Culture of the Choctaw
Stickball
Stickball
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[right\|thumb\|280px\|Choctaw Stickball 1830s painted by [George Catlin](/wiki/George_Catlin "George Catlin").](/wiki/Image:George_Catlin_-_Ball-play_of_the_Choctaw--Ball_Up_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg "George Catlin - Ball-play of the Choctaw--Ball Up - Google Art Project.jpg")

Native American stickball, one of the oldest field sports in the Americas, was also known as the "little brother of war" because of its roughness and substitution for war. When disputes arouse between Choctaw communities, stickball provided a "civilized" way to settle the issue. The earliest reference to stickball was in 1729 by a Jesuit priest. The stickball games would involve as few as twenty or as many as 300 players. John R. Swanton states of George Catlin's remarks on the game,

> It is no uncommon occurrence for six or eight hundred or a thousand \[!] of these young men to engage in a game of ball, with five or six times that number of spectators, of men, women, and children, surrounding the ground, and looking on...

The goal posts could be from a few hundred feet apart to a few miles. Goal posts were sometimes located within each opposing team's village.

The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians play stickball today in the 21st century. Every year at the [Choctaw Indian Fair](/wiki/Choctaw_Indian_Fair "Choctaw Indian Fair") near [Philadelphia, Mississippi](/wiki/Philadelphia%2C_Mississippi "Philadelphia, Mississippi"), as well as at the Choctaw Labor Day festival in [Tuskahoma, Oklahoma](/wiki/Tuskahoma%2C_Oklahoma "Tuskahoma, Oklahoma"), stickball can be seen played on a modern\-day football field.


What is stickball?