Great Warrior: Red Shoes of the Choctaw

He did not come from a chiefly family, but rose to power on his own ability and strength of character.  Not much is known about his early life or even his name, since Red Shoes was almost certainly a title or a name given to him by his enemies, but this Choctaw warrior left his mark on the Southeast before he was assassinated on orders of the French.

The Choctaw hunting and home range was located in present-day Mississippi and Alabama.  For the most part, they were content to trade with the French and relations between the two people were friendly.  As resources in New France became strained, supplies and trade goods dried up and the Choctaw were forced to look for new trading partners, namely the British.  This caused a rift within the Choctaw Nation, where some leaders continued to favor the French and others were eager to seek new opportunities with the British.  This also forced the Choctaw to compete with the Creeks and Chickasaw for a share of the English trade.  Thus, there was plenty of work for a young warrior to do.  In this war-torn environment, Red Shoes rose to prominence on the basis of his skill as a warrior, fending off French raiding parties bent on punishing the Choctaw for abandoning the French alliance, and Creek and Chickasaw slave raiding parties.  He soon became know as one of the finest warriors the Choctaw ever produced. 

Red Shoes enters the historical record during a conflict with the Chickasaw in the 1720's.  He was made war captain of the Choctaw town of Cuechitto, the highest rank a man with no chiefly lineage could hope to achieve.  In his rise to prominence and desire to seek better trade with the English, he had to defy the chief of his own town and other Choctaw leaders to do so.  His leadership and skill in battle persuaded many Choctaw to follow his lead, believing they had little to gain with the French, whose power in North America was waning, and everything to gain by switching allegiance to the British.  Unfortunately, to reach the nearest British trading base, he and his men had to travel to South Carolina.  During one of these forays, he learned that French soldiers or traders had raided a Choctaw village, killing several non-combatants.  Red Shoes led a raid in retaliation against the French, which further deepened the divide amongst his own people. 

The French saw the need to rid themselves of this pesky upstart and offered bribes to any warrior brave enough to kill Red Shoes.  In June, 1747, a pack train of English supplies and trade goods reached Choctaw territory.  Red Shoes took a party of warriors to escort the pack train into Cuechitto.  During this journey he became sick, and volunteered to remain behind with only one man.  Unfortunately, this warrior had accepted the French bribe to kill his commander.  On or around June 23, 1747, he murdered Red Shoes with a knife and fled to the protection of the nearest French fort.  Unfortunately, Red Shoes' assassination only deepened the rift among the Choctaw.  Several villages were burned by factions from one side or the other.   It would take considerable effort among Choctaw leaders to reunite their people again and smooth over these feuds.