Ryan Spring

And part of that is taking care of the agricultural fields, making sure that the community has crops to feed on.

But then after those obligations to your community are completed, the winter months are the traditional time of year that Choctaw people would move.

You know, today we would say, go on holiday.

Or on vacation.

So traditionally, this is that time of year that Choctaw people culturally said, okay, this is the time to move.

If we move now during the winter, we will have time to set up our crops and get ready for the next year coming into Indian Territory.

It was all structured around moving quickly, getting resettled, getting the crops together, and then getting our new society over in Indian Territory up and running.

as efficiently as possible.

So Choctaw leaders, a lot of the men knew of these lands to the west.

And so there's a famous speech by Pushmataha at the Treaty of Doak stand.

And he as a warrior had traveled to Oklahoma and parts of East Texas to

for hunting during this time of year in the 1790s and 1800s and 1810s.

A lot of these Choctaw warriors knew this area and they knew it well.

But part of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was that survey parties would be brought

by the federal government out of these Choctaw leaders to survey the lands.

So there was one group that was sponsored by the federal government that went out and surveyed lands, areas where they could reestablish communities.

And then there was another group of Choctaw leaders that went out on their own to do the same thing.

And so, again, we're not a passive people.

We're a very active people.

We know that we're going to suffer removal.