{{Short description|Chief of the Chickasaw Nation from 1834 to 1839}} {{Use American English|date=March 2024}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2024}} {{Infobox officeholder | embed = | name = George Colbert | native_name = {{nobold|Tootemastubbe}} | native_name_lang = cic | image = Chief George "Tootemastubbe" Colbert.jpg | image_size = 200px | alt = | caption = Colbert, {{circa|1830|lk=yes}} | nickname = | office = Chickasaw leader | term_start = 1834 | term_end = 1839 | predecessor = Levi Colbert | successor = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{circa|1764|lk=yes}} | birth_place = Chickasaw Nation<br />(present-day Alabama) | death_date = {{Death-date and age|November 7, 1839|1764}} | death_place = Fort Towson, Indian Territory | death_cause = Natural causes | resting_place = Choctaw County, Oklahoma | known_for = | battles = | office2 = | party = | education = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = James Colbert (father) | relations = {{unbulleted list|Levi Colbert (brother)|Holmes Colbert (nephew)}} | blank1 = Mother tongue | data1 = | module = {{Infobox military person | embed = yes | embed_title = Military service | unit = Major Blue's Detachment, Chickasaw Indians | service_years = 1814–1815 | rank = Captain | battles = War of 1812 | battles_label = Wars }} | signature = | footnotes = }}
'''George Colbert''' ({{Langx|cic|italic=no|Tootemastubbe}}; {{circa|1764|lk=yes}}{{spaced ndash}}November 7, 1839) was an early 19th-century Chickasaw leader who commanded 350 Chickasaw auxiliary troops who fought under Major General Andrew Jackson during the Creek War. He also served as an officer in Major Blue's Detachment of Chickasaw Indians during the later part of the War of 1812.
Colbert temporarily became principal chief of the Chickasaw, succeeding his older brother Levi who died in 1834. A planter who owned significant cotton lands and numerous slaves in Mississippi, he operated a ferry across the Tennessee in northwest Alabama. In 1834, he signed the treaty that finalized the tribe's removal.
== Early life and military service == George Colbert was born around 1764 in the Chickasaw Nation (present-day Alabama).<ref name="okhistory">Pate, James P., "[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/C/CO017.html George Colbert] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100720052754/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/C/CO017.html |date=2010-07-20 }}," ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture'' (accessed November 3, 2009).</ref> He was the second of six sons of James Colbert ({{circa|1720|lk=yes}}–1784), a British trader,<ref>{{cite report |last=Bearss |first=Edwin C. |author-link=Ed Bearss |date=November 1974 |title=Special History Report: The Colbert Raid, Arkansas Post National Memorial, Arkansas |url=https://www.nps.gov/arpo/learn/historyculture/upload/Colberts-Raid_Special-History-Report-with-notes_reduced.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161010090402/https://www.nps.gov/arpo/learn/historyculture/upload/Colberts-Raid_Special-History-Report-with-notes_reduced.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 10, 2016 |location=Denver, Colorado |publisher=National Park Service|pages=18–19 |access-date=17 March 2024}}</ref> and his second wife ''Minta Hoye'', a Chickasaw woman. The tribe practiced matrilineal kinship, and all children were considered to be born into their mother's family and clan, and gained their status from her. Property and positions of hereditary leadership were passed through the mother's line. Minta Hoye's clan was one from which hereditary chiefs were drawn. As a youth George Colbert began to rise in prominence among the Chickasaw, as he also gained status by his bravery in battle and other actions.
Colbert was said to serve with American troops under Arthur St. Clair in 1791 and Anthony Wayne in 1794 during the Northwest Indian Wars. During the Creek War, he recruited 350 Chickasaw warriors and assisted Andrew Jackson against the Red Sticks, the more conservative portion of the people. During the later part of the War of 1812, he served as an officer in Major Blue's Detachment of Chickasaw Indians.<ref name="okhistory"/>
== Career == thumb|Nashville to the Tennessee River, showing location of Colbert's ferry, from ''Indian land cessions in the United States'' (1898) By the early 1800s, Colbert established Colbert's Ferry near Cherokee, Alabama. It was a significant crossing of the Tennessee River along the Natchez Trace, an important trade route. On June 23, during the Creek War, he was paid "for two beeves, $32; two bushels salt, $6; ferriage for 600 men and horses, $150."<ref>{{Cite news |date=1920-04-12 |title=Jackson's Creek War Expense Book by John Trotwood Moore |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/nashville-banner-jacksons-creek-war-exp/166477157/ |access-date=2025-02-23 |work=Nashville Banner |pages=4}}</ref> He was the commander of 350 Chickasaws who fought for Andrew Jackson at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend against the Red Stick Creeks.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Carey |first=Bill |title=Runaways, Coffles and Fancy Girls: A History of Slavery in Tennessee |page=57 |publisher=Clearbrook Press |year=2018 |location=Nashville, Tennessee |isbn=978-0-9725680-4-3 |language=en-us |lccn=2018903570 |oclc=1045068878}}</ref>
He acquired land and became an influential cotton planter; he also raised livestock and was a trader. Due to his clan, he was eligible for the position of Chief.<!-- According to birth years, Levi was older than George and would have been first in line as overall, not war chief --> The Chickasaw communally owned an estimated 150 slaves as labor on their lands, as was custom with many intercultural tribes in the region. In April 1823 Colbert placed a runaway slave ad seeking the recovery of Trouble, Philip, and July. Trouble was 55 years old and an African by birth; Philip was "an excellent hunter," and both he and July were "raised by" Colbert, meaning they grew up in his household. Philip and July were bilingual Chickasaw and English speakers.<ref name=":0" />
A few slaves escaped during the confusion of the eventual removal.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}
Colbert and his brothers, Levi and James, were among the primary negotiators between his people and the United States government in the early 19th century.<ref name="okhistory"/> The Chickasaw ended up ceding much of their land to the United States after Levi died en route to Washington D.C during negotiations in 1834. Having grown up with both Chickasaw and "white" language and culture, the Colbert brothers were strongly relied upon to act on the tribe's behalf. After Levi died, their negotiations abruptly ceased. In 1834, most of the Chickasaw joined members of other Southeast tribes in forced removal to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River. This removal became known among the Indians as the Trail of Tears.
Before removal, Colbert served again temporarily as chief of the Chickasaw. The year 1834 was the beginning of the forced removal process, accomplished by overland march and travel by rivers. Most of it took place in the later 1830s. ''Tishomingo'' became chief of the Chickasaw when they started on the trail and led the people until his death in 1838 en route, near the Arkansas River. Neither he nor Colbert, who died en route in 1839 at age 75, reached the new Chickasaw territory. He died near Fort Towson, Indian Territory, just before the people reached their new lands.<ref name="okhistory"/>
== Personal life == Colbert married two times.<!-- The article is about George Colbert, so he can be referred to by surname. --> The women were sisters from the Wind Clan Cherokee; their father was Chief Doublehead. Colbert first married ''Tuskiahooto''. When she proved to be barren, he also married ''Saleechie'', the younger sister. (The Chickasaw allowed the men in the tribe to marry multiple wives, per tribal law). Colbert fathered a total of six sons and two daughters. He never reached the Chickasaw section of ''Oka Homa''.
== Honors == * Colbert County, Alabama, is named after both him and his brother Levi.<ref name="ccweb">{{cite web|title=Colbert County Website |url=http://www.colbertcounty.org |access-date=May 16, 2007}}</ref>
== Notes == :{{NARA}}
== References == {{reflist|30em}}
== Further reading == * Arrell M. Gibson, ''The Chickasaws'' (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1971). * Don Martini, ''Who Was Who Among the Southern Indians: A Genealogical Notebook '' (Falkner, Miss.: N.p., 1997).
== External links == * {{Find a Grave}} * {{YouTube|4gpqzrERHiA|George Colbert – War of 1812}} * [https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=84706 George Colbert Memorial] at Historical Marker Database
{{Portal bar|Alabama|Biography|Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Oklahoma}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colbert, George}} Category:1760s births Category:1839 deaths George Category:18th-century Native American people Category:19th-century owners of plantations in the United States Category:19th-century Native American leaders Category:American military officers Category:American military personnel of the War of 1812 Category:American people of the Northwest Indian War Category:Chickasaw slave owners Category:American slave owners in politics Category:People of the Creek War Category:Trail of Tears Category:Owners of plantations in Mississippi