self
upon lands in the North Fork country. He later effected a permanent settlement at Oil Springs about twenty miles northwest
of Tishomingo and about nine miles east of the present town of Berwyn and in what is today Johnston County, Oklahoma.
The political affairs of the Chickasaws were closely interwoven with the Choctaws during those early formative days in the
West. The treaty of January 17, 18375 at Doaksville created the Chickasaw District in the Choctaw Nation. This district under the provisions of the treaty of June
22, 18556 became the Chickasaw Nation and the separate political status of the Chickasaws was accomplished. Winchester Colbert was
a directing hand in framing this treaty and had served as a member of the Choctaw council from the Chickasaw District but
early became a strong advocate of the political separation of his people from the Choctaws. He was a prominent member of the
constitutional convention which framed the constitution for the newly created Chickasaw Nation, in August, 1856 and served
as a member of the first Chickasaw legislature.
In August, 1858, Winchester Colbert became the second governor of the Chickasaw Nation when he defeated Gov. Cyrus Harris
who was running for reelection. Harris postponed a second consecutive term for Governor Colbert when he returned to the governorship
in the fall of 1860, but Colbert again defeated Harris in August, 1862, and was reelected in the autumn of 1864. The two concluding
terms of Governor Colbert covered the fateful years of the Civil War, from the fall of 1862 to the fall of 1866. Winchester
Colbert was a signer of the treaty which, as a Chickasaw delegate he had aided in negotiating with Gen. Albert Pike the representative
of the Confederate States at North Fork, Creek Nation, on July 12, 1861. His sentiments, as were those of the Chickasaws in
general, were very distinctly with the South. All forms of endeavor among the Chickasaws approached a stalemate during the
war. The governor becoming apprehensive of his personal safety, upon the defeat of the Confederates at Camp Kansas in February,
1864, departed hurriedly for Texas where he remained for several months as a refugee. Other Confederate sympathizers fled
Horace Pratt, the President of the tribal senate functioned as governor during his absence. The governor returned from Texas
in the fall of 1864 and with the collapse of hostilities in the succeeding year, formally surrendered on July 14, 1865, the
Chickasaws being the last of the Five Tribes to surrender. The Chickasaws entered the war as an independent ally of the Confederacy
and upon its conclusion, made an independent surrender and likewise concluded their terms of peace. Governor Colbert became
active as a participant in the peace negotiations with the Government held at Ft. Smith, Arkansas, in September, 1865 and
the Civil War with its unhappy conditions for the Chickasaws was concluded.
When the Chickasaws entered the Civil War their interest in other activities was suspended but in so doing they ran orthodox
to time-honored customs of the race derived from high ancestral practice. The potentcy and security of government in the Chickasaw
Nation were postponed during hostilities. There was a complete break down in law enforcement. The tribal courts were closed;
no session of the legislature was convened during the war and for a brief period the governor became a fugitive in Texas.
The consequent lawless conditions which ensued were not improved by the presence of Creek and Cherokee refugee Indians camped
around Stonewall and at points further south along the Red River. The years of the Civil War were drab years for the Chickasaws.
On September 27, 1865, Governor Colbert in his initial communication to officials of the Federal Government reported that
"robberies and horse stealing are common occurences in the southern part of the Nation" and requested that "a company or two
of cavalry be sent under a capable officer to afford protection." In the same letter the governor also requested the removal
of the refugee Indians of other tribes 