With more than three years of planning, members of the Chickasaw Cycling Club have accomplished their historic “Homeland Removal Ride” from Pontotoc, Mississippi, to the Chickasaw Nation Historic Capitol Building in Tishomingo, Oklahoma.
The cyclists followed the historic Removal route Chickasaws took from the Homeland to their future home in present-day Oklahoma.
“Our people went through major hardships on the Removal,” Chickasaw Nation Governor Bill Anoatubby said. “This ride commemorates and honors the trip these people made. Traveling that distance took a lot of determination. It took a lot of grit. These folks have done something important to honor those that came before them.”
In solemn commemoration of the difficult journey forced upon the Chickasaw people by Removal, the Chickasaw Cycling Club resolved to ride the route taken by the intrepid Chickasaws who were removed to Indian Territory. Recreated as accurately as possible using roadways passable by bicycle, the Chickasaw Cycling Club began its journey in Mississippi, riding more than 600 miles in 11 days. The ride was completed during the second day of the Chickasaw Annual Meeting and Festival.
This ride has been described as “spiritual” by the cyclists. According to the Chickasaw Cycling Club website, “Riders rode with their ancestors to feel their pain, determination and strength to overcome and not be defeated.”
“This ride was awesome,” said Steve Paniagua, club member. “It seems like at night I felt most connected to those that have come before me. When I thought I had a little problem I thought to myself, ‘I am not going to quit.’ They had it a lot harder. I had little aches and pains here and there, but in the end, I remembered what they went through. They had to walk or ride on horseback to an unknown land. It was quite humbling.”
The Chickasaw Cycling Club is comprised of Chickasaw citizens and employees, both of whom know and understand the significance of this historic ride. Thirteen members of the team took part. Cyclists came from both within the Chickasaw Nation and included many at-large citizens.
Chickasaw elder David Atkins, the eldest among the group, made the trip from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to participate in the Homeland Removal Ride.
“This was more than a bike ride,” Atkins said. “It was a spiritual, ancestral thing. It allowed us to identify with what our ancestors went through. Before each day’s ride we prayed and shared scripture. When we were putting this together it was the plan to end the ride during (Chickasaw Annual Meeting and) Festival.”
Chickasaw Nation Medical Center Chaplain Randy Wade gave a pre-trip prayer, while Chickasaw Nation Purcell Area Office Director Phillip Billy offered a post-trip prayer in Tishomingo. According to Paniagua, prayers sustained the group during the ride.
Recognizing the significance of the event, First American law enforcement agencies welcomed the riders as they entered Oklahoma. The Choctaw Lighthorse Police Department provided an escort from the state line to the border of the Chickasaw Nation. Once within the Chickasaw Nation, the Chickasaw Lighthorse Police Department took over escort duties.
Chickasaw Lighthorse police officer and Chickasaw Cycling Club member Jose Ramirez took part in the ride.
“I have been a member of the cycling club since 2018,” Ramirez said. “Though I have been training, those that came before me didn’t have that option. I wanted to experience what they did physically, spiritually and mentally to see what it was like.
“This was a humbling experience. We traversed areas that I couldn’t imagine doing so walking or riding on a wagon. We had the luxury of roads and a bicycle. It was a breathtaking experience, and I lost track of time.”
More than 20 friends, family, Chickasaw legislators and dignitaries were on hand to celebrate the completion of the ride. The riders were led by the Chickasaw Lighthorse Police Department in four victory laps around the capitol grounds. The number four is sacred within the First American community.
Care was taken when deciding the route the cyclists would travel. Along with the route itself, preparation was given to the stops along the way. The riders stopped and visited historically important sites along the trail.
Back in the mid-1800s, a group of Chickasaw left the Homeland near the armory off Old Military Road in Mississippi. This group picked up other Chickasaws from different areas as they traveled to Memphis, Tennessee. Once in Arkansas, there were multiple directions Chickasaws took to cross the state. Some went by river; some went by the North and South land routes.
The Chickasaw Cycling Club chose to follow the northern route. The route included stops near Little Rock and Fort Smith, Arkansas. Several resources were used to calculate the historical routes. Most information came from the “Chickasaw Removal” book written by Amanda L. Paige, Fuller L. Bumpers and Daniel F. Littlefield Jr.
“We gathered a lot of information from the (Chickasaw) Cultural Center for some of the older history,” cyclist John Welch said. “We felt confident in the route we took. We could have gone a different way, ours was not the only way.”
Except for the lack of children, the ride mimicked the demographics of those who followed original Removal route. The cyclists included elders, men and women between 42 and 76 years old. As the group traveled from the Homeland to Oklahoma, they moved only as fast at the slowest member. The fittest “warriors” among the cyclists looked out for those not as strong.
The Chickasaw Cycling Club first came together in 2015. The club is filled with riders of varying skill levels. The club welcomes anyone who enjoys cycling and the comradery road cycling offers. Enjoying Chickasaw culture is also important.
The Chickasaw Cycling Club is open to all with annual fees of $25 per individual and $40 for a family of four. To become a member, applicants must fill out the corresponding application and be as least 16 years old with an adult family member also participating in the club.
The club has participated in other notable rides, including the Pontotoc Pursuit, Oklahoma FreeWheel, the Tour of Payne and the Norman Conquest.
For more information on the Chickasaw Cycling Club, visit ChickasawCyclingClub.org.
Chickasaw Removal
After the Indian Removal Act was signed into law May 28, 1830, First American tribes in established states of the United States were under immense pressure to remove west of the Mississippi River.
The Chickasaws worked to negotiate the terms of their relocation to Indian Territory. The Treaty of Franklin, the Treaty of Pontotoc and the Supplemental Treaty of 1834 laid the groundwork for this relocation, and the Treaty of Doaksville with the Choctaw Nation in 1837 secured a place for Chickasaw people to settle in what was then Indian Territory.
The first group of Chickasaw travelers began the journey to their new home July 1837 from Mississippi. They began their journey by land through the swamps and bayous West of the Mississippi River to Arkansas. Weathering heat, rain, illness and other hardships, Chickasaws traversed the rugged landscape to what is now Oklahoma.
In the years between 1837 and 1851, more Chickasaws would make the arduous trek hundreds of miles, with some Chickasaw families still arriving into the 1890s.