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FRISCO DEPOT MUSEUM
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ART WORK AT THE FRISCO DEPOT MUSEUM The art of ATHA SHELBY DEWEESE All rights to this art reside with the estate of the artist and it may not be copied or reproduced in any manner without the eatate's express permission. These paintings represent scenes from the Choctaw "Trail of Tears" from the original Choctaw lands in Mississippi to the new Choctaw Nation located is what is now Southeastern Oklahoma. The accompanying descriptions are from the artist's notes used with the paintings for lectures. |
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| "The Crossing" - Pictures the historic spot at Mountain Fork River near Broken Bow, Oklahoma, where the river was forded in 1832 by the Choctaws as they entered Indian Territory. This crossing was near the end of the "Trail of Tears" - a slow, tedious overland journey of several hundred miles from Mississippi. The "march" took many months, many were half-clothed, half-fed not prepared for the adverse weather and conditions encountered. Many died along the way. The migration resulted from the agreement made by the Federal Government with the Indians at the Council of Dancing Rabbit Creek, Sept. 27, 1830. The Choctaws were the first of the Five Civilized Tribes to be removed between 1831 and 1833. By this time the red man had adopted the ways of the white people. They left comfortable homes in the south and sadly left the graves of their ancestors there. The Indian Territory of Oklahoma .was to be their new land of promise - their last homeland as the growth and expansion of the United States spread westward. When Oklahoma became a state in 1907, the Choctaw Indians had become an integral part of the state's rich history and heritage. |
| Oklahoma's oldest church, the Wheelock Presbyterian Church near Millerton, in McCurtain County, was completed in 1845 on the site where the first service was held in December, 1832. (The first building erected burned; it was replaced by the present structure). The first service was conducted by the Rev. Alfred Wright, a missionary who had travelled with the Choctaw Indians from Mississippi over the "Trail of Tears". The trail is said to have truly ended at this site. The church and neighboring Wheelock Academy, former school for Indian girls, were named for Eleazer Wheelock, first president of Dartmouth University. Near the church Wheelock Cemetery is seen, where Dr. Wright is buried. It was said that Dr. and Mrs. Wright were the best friends the Choctaws ever had. The church and school were abandoned during the Civil War, re-opened in the 1880s, used irregularly in this century until after World War II when services began to be held every Sunday afternoon. In 1632 at least 2,000 Choctaws settled within 12 miles of this site, which still retains a quiet, dignified settling. Built with native rock, Wheelock Church was well constructed. |
| "The Tree of the Cross" became another landmark in the Indian Territory where the Choctaws settled after removal in 1832 from their Mississippi homeland. A hundred years later little remained of the old trail in the vicinity of this old oak tree. As seen in picture the branches at the top grew out on each side to form a perfect cross. This reminder of the sacrifice Christ made for humanity may have served to inspire the Choctaws and their white brethren to live peacefully together -in a new land that became the Southeast portion of the State of Oklahoma. This striking landmark near Valliant in McCurtain County is no longer visible from a nearby highway. After Atha DeWeese, the artist, captured this view on canvass, the oak tree with its cross was cut down by inhabitants in the area for firewood, it was said. Perhaps this particular cross had completed its role in Oklahoma Indian history. |
| "Naniha.Waiya" Mound - Historical Choctaw Indian burial mound in Winston County, Mississippi, was named Naniha Waiya (Bending Hill) by the Choctaws. It is said the mound took eight years to build following a mass Choctaw migration centuries ago from the west, "the land of the setting sun," - a migration that ended after more than 40 years of wandering through wilderness country. They were guided by a sacred pole which pointed eastward each morning. Without stopping long enough to bury their dead they packed the bones of their deceased on their backs. This was to keep wild dogs from praying on them and to keep evil spirits appeased. Finally, the sacred pole stood straight o ne morning, thus ended the long migration. The sacred burial mound was then begun by piling their sacks of bones in the form of a pyramid. The huge pile was covered with cypress barks and dirt was gradually added for many years until the mound was "as tall as a forest tree." The top was then leveled tor a thick planting of acorns and pine seeds. The Choctaw Indians remained in their homeland of the south until forced to migrate in 1832 - this time to the new Indian Territory of Oklahoma in a sad march known as the Choctaw Trail of Tears. |
| "Rock Chimney" represents all that remains of old Fort Towson, an Army Post built in 1824 near the present town of Fort Towson, Choctaw County, in southeast Oklahoma. .A military trail led from here to Fort Smith, Arkansas. When the Indian Territory was established in eastern Oklahoma, calling for re-location of the Five Civilized Tribes from areas they occupied in several Southern states, federal troops were stationed at Fort Towson in order to protect the Indians. In 1632 approximately 60,000 Choctaws made the journey over the "Trail of Tears" from Mississippi to their new homeland provided in the area served by the Fort Towson establishment. Supplies for Fort Towson came by steamboat up Red River about six miles away and then were transported on keel boats up a creek to the fort. Sam Houston and other prominent leaders were Fort Towson visitors. After the fort served its usefulness it was a bandoned. It was not preserved as a historical landmark. At least, this chimney remained to be pictured. |
| "Salt Pot at Rose Hill" - Colonel Robert Jones was one of the wealthiest Choctaw residents in the Indian Territory. Jones owned several hundred slaves, a number of steam boats, a store at Doaksville, and five large plantations. One of these was Rose Hill, about three miles east of Hugo, Oklahoma, in Choctaw County. Many of the beautiful old trees remain but the old mansion is gone. However the old salt pots, were left, rusty from the weather, but mute witnesses that cattle once came to lick the salt which nestled in the bottom after the boiling water had vaporized. Later the pots were used to cook food for the slaves. When Mrs. Atha DeWeese painted this picture an old Negro man told her his mother worked there when he was a boy and that he remembered the large pot had been used for cooking green beans. Officers from Fort Towson and other guests were entertained at Rose Hill, perhaps the most popular mansion in the area. Now only ashes and memories remain - and a pot or two. |
| "The Big Cypress Tree" in McCurtain County, Oklahoma, is near the Oklahoma/Arkansas border, not far from the historic Mountain Fork River crossing of the "Trail of Tears". The Choctaw Indians followed the trail which wound along the foot of this tree, reputed to be 3,000 years old and the largest cypress tree in Oklahoma. It was one of the first land marks sighted by the migrating Choctaws and where they gathered for camp fires. The trail at this point was the old military trail leading from Fort Smith, Arkansas, to Fort Towson near the present site of the town of Fort Towson in Choctaw County, Oklahoma. In the vicinity of the cypress tree and the Mountain Fork crossing (which was given the Hebrew name "Bethabra" by Loring S. Williams, a missionary) the Choctaw Indians began to settle in their new promised land. Some white missionaries were their to help. A church was established in August, 1832, and a school was started in 1836 at Stockbridge near Eagletown, in what is .now McCurtain County, Oklahoma. |
| "Last Choctaw Domain" is depicted here in a view of a deserted hotel near where the old Choctaw council house stands at Tuskahoma in the Kiamichi Mountain country of Southeast Oklahoma. It was here, in 1907 when Oklahoma became the 46th state, that the Choctaw Tribe or Nation could no longer claim its portion of Indian Territory as a separate homeland. All of the Indian Territory, which had existed officially for almost a century, became a part of the new state. Thus ended a gradual take-over by the white man, his customs and laws that began when DeSoto and his men first contacted the Choctaw Indians under their Chief, Tuscaloosa, and engaged them in one of the tragic, bloodiest battles in history - in October, 1540, at what is now Choctaw Bluff in Clarke County near Mobile, Alabama. The Indians gradually adopted the white man's ways in the course of several centuries. It seem appropriate the name Oklahoma, meaning "Land of the Red Man" serves to perpetuate the memory of those who formed so much of the state's history. Many Indian descendants also remain as an integral part of Oklahoma's history today contributing also to our present-day American civilization. |
| "Old Wright Plantation" was the last plantation along the Red River, across from the Choctaw Indian country. It was built in what is now Red River County, Texas. Shortly after the Choctaws had migrated from Mississippi to the new Indian Territory, two brothers from Jonesboro in the Red River area became prominent. George Wright was a. delegate to the First Congress of Texas. His brother, Travis, represented the area at the convention when the Constitution of Arkansas was written. Later George settled on a plantation west of Jonesboro, on the south side of Red River, and built the home shown in this painting by Mrs. Atha eWeese. It was located across from the north bank of the mouth of the Kiamichi River. In 1639 he sold the place to his brother, Travis, and bought the land where Paris, Texas, is now located. In 1844 George Wright gave 50 acres of land to the City of Paris. The plantation home near the river became the property of George Travis Wright, grandson of Joseph Wright. It has retained its plantation charm. The Wrights had a store nearby which was supplied from Red River boats. |
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