Basil LeFlore
Basil LeFlore (Choctaw, born near Carrollton, Mississippi, in 1811; died in Goodland, Indian Territory, 15 October 1886) was governor of the Choctaw nation after it removed to Indian Territory from the Southeast. He served from 1860 to 1875. He later was auditor until his death.
Biography
LeFlore was of mixed Choctaw and French ancestry, but he was brought up among his mother's people as a Choctaw. In their matrilineal kinship system, children were considered born to the mother's people and took their social status from her family. LeFlore attended the mission school at Brainard, Mississippi. For several years he attended the Johnson Indian School in Kentucky.
After the Choctaw were forced out of Mississippi by the United States under the Indian Removal Act, LeFlore moved with his people to Indian Territory in 1831. He soon held a high place in the councils of his people. He was chosen as governor of his people, a hereditary position, in 1860, serving until 1875.
LeFlore was a member of the Methodist Church and was well educated. He was said to adopt the refinements of European-American civilized life. The Choctaw were one of the Five Civilized Tribes of the American Southeast, and had adopted certain United States customs that they thought were useful.
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