Skip to the page content Skip to primary navigation Skip to the search form Skip to the audience-based navigation Skip to the site tools and log-in Information about website accessibility

Sequoyah Research Center

Choctaw Removal Song

Muriel Wright, the noted Choctaw historian, reported the following song, sung by the Choctaws who remained in Mississippi and in memory of their people who had departed to the West:

“Hinaushi pisali, Bok Chito onali, yayali.”

[I saw a trail to the big river and then I cried.]

Source: Muriel H. Wright, “A Chieftain’s ‘Farewell Letter’ to the American People,” American Indian 1 (December 1926), 7, 12.

Updated 1.12.2010