In this first book-length account, Juanita J. Keel Tate shows how Edmund Pickens, her great-grandfather, persevered and triumphed as a statesman and tribal leader during and after Removal in the 1830s. Tate devoted forty-seven years to researching and writing about Pickens, visiting courthouses in the Chickasaw homelands, locating early homesteads, and scouring family records. Her insightful biography provides the testimony to Pickens’ character that this great leader has long deserved.