Chickasaw women were fierce protectors of their homes. An iron hatchet, a sizzling frying pan or a billet of firewood would serve dual purposes when threat of danger encroached.

"[Hatchet women] was not some special unit of Chickasaw women. It was just all Chickasaw women who, when attacked in their home, would fight back with every means they had," says Brad Lieb, Ph.D., Director of Chickasaw Archaeology, Heritage Preservation Division.

But the influence of Chickasaw women also continued in war, occasionally accompanying warriors during combat. They would provide war medicine through song, singing that encouraged or reproached warriors and provided strategic insights that advanced them forward.

These matrilineal lines of strong Chickasaw women are rooted in a tradition of tenacity that is still carried on today. "Ferocity isn't something that we consciously pass down. It's just who we are as Chickasaw women," says Kati Cain, Research Specialist & Genealogist in the Literary Arts Division.

"It connects us with all the Chickasaw women that came before us and that will continue to come after us."