Greenwood Leflore was a Principal Chief of the Choctaw and Mississippi planter. He was elected Mississippi representative and senator for the period from 1841-1844.
Background
Greenwood Leflore was born near the present site of the old state capitol in Jackson, Mississippi. He was the son of Louis LaFleur, a French-Canadian who lived among the Choctaw Indians as agent and trader, and his wife Rebecca Cravat, who was of French and Indian blood. Later, Louis LaFleur kept an inn on the Natchez Trace. Major John Donly, who handled mail along the Trace, took Greenwood, when he was about twelve years old, to his home near Nashville, Tennessee.
Education
The boy attended school for some years at Nashville, Tennessee.
Career
In his twenties Leflore became a chief of the Choctaws and in this capacity so vigorously encouraged prosperity of the tribe that the white people of Mississippi began to fear that the tribe was becoming too firmly rooted in the state. As a remedial measure the legislature, in 1830, prohibited any chieftain from executing tribal laws. Leflore appealed to the government at Washington, which, to avoid trouble, opened negotiations for the westward removal of the Choctaws. By the treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek (signed September 15, 1830; proclaimed February 24, 1831), the Choctaws sold all that remained of their Mississippi lands. Rewards were allotted to the chiefs, and 640 acres were provided for each head of a family electing to remain in Mississippi and become a citizen of the United States. The treaty displeased the Choctaws, and the federal agents unduly hurried their departure. Leflore's inability to detain them, in addition to his large responsibility for the ratification of the treaty, destroyed his influence over the tribe. He therefore separated from it, remained in Mississippi, and became a citizen of the United States.
In 1841-1844 he was a member of the Mississippi Senate. His rise in the economic system of the white man was remarkable. Dwelling at first in a log cabin a few miles from the city that now bears his first name, he prospered so that in 1854 he moved into a stately mansion, "Malmaison, " which he began to furnish by spending $10, 000 for Louis XIV furniture for a single room. His domain came to comprise 15, 000 acres in Mississippi, on which were 400 slaves, and he had a part interest in 60, 000 acres in Texas. Becoming dissatisfied with the way his cotton was handled at the point where it was loaded on the Yazoo River boats, he built a small town, Point Leflore, and constructed a $75, 000 turnpike to divert plantation business to his town.
During the Civil War his various enterprises languished and his Texas lands were lost. He had deplored secession, and remained loyal to the Union until his death at the close of the war. In accordance with his last request, his body was wrapped in the flag of the United States and was buried near his home.
Achievements
Connections
His first wife was Rosa Donly. After her death he married Elizabeth Cody (or Coody), a Cherokee, the niece of Chief Ross. His third marriage was to Priscilla James Donly, a younger sister of his first wife. There were two children of the first marriage and one of the third.