Abstract
While scholars have begun in recent years to give more attention to the Civil War in the Trans-Mississippi region (including the Indian Territory), few have attempted to provide nuanced and comprehensive explanations for the actions of native peoples who took part in the conflict. While the pre-removal era of Choctaw history has received copious attention, the thirty years between removal and the Civil War have received only sparse examination. Historians who have written about this period have typically either gone into very little detail about why the Choctaws sided with the Confederacy or they have identified only one or two isolated reasons without providing a complete explanation of the changes in Choctaw culture and society in the period and how these changes led to a Confederate alliance.
This dissertation provides a comprehensive analysis of changes in Choctaw government, religion, economics, social relationships, and treaty relations in the thirty years before the Civil War and argues that the changes actively pursued by the Choctaws in these areas integrated them into Southern civilization and made a Confederate alliance natural when the “irrepressible conflict” with the North erupted in 1861.
Degree Date
Spring 5-13-2023
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Department
History
Advisor
Ariel Ron
Subject Area
History
Number of Pages
240
Format
Recommended Citation
Phillips, Josh, "A Southern People: The Choctaw Nation From Removal Through the Civil War" (2023). History Theses and Dissertations. 17.
https://scholar.smu.edu/hum_sci_history_etds/17
Included in
Cultural History Commons, History of Religion Commons, Military History Commons, Political History Commons, Social History Commons, United States History Commons
