Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from Radiotopia.

My name is Jody Avergating.

This day, July 13, 1861, a treaty is signed between a North American government and the

Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes.

Now maybe that's not notable, there were all sorts of treaties with Native Americans, but

1861 this treaty was not with the United States of America but the Confederate states of America.

As the Civil War broke out and southern states seceded from the Union, the Confederacy

signed a number of treaties with Native Americans, something I will confess I didn't know that much about

and it certainly adds a new dimension to

us trying to understand the shifting alliances as this country broke apart.

So here to discuss the Confederate indigenous treaties are, as always,

Nicole Hammer of Columbia and Kelly Carter Jackson of Wellesley.

Hello there.

Hello, Jody.

Hey there.

So Kelly, I mean, from a large perspective, when we think about why some Native American tribes

would sign treaties with the Confederacy, is this sort of a case of maybe the enemy of my enemy is my friend?

Absolutely, absolutely.

I think that oftentimes, you know, it's unfortunate that we have these very singular

narratives when we think about the Civil War of like the North and the South or you know free and enslaved or white and black and we completely forget about the fact that there are other groups of people intensely involved and invested in the outcome of this war and that indigenous people and Native American people are very much a part of this as well.

And that there's a long history of Native Americans having to pivot

according to their political affiliations or alliances.

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