Holmes Colbert

Holmes Colbert was a 19th-century leader and diplomat of the Chickasaw Nation in Indian Territory.

Of mixed European and Chickasaw ancestry, Colbert was born to his mother's Chickasaw clan and gained significance in the tribe's history through his family's privileged mixed-race status.

Educated in an American school, he knew of both European-American and Chickasaw cultures and contributed to his clan as a mediator between both worlds. He helped write the Chickasaw Nation's constitution in the 1850s after its removal to Indian Territory and reorganization of its government. After the American Civil War, Colbert then went on to serve as the tribe's delegate.