Smallpox and the Choctaw Civil War

Abstract

The presence of chilakwa (smallpox) in Choctaw villages between 1747 and 1748 complicated factionalism and civil war. Utilizing Sharla Fett’s approach to health culture—defined as “the social relations of healing”—this article outlines how eighteenth-century Choctaws arrived at acceptable contingency plans when faced with illness and argues that community responses to smallpox helped ease factional tensions. Iksa (moiety) obligations for funeral rites—embodying the notion of iyyi kowa (generosity)—bridged political differences, accounting for a period of collaboration between groups best understood as the “smallpox peace.” Smallpox, therefore, surprisingly did not immediately contribute to political instability, although its indirect consequences proved significant during later stages of the civil war. Choctaw health culture informed individual and communal responses to chilakwa, which in turn shaped Choctaw factionalism.