Slaves and Slaveholders in the Choctaw Nation: 1830-1866 Page: 61
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Akers's claim is hardly conclusive when it is noted that no Confederate State had a majority of
slaveholders, yet all decided to secede out of a need to defend this institution. A stronger counter
that has not yet been made by historians is examining Peter Pitchlynn and his desire to remain
neutral. Pitchlynn had a large plantation and wealth built totally upon slave labor, yet decided to
oppose an alliance with the Confederacy. If attachment to slavery was the primary factor for a
Choctaw alliance, Pitchlynn, a planter-class slaveholder with legitimate grievances against the
United States should have given enthusiastic endorsement.'5
In addition to attachment to slavery, the presence of missionaries and their ambiguous
viewpoints on slavery influenced the decision of the Choctaws to join with the Confederacy.
Cyrus Kingsbury and other missionaries' attempts to straddle the middle ground on the slavery
debate alienated individuals of both persuasions, causing abolitionist to force the issue of
abolition and pro-slavery secessionists to act upon fears of abolitionist sentiment.
Choctaw L.P. Ives was an abolitionist who directly attributed the Choctaws' alliance with
the Confederacy to the missionaries. He singled out the Reid family as "the most rabid
secessionist I think of all the missionaries" and questioned if their feelings had changed as they
were threatened with hanging. In Ives' mind, secession "was a preconcerted [sic] among the
missionaries" and planted while Choctaws' attentions were diverted elsewhere. He continued
with the proclamation that he would feel joy "even that they may beat the funeral marches on
Spencer parade ground for the burial of traitor missionaries, for they are more criminal than any
of the Choctaws & should be punished with death." Ives himself joined Lincoln's Cavalry and
was eventually assigned to recruit a "colored regiment" to do battle against slave owners.106
105 Bonnifield, "The Choctaw Nation on the Eve of the Civil War", 387; Kidwell, The Choctaws in
Oklahoma, 78-79; Joel Spring, The Cultural Transformation of a Native American Family and Its Tribe, 1763-1995
(Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, 1996), 160; Akers, Living in the Land ofDeath, 130.
106 Ives to Lee, February 3, 1862, September 16, 1864 Box 1, Folder 5, The Colonel Dawes Collection.61
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Fortney, Jeffrey L., Jr. Slaves and Slaveholders in the Choctaw Nation: 1830-1866, thesis, May 2009; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc28371/m1/67/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .