The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi

by Wright Thompson

In the fall of 1805 Pushmataha had traveled north via boat to meet with Thomas Jefferson. That meeting shook the great Choctaw leader, who’d been forced to trade four million acres to settle a $46,000 debt to the Panton Company. The government had figured out how to clear the South of the people who had been living there so the new grid could be laid atop all that newly emptied land. Pushmataha came home and gathered his people. The sun set and the stars lit the sky. Sparks rose from the fire. Pushmataha began to tell a story about a bird whose song filled the trees with beauty. This forest music sounded like a beam of light shot through a cloud after a morning rain. The bird was small but strong and his song nurtured all the living things in the forests and the swamps. But it needed food and one day a creature arrived and promised abundance for a price. “If you bring me the flowers of the field,” the creature said, “I will feed you.” The bird traded and traded until all the flowers were gone. The creature let the bird continue to eat but warned of a coming reckoning. “Finally the day came when the creature demanded payment,” he said. “In payment of your debt, I demand your song.” The stars twinkled in the night sky and the air turned cool. “Please do not take my song,” the tiny bird begged. Nobody spoke. “As with the tiny bird, the day has now come when payment is due. The white trader demands that what he is owed be repaid. But the Choctaw has no ability to repay. The de...