Holmes Colbert

Holmes Colbert
Holmes Colbert, 1850s
Nationality	Chickasaw
Occupation	Government official
Spouse(s)	Betsy Love

Holmes Colbert (Chickasaw) was a 19th-century leader of the Chickasaw Nation in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). Of mixed European and Chickasaw ancestry, Colbert was born to his mother's Chickasaw clan and gained status through them, as the tribe was matrilineal.

Educated in an American school, he also learned of European-American culture and contributed to his tribe. He helped write the Chickasaw Nation's constitution in the 1850s after its removal to Indian Territory and reorganization of its government. Colbert served as the tribe's delegate to Washington, DC after the American Civil War.

Holmes Colbert was of mixed race, the son of a Chickasaw woman and her husband Benjamin Franklin "Frank" Colbert. He was also of mixed Native American and European parents. Frank was a descendant of James Logan Colbert, a Scots trader from North Carolina who settled in Chickasaw country in the mid-18th century, and his third wife Minta Hoye, who had a Chickasaw mother; Frank belonged to her clan. They had six sons. Other sources say the Colberts had five sons. Because the Chickasaw have a matrilineal system, children are considered born into their mother's clan and they gain status in the tribe through her people, including any hereditary leadership positions. The status of their mothers, combined with their father's access to trade goods, led to the Colbert men becoming prominent landowners and leaders in the Chickasaw nation.

The Colbert sons were William, George, Levi, Samuel, Joseph, and Pittman (or James). For nearly a century, the Colbert men and their descendants provided critical leadership during the Chickasaw tribe's greatest challenges.

The Chickasaw allied with the United States during the War of 1812. William Colbert served with General Andrew Jackson against the Red Sticks during the Creek Wars of 1813-14, a civil war within the nation which became part of that conflict. His brothers George and Levi also served. The brothers were prominent landowners and a political force within their clan and the Chickasaw Nation. George and Levi Colbert served as negotiators and interpreters in the 1820s-1830 sduring the tribe's negotiations with the US government related to Indian Removal.