Inside the little storefront on the picture-book-quaint main street of Sulphur, Oklahoma, the Mahota Textiles showroom is decorated with the ghostly silhouette of “Hatchet Woman.” Her body strides forward with a purpose, one hand wielding a hatchet as her long black hair trails in the wind behind her.
Legend has it that Chickasaw women began singing so loudly during the Battle of Ackia, or Aahíkki’ya’ as the Chickasaw say, that the French who attacked that day in 1736 became disoriented. The women ran into the throes of battle with hatchets, and the sight of these chorusing, ax-wielding women so frightened the French troops that they retreated.
Since that historic battle, which took place about four miles north of the town now called Tupelo, Mississippi, the Chickasaw Hatchet Woman has earned her place in history as part of the unconquered and unconquerable Chickasaw tribe.
Her legend lives on in the woven tapestries of Mahota Textiles, the first tribally owned textiles company in North America. Like the seasons, Mahota Textiles’ showroom changes often. Hatchet Woman will always have her place,
