deliriouslove1970. The life & times of Gary and Denise Flanders. (Free and worth every penny. If you would like to compliment the editor, send to garytheflan@deliriouslove1970.com. If you would like to complain, call your mother.)

The Choctaw Braves. This is the symbol carried by the Choctaw men who sympathized with the Confederate States during the Civil War. The Choctaw Nation basically ended up in Oklahoma after the Indian Removal and the group that remained in Mississippi for the most part sided with the Confederacy.

As a Vexillologist I have a collection of 173 flags, some of which I am hesitant to fly at my home. I keep them as example flag designs, not as a political/cultural statement. I have flags that sadden me because they have been co-opted by unfortunate organizations. (An example being the Gadsden flag.) So, I debated about flying this flag since I did not want to give any jerks the wrong idea – jerks do not have an ally in our household.

After the signing of The Dancing Rabbit Creek treaty in 1830, the Mississippi Choctaws remained in the south. For the most part the people were destitute and became sharecroppers trying to eek out a living. This group continually petitioned their grievances with the US government. As with all other treaties signed by the US, they were not honoring their word and keeping the treaty.

‘The Great Father’, Abraham Lincoln, thought Indian affairs were a low priority. Lincoln and his party considered ‘The Indian’ a “dying race”. A Republican Senator stated: “It is dying through natural causes growing out of its contact with a superior race inhabiting the same country.” As soon as the Civil War began Lincoln and his party completely abandoned the Indians. By May 18 of 1861, U.S. military posts were abandoned leaving tribes with “no alternative but to join the South.”

The Mississippi Choctaws joined the Confederacy primarily due to neglect. No treaty was, or ever has been, upheld. Why should the Indian trust that the US will ever do what they said they would? And, the south was in desperate need of bodies so they conscripted many Indians. These are the types of fact that are not taught in public schools.

If you would like to study more about the issues raised here go to: https://www.hcn.org/articles/tribes-what-tribal-sovereignty-means-for-freedmen-citizenship