Removal
Levi Colbert and his brother George Colbert were prominent among the negotiators of the Chickasaw when meeting with US government officials related to treaties and removal. Although opposed to the Indian Removal Act of 1830, in a treaty meeting with General John Coffee and other United States representatives in November 1832, to keep peace, the Chickasaw chiefs of the council signed a treaty based on the tribe's removal west of the Mississippi River to Indian Territory. This treaty gave them only 25 cents per acre for their land, less than half that which was first promised.
In a long letter to President Andrew Jackson that November, Colbert noted the many complaints the chiefs had with the resulting treaty. He restated their position, and noted their belief that General Coffee had ignored their comments and viewpoints. They had wanted the tribe to keep control of money resulting from sale of their lands, they were not ready to choose land in Indian Territory, they did not want to share a reservation in Indian Territory with "half-breeds", and were dismayed at the way they had been treated by General Coffee. More than 40 chiefs who had attended the treaty council signed the letter with Colbert. They were chiefs of the clans and leading villages.
Colbert had been ill during the meeting and was unable to attend all the sessions. He died in 1834, years before his people finally agreed to a treaty and removed to Indian Territory.
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