The Changing Shape of Chickasaw-European Battlefield Narratives

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Historical Memory, Archaeology, And The Social Experience Of Conflict and Battlefields" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In 1541 the first recorded conflict between Chickasaws and invading Europeans led to the expulsion of Hernando de Soto’s army from northeastern Mississippi. Nearly two centuries later, the Chickasaws overwhelmingly defeated two French-led forces that aimed to destroy the Chickasaw Nation. These battles, representing some of the most significant engagements between Native American and European colonial powers in the American South, have been described from a variety of disciplinary, national, and ethnic perspectives: French, Spanish, Euro-American, Chickasaw, archaeologist, historian, and avocational historian, among others. We consider how these military engagements reflect the changing fortunes of the Chickasaws during the colonial era, as well as how the battles have been differentially incorporated into the historical memory of various interest groups. Today the Chickasaw Nation has been actively engaged in research on the battlefield sites, leading to a revival of interest in, and interpretation of, these key features of their traditional landscape.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020   •
• Historical Memory, Archaeology, And The Social Experience Of Conflict and Battlefields

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 466