University of Virginia Library

CHARLES GIBSON

(1846-1923)
Muscogee

Charles Gibson was born near Eufaula, Creek Nation, on March 20, 1846, the son of John C. and Polly Gibson, a member of Tuckabatchee tribal town from whom Gibson derived his tribal identity. The family had emigrated from Alabama in 1832. The boat on which they traveled sank, and they lost everything they owned. Upon arrival in the Indian Territory, they settled on the Grand River near Fort Gibson and farmed.

Charles Gibson, who was self-educated, obtained what little formal education he had in the common schools of the Creek Nation and at Asbury Mission. He ran a store in the western part of the Creek Nation for a short time and then worked twenty years as head clerk and buyer in the Grayson Brothers store at North Fork Town. In 1896 he established his own store in Eufaula, a developing town in the southeastern part of the Creek nation.

It is difficult to say when Gibson began writing, but he was described by one of his contemporaries as "one of the best newspaper and short story writers among the Indians." His range of forms varied greatly: fables, biographical sketches, reminiscences, descriptions; but the thrust was always the same. His common theme was the old ways of the Creeks and the loss of their culture. In 1901 and 1902, his regular contributions to the Eufaula Indian Journal were published as "Gibsons Rifle Shots."

Wrote one Indian Territory editor in 1903: "Nearly everyone who knows anything of Indian Territory or the Creek tribe has heard of Charles Gibson. His fables, published at some time or other in nearly every paper of Oklahoma or Indian Territory, together with 'Gibsons Rifle Shots have made for him a name that could scarcely be obtained by any other achievement. Full of wit and humor, yet in all his writings there is imbedded a tinge of pathos, a mixture of humiliation and sarcasm, showing a spirit of never having been reconciled to some event where circumstances have ruled against his convictions. . . . His subjects strongly tend to the philosophical, yet at the same time showing a personal feeling no altogether in harmony with existing conditions. There are some who call Charles Gibson a pessimist but in the same breath emphasize the fact that he is 'a good Indian.'"

It is difficult to even estimate the numbers of works by Gibson. It was a common event to see two or three of his works in a single issue of a weekly newspaper. Many works were often reprinted in other papers as far away as Kansas City. A brief survey of his works, however, suggests that Gibson is one of the most prolific Native American writer of all times.

Here is a sample of his articles from 1901-1903, selected from the Eufaula Indian Journal and Twin Territories, published at Muskogee. They have been separated into three groups based on their content. In the Tradition section, Gibson writes of old Muscogee (Creek) ways that seem to be lost to his contemporary Indian and white peers. The Politics section, deals with his commentary on the silly ideas and laws that the United States government was attempting to impose (or not impose) on the Indians. The last section, Miscellaneous, is a sampler of his other styles of writing. Editing has been limited to correcting grossly misspelled words and minor typographical errors. Minor misspellings, coined phrases, regionalisms, and incorrect grammar have been left to reflect the "down-home" style and attitude that Gibson strived so hard to create towards the many serious subjects that he commented on.