Name Levi Colbert Succeeded by George Colbert | Resting place Tuscumbia Siblings George Colbert | |
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Spouse(s) Ishtimmarharlechar, Temusharhoctay 'Dollie' (Schtimmarshashoctay), Mintahoyo House (Minto-Ho-Yo) of Imatapo, Seletia Colbert Relations Brother, George Colbert, Nephew, Holmes Colbert Children Sons, Martin, Charles, Alex, Adam, Lemuel, Daugherty, Ebijah, Commodore and Lewis; Daughters, Charity, Mariah, Phalishta and Asa Parents James Logan Colbert and Sopha Minta Hoye Nickname(s) "Okolona" ("calm or peaceful") Died June 2, 1834, Buzzard Roost, Alabama, United States | ||
Levi Colbert (1759–1834), also known as Itawamba in Chickasaw, was a leader and chief of the Chickasaw nation. Colbert was called Itte-wamba Mingo, meaning bench chief. He and his brother George Colbert were prominent interpreters and negotiators with President Andrew Jackson's appointed negotiators involved to Indian Removal. Jackson insisted that the Chickasaw cede their traditional lands and move to a new location west of the Mississippi River. The US Indian Agent Levi Colbert (Itawamba) had the most contact with was John Dabney Terrell, Sr. of Marion County, Alabama.
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Early life and education
Levi Colbert was of six sons of James Logan Colbert (1721 - 1784), a North Carolinian of Scots ancestry, had with his second wife Sopha Minta Hoye, a Chickasaw. Colbert was born in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. He and his mixed-race siblings grew up bilingual and were educated in both Chickasaw and European-American traditions. According to the entry in the Chickasaw Hall of Fame, he was born in the Chickasaw Nation, in what is now Alabama, in 1759. When Levi Colbert assumed the title of head chief of the Chickasaw Nation, he was living at that time on the bluff west of the Chickasaw Indian trading post known as Cotton Gin Port, established near the old cotton gin and where there was a large spreading oak known as the council tree.
As the Chickasaw had a matrilineal kinship system of descent and inheritance, children were considered to belong to the mother's clan. They gained their status through her, and hereditary leadership for males was passed through the maternal line.
Removal
Levi Colbert and his brother George Colbert were prominent among the negotiators of the Chickasaw when meeting with US government officials related to treaties and removal. In a written report communicated to the US Senate on January 15, 1827 it mentioned how US commissioners assigned to negotiate a treaty with the Chickasaw Nation had met in parley on November 1, 1926 with members of that tribe, and how that Levi Colbert, on behalf of the agents of that nation, remarked that "there was not a man in the nation who would consent to sell either the whole or part of their lands." Although opposed to the Indian Removal Act of 1830, in a treaty meeting with General John Coffee and other United States representatives in November 1832, to keep peace, the Chickasaw chiefs of the council signed a treaty based on the tribe's removal west of the Mississippi River to Indian Territory. This treaty gave them only 25 cents per acre for their land, less than half that which was first promised.
In a long letter to President Andrew Jackson that November, Colbert noted the many complaints the chiefs had with the resulting treaty. He restated their position, and noted their belief that General Coffee had ignored their comments and viewpoints. They had wanted the tribe to keep control of money resulting from sale of their lands, they were not ready to choose land in Indian Territory, they did not want to share a reservation in Indian Territory with "half-breeds", and were dismayed at the way they had been treated by General Coffee. More than 40 chiefs who had attended the treaty council signed the letter with Colbert. They were chiefs of the clans and leading villages.
Colbert had been ill during the meeting and was unable to attend all the sessions. He died in 1834, two years after the final treaty was signed and Chickasaws were preparing to remove to Indian Territory.
Intra-tribal conflict
Colbert did not want conflict; he wanted peace with the US government, even if it meant giving up his people's land. He wanted to try to preserve his people's rights during negotiations, as they were pressured by increasing conflict with encroaching European-American settlers and governments. He was very concerned that the federal government was treating equally with mixed-race men he called "half-breeds." Although Colbert was of mixed descent, he had grown up identifying with the Chickasaw culture and his mother's clan.
He believed some white men were marrying into the tribe just to try to get control of land. By the 1830s, he felt such men were ignoring traditional practices and the tribe's recognized chiefs in seeking personal gain.
Family
"He married three times. He married Ishtimmarharlechar. She was listed as a resident in the census report in Chickasaw Roll, Chickasaw Nation, MS, 1818. He married Temusharhoctay 'Dollie' (Schtimmarshashoctay) before 1795. Temusharhoctay was born before 1780. She was listed as a resident in the census report in Chickasaw Nation, MS, 1818. He married Mintahoyo House of Imatapo before 1799. Mintahoyo was born before 1799. Mintahoyo died after 1839." Most of the younger children were educated at Charity Hall school, a mile and a half from their home, (also called Bell Indian Mission). It has been described as "a mission school ... established in 1820, near Cotton Gin Port, Mississippi, by Rev. Robert Bell, under the auspices of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, for the education of Chickasaw children."
Death
Colbert died June 2, 1834, at Buzzard Roost, Alabama, His brother George Colbert succeeded him as leader of the Chickasaw.
Legacy
Several places were named after him: