By John Bartlett Meserve The career of Allen Wright paralleled a
tragic period in Choctaw history. A zenith was attained when he
became 1Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation in the fall of
1866 serving until the fall of 1870. Those were the drab years
of reconstruction following the Civil War during which struggle
due processes of law among the Choctaws had been short-circuited
and a state of lawlessness ensued. The leadership of Allen
Wright contributed much to salvage the Choctaws from this
wreckage. His contribution to the spiritual, educational and
political concerns of his people is of compelling interest.
During the inceptive days of our War of the Revolution, William
Fry, a white man from Kentucky ventured into the Choctaw country
which many years later became the State of Mississippi, where he
effected his permanent home. He married a full blood Choctaw
Indian woman and their daughter Elizabeth (Betsy) married a full
blood of the Choctaw Nation and became the mother of
Ishtemahilvbi, the father of Al