Pushmataha District

Pushmataha
Pushmataha
	Chief Pushmataha, 1824, published in History of the Indian Tribes of North America.

Last updated July 19, 2024

Pushmataha District was one of three provinces, or districts, comprising the former Choctaw Nation in the Indian Territory. Also called the Third District, it encompassed the southwestern one-third of the nation.

The Pushmataha District was named in honor of Pushmataha, a revered Choctaw warrior and statesman who was chief of Okla Hannali, the Six Towns District, one of the three historic, major clan divisions of the Choctaw in their historic territory of the Southeast. The other two districts were the Apukshunnubbee District and Moshulatubbee District.^[1]

History

These three districts were established when the Choctaw Nation relocated via the Trail of Tears to the Indian Territory. They were originally intended to provide homes for settlers from the three major clans or groupings of Choctaw Indians comprising the nation. Over time, the clan affiliations and allegiances rapidly became less important after the Choctaw reached Indian Territory, in part because the geography was different, and there was great disruption due to population loss in the removal.

The districts' importance in the political life of the nation gradually waned, and the three district chiefs lost power and authority to the principal chief of the Nation. Eventually the principal chief became the chief. No longer a "first among equals", he became the sole political leader.

In judicial affairs, however, the three districts and their seats of government retained their historic influence. Crimes and criminals not tried at the county level were bucked to the district level automatically, and court days were the busiest days of the year in the district seats of government.

Pushmataha District's final and most important administrative seat of government was Mayhew, Indian Territory. This was started as a former Presbyterian missionary station. Present-day Boswell, Oklahoma developed about two miles south of its location.

The first district seat was Tiak Heli, "between the forks of the Boggy" ("or Boggies"), as it was called. The site was difficult to reach, being situated between the small rivers of Clear Boggy Creek and Muddy Boggy Creek. Few ferries operated on the rivers to provide convenient crossings. When the court house at Tiak Heli burned in the last part of the 19th century, the district moved its administrative center to Mayhew.^[2] Present-day Sunkist, Oklahoma (in southeastern Atoka County) developed about one-half mile west of that historic community.

"I never understood why court was held in the forks of the Boggy, forcing everyone who attended to cross a river," an early-day settler said decades later. He thought the district seat was likely considered to be in the center of general population. But, he said, "There were no ferries, nor bridges above the forks of the Boggy."^[3]

Another settler recalled the post oak tree was used as the "whipping tree". Judges of the Choctaw district courts sentenced some criminals to whippings as punishment. As of 1937, the tree was still in existence.^[4]

Included in the Pushmataha District were the Choctaw Nation counties of Atoka, Jack's Fork, Blue, Jackson, and Kiamitia (Kiamichi).^[5]

As Oklahoma's statehood loomed, the Pushmataha District, and its constituent counties, slowly wound down their governmental functions as the United States Courts in the Indian Territory assumed their powers. On November 16, 1907—Oklahoma's Statehood Day—the district and its counties disappeared forever.

The territory of the former Pushmataha District is incorporated into the present-day Oklahoma counties of Atoka, Bryan, Choctaw, Coal, and Pushmataha.^[6]

Related Research Articles

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Atoka County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,143. Its county seat is Atoka. The county was formed before statehood from Choctaw Lands, and its name honors a Choctaw Chief named Atoka. The county is part of Choctaw Nation reservation lands.

Boswell is a town in Choctaw County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 709 at the 2010 census.

Tuskahoma is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in northern Pushmataha County, Oklahoma, United States, four miles east of Clayton. It was the former seat of the Choctaw Nation government prior to Oklahoma statehood. The population was 102 as of the 2020 United States census.

Muddy Boggy Creek, also known as the Muddy Boggy River, is a 175-mile-long (282 km) river in south central Oklahoma. The stream headwaters arise just east of Ada in Pontotoc County. It is a major tributary of the Red River in south central Oklahoma. Clear Boggy Creek is a major tributary which enters the Muddy Boggy at a location known as River Mile 24 in Choctaw County. The river is inhabited by over one hundred species of fish.

Kiamitia County, also known as Kiamichi County, was a political subdivision of the Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory. The county formed part of the nation's Pushmataha District, or Third District, one of three administrative super-regions.

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Jack's Fork County, also known as Jack Fork County, was a political subdivision of the Choctaw Nation of Indian Territory. The county formed part of the nation's Pushmataha District, or Third District, one of three administrative super-regions.

Mayhew, Indian Territory, located two miles north of present-day Boswell, Oklahoma, was the seat of government of the Pushmataha District of the Choctaw Nation, in the Indian Territory. It was located in Jackson County, Choctaw Nation, the county seat of which was Pigeon Roost, south of present-day Boswell.

Jackson County was a political subdivision of the Choctaw Nation of Indian Territory, prior to Oklahoma being admitted as a state. The county formed part of the Nation's Pushmataha District, or Third District, one of three administrative super-regions.

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Apukshunnubbee District was one of three provinces, or districts, comprising the former Choctaw Nation in Indian Territory. Also called the Second District, it encompassed the southeastern one-third of the nation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moshulatubbee District</span>

Moshulatubbee District was one of three provinces, or districts, comprising the former Choctaw Nation in the Indian Territory. Also called the First District, it encompassed the northern one-third of the nation. In some historic records it is spelled Mushulatubbe.

Blue County was a political subdivision of the Choctaw Nation of Indian Territory, prior to Oklahoma being admitted as a state. The county formed part of the Nation’s Pushmataha District, or Third District, one of three administrative super-regions.

Pushmataha County was a proposed political subdivision created by the Sequoyah Constitutional Convention. The convention, meeting in Muskogee, Indian Territory in 1905, established the political and administrative layout of a prospective U.S. state it called the State of Sequoyah.

Wade County was a political subdivision of the Choctaw Nation of Indian Territory, prior to Oklahoma being admitted as a state. The county formed part of the Nation's Apukshunnubbee District, or First District, one of three administrative super-regions.

The Atoka Agreement is a document signed by representatives of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indian Nations and members of the United States Dawes Commission on April 23, 1897, at Atoka, Indian Territory. It provided for the allotment of communal tribal lands of the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations in the Indian Territory to individual households of members of the tribes, who were certified as citizens of the tribes. Land in excess of the allotments could be sold to non-natives. Provisions of this agreement were later incorporated into the Curtis Act of 1898, which provided for widespread allotment of communal tribal lands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atoka County, Choctaw Nation</span> Former political subdivision of the Choctaw Nation

Atoka County was a political subdivision of the Choctaw Nation of Indian Territory, prior to Oklahoma being admitted as a state. The county formed part of the Nation's Pushmataha District, or Third District, one of three administrative and judicial provinces called districts.

Gaines County was a political subdivision of the Choctaw Nation of Indian Territory, prior to Oklahoma being admitted as a state. The county formed part of the Nation's Moshulatubbee District, or First District, one of three administrative super-regions.

References

↑ Angie Debo, The Rise and Fall of the Choctaw Republic, p. 40.
↑ Laws of the Choctaw Nation, Acts of 1886; Interviews with Charles Stewart Lewis, Indian-Pioneer Papers, Western History Collections of the University of Oklahoma Libraries.
↑ Hazel B. Greene, "Interview with Cas Vandergriff" (1937), Indian-Pioneer Oral History Project - Papers, Works Progress Administration, University of Oklahoma Library
↑ "Interview with Arthur J. Cline," Indian-Pioneer Oral History Project -Papers, WPA.
↑ Angie Debo, The Rise and Fall of the Choctaw Republic, pp. 151-154.
↑ John W. Morris, Historical Atlas of Oklahoma, plate 38.

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[1] Angie Debo, The Rise and Fall of the Choctaw Republic, p. 40.

[2] Laws of the Choctaw Nation, Acts of 1886; Interviews with Charles Stewart Lewis, Indian-Pioneer Papers, Western History Collections of the University of Oklahoma Libraries.

[3] Hazel B. Greene, "Interview with Cas Vandergriff" (1937), Indian-Pioneer Oral History Project - Papers, Works Progress Administration, University of Oklahoma Library

[4] "Interview with Arthur J. Cline," Indian-Pioneer Oral History Project -Papers, WPA.

[5] Angie Debo, The Rise and Fall of the Choctaw Republic, pp. 151-154.

[6] John W. Morris, Historical Atlas of Oklahoma, plate 38.

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