James Colbert (trader)
{{Short description|Scottish trader (c. 1720–1784)}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = James Colbert
| image = File:Sidney E. King - Counterattack! (cropped).jpg
| caption = Counterattack! by Sidney E. King shows Colbert (centre) at the battle of Arkansas Post in 1783.
| birth_date = {{circa|1720}}
| birth_place = Scotland
| death_date = {{Death-date and age|7 January 1784|1720}}
| death_place = West Florida
| occupation = {{flatlist|
}}
| children = 8, including George and Levi
| module = {{Infobox military person
| embed = yes
| embed_title = Military service
| allegiance = {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Great Britain}}
| branch = British Army
| branch_label = Branch
| rank = Captain
| unit = 16th Regiment of Foot
| battles = {{tree list}}
- American Revolutionary War
- Battle of Pensacola
- Battle of Fort Jefferson{{WIA}}
- Colbert Raid
{{tree list/end}}
| battles_label = Battles
}}
}}
James Logan Colbert ({{circa|1720}}{{spaced ndash}}7 January 1784) was a Scottish trader who lived much of his life among the Chickasaw. He also served as an officer of the British Army who commanded an independent company in the Western Theater of the American Revolutionary War. In 1783, Colbert led an unsuccessful raid on the Franco-Spanish village of Arkansas Post, Louisiana (present-day U.S. state of Arkansas) in an attempt to capture Fort Carlos III.
Early life and career
James Logan Colbert was born about 1720 in Scotland. He immigrated to Georgia in January 1736.{{sfn|Bearss|pp=18–19|1974}} He was married to three Chickasaw women: Nahettaly, sophia, and Mary (all sisters) and among them had nine children; including George, Levi, and William, who became notable 19th-century tribal leaders. Fluent in Chickasaw, he served as an interpreter at the 1763 Augusta and the 1765 and 1771 Mobile Indian conferences.{{sfn|Pate|p=264|2017}} He fought with the British during the American Revolutionary War; most notably at Fort Jefferson, where he was wounded in action,{{sfn|Bearss|p=29|1974}} and Arkansas Post.{{sfn|Bearss|pp=51–56|1974}} He died on 7 January 1784 in West Florida en route from St. Augustine, East Florida.{{sfn|Bearss|p=60|1974}}
Slavery
James Colbert brought African slaves to The Chickasaw Nation and encouraged chattel slave practices in the tribe to gain their participation in the slave trade to support the custom and give backing to Confederate ambitions. The tribe bought many Africans and embraced chattel slavery. Many of Colbert's children, who were mixed race, acted as a light skinned upper class, which did most of the slavery reinforcing within the tribe. Even after The Civil War, The Chickasaw Tribe refused to relinquish their slaves, stating they were a sovereign nation that did not have to follow U.S. proclamations, and held onto their slaves. Today, many decedents of the children of Chickasaw slaves, called Freedmen, can trace their family roots back to African slaves brought by Colbert to The Chickasaw.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}
References
= Citations =
{{reflist|colwidth=20em}}
= Bibliography =
{{refbegin|30em}}
- {{cite report |last=Bearss |first=Edwin C. |author-link=Ed Bearss |date=November 1974 |title=Special History Report: The Colbert Raid, Arkansas Post National Memorial, Arkansas |url=https://www.nps.gov/arpo/learn/historyculture/upload/Colberts-Raid_Special-History-Report-with-notes_reduced.pdf |location=Denver, Colorado |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=17 March 2024}}
- {{cite encyclopedia |last=Pate |first=James P. |editor1-last=Ownby |editor1-first=Ted |editor2-last=Wilson |editor2-first=Charles Reagan |encyclopedia=The Mississippi Encyclopedia |title=Colbert, William (Chooshemataha), Colbert, Levi (Itawamba Mingo), Colbert, George (Tootemastubbe) |year=2017 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |location=Jackson |isbn=9781628466928 |lccn=2016043630 |oclc=959373243 |ol=28626076M}}
{{refend}}
External links
[https://newafricanmagazine.com/3782/ America’s Black Indians, a hidden heritage]
{{Portal bar|Biography|British Empire|Business|Scotland}}
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Category:18th-century Scottish merchants
Category:Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment officers
Category:British Army personnel of the American Revolutionary War
Category:Chickasaw Nation people