Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek

The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was signed on 27 September 1830 and proclaimed on 24 February 1831 between the Choctaw nation and the United States government. It was the first removal treaty carried into effect under the Indian Removal Act. The Choctaw gave up about 11 million acres, mostly in the state of Mississippi, in exchange for about 15 million acres in Indian Territory, land that later became Oklahoma. The principal Choctaw negotiators were Chief Greenwood LeFlore, Mosholatubbee and Nittucachee, and the American negotiators were Colonel John Coffee and Secretary of War John Eaton. The signing took place in the southwest corner of present Noxubee County, at a site the Choctaw called Bok Chukfi Ahilha. It was the last major land cession the Choctaw signed, and with its ratification by Congress in 1831 those Choctaw who chose to stay in Mississippi became the first major non-European ethnic group recognized as United States citizens.