but left the subject of accommodations for travelers for future consideration. As part of the Chickasaw treaty of 1805 that included a considerable land cession to the United States, Chinubbee received an annuity of $100 “as a testimony of his personal worth and friendly disposition.” He would again lead Chickasaw delegations at treaty negotiations in 1816 and 1818 and was called king until his death. Tishumustubbee, or Okoye, a principal speaker for the Chickasaws, was also present at the 1805 negotiations and, like Chinubbee, received a substantial cash payment as part of the final treaty. He was likely the same man referred to as Tishomingo at later negotiations, a title meaning “speaker for the king or chief” or “speaker chief” (James R. Atkinson, Splendid Land, Splendid People: The Chickasaw Indians to Removal [Tuscaloosa, Ala., 2004], 151-2, 167, 189-90, 196, 302, 311; James F. Barnett, Jr., Mississippi’s American Indians [Jackson, Miss., 2012], 164-5, 170-2, 176-9; Jesse D. Jennings, ed., “Nutt’s Trip to the Chickasaw Country,” Journal of Mississippi History, 9 [1947], 47; , 7:65-6, 89-90, 150-2, 192-5; Vol. 38:315-16).
Mitchel: Samuel Mitchell, U.S. agent to the Chickasaws. He would be replaced by William Hill in January 1806 (Atkinson, Splendid Land, Splendid People, 198; Vol. 39:334, 530n).