The Treaty of Washington City was a treaty signed on January 20, 1825 (proclaimed on February 19, 1825) between the Choctaw (an American Indian tribe) and the United States Government.
The Treaty of Washington City was a treaty signed on January 20, 1825 (proclaimed on February 19, 1825) between the Choctaw (an American Indian tribe) and the United States Government.
Apuckshunubbee, Pushmataha, and Mosholatubbee, the principal leaders of the Choctaws, went to Washington City (the 19th century name for Washington, D.C.) to discuss encroaching settlement and to seek the expulsion of settlers or financial compensation. [1] The group also included Talking Warrior, Red Fort, Nittahkachee, Col. Robert Cole and David Folsom, both half-breed Indians, Captain Daniel McCurtain, and Major John Pitchlynn, the U.S. Interpreter. [2]
The proposed route to Washington was to travel the Natchez trace to Nashville, Tennessee, then to Lexington, Kentucky, onward to Maysville, Kentucky, across the Ohio River northward to Chillicothe, Ohio, (former principal town of the Shawnee), then finally east over the "National Highway" to Washington City. [2]
Pushmataha met with President James Monroe and gave a speech to Secretary of War John C. Calhoun, reminding him of the longstanding alliances between the United States and the Choctaws. He said, "[I] can say and tell the truth that no Choctaw ever drew his bow against the United States ... My nation has given of their country until it is very small. We are in trouble."." [3]
While in Washington, Pushmataha sat for a portrait by Charles Bird King in his Army uniform; it hung in the Smithsonian Institution until 1865.
Pushmataha also met with the Marquis de Lafayette, who was visiting Washington City. Pushmataha said, "Nearly fifty snows have melted since you drew your sword with Washington and fought the enemies of the United States ... Our hearts have longed to see you." [4]
The preamble begins with,
Articles of a convention made between John C. Calhoun, Secretary of War, being specially authorized therefor by the President of the United States, and the undersigned Chiefs and Head Men of the Choctaw Nation of Indians, duly authorized and empowered by said Nation, at the City of Washington, on the twentieth day of January, in the year of our lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-five ...
— Treaty of Washington City, 1825
The treaty had the following abbreviated terms,
1. Lands ceded to the United States.
2. $6,000 to be paid to Choctaws annually, forever.
3. $6,000 to be paid them annually for 16 years.
4. Provision for Choctaws who may desire to remain.
5. A certain debt due by Choctaws relinquished.
6. Payment for services rendered in the Pensacola campaign.
7. Fourth article of the aforesaid treaty to be modified. The Congress of the United States shall not exercise the power of apportioning the lands ... and of bringing them under the laws of the United States, but with the consent of the Choctaw Nation.
8. Payment to satisfy claims due by United States.
9. An agent and blacksmith for Choctaws west of the Mississippi.
10. Robert Cole to receive a medal.
11. Friendship perpetuated.
12. When to take effect.
J. C. Calhoun, Mooshulatubbee, Robert Cole, Daniel McCurtain, Talking Warrior, Red Fort, Nittuckachee, David Folsom, J. L. McDonald, Thos. L. McKenney, Hezekiah Miller, and John Pitchlynn ( United States interpreter).
Apuckshunubbee died in Maysville, Kentucky; and Pushmataha died in Washington. Apuckshunubbee was reported to have died from a broken neck caused by a fall from a hotel balcony. [5] Other historians say he fell from a cliff.
According to the report in the Maysville Eagle, Apuckshunnubbe, the great Medal Chief, after supping at Captain Langhorne's on Wednesday last, in the evening attempted to go to the river, missed his way, and was precipitated over the abutment of the road and received so severe contusions to his head and other injuries, as to render his recovery hopeless. He lingered until Friday night, in a perfectly senseless condition, when his soul winged to the presence of the Great Spirit.
— Earl White- Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma [2]
Pushmataha died of croup, even though the disease usually only afflicts infants and young children.
Apuckshunubee's successor was Robert Cole and later Greenwood LeFlore. [6] Pushmataha's successor was Nittakechi. The deaths of these two leaders effectively crippled the Choctaw Nation. Within six years the Choctaw were forced to cede their last remaining territory in Mississippi to the United States.
The Choctaw are a Native American people originally based in the Southeastern Woodlands, in what is now Alabama and Mississippi. Their Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choctaw people are enrolled in three federally recognized tribes: the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, and Jena Band of Choctaw Indians in Louisiana.
Pushmataha County is a county in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 11,572. Its county seat is Antlers.
The Chickasaw are an indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands. Their traditional territory was in the Southeastern United States of Mississippi, Alabama, Missouri, and Tennessee as well in Kentucky. Their language is classified as a member of the Muskogean language family. In the present day, they are organized as the federally recognized Chickasaw Nation.
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Pushmataha, the "Indian General", was one of the three regional chiefs of the major divisions of the Choctaw in the 19th century. Many historians considered him the "greatest of all Choctaw chiefs". Pushmataha was highly regarded among Native Americans, Europeans, and white Americans, for his skill and cunning in both war and diplomacy.
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George Washington Harkins was an attorney and prominent chief of the Choctaw tribe during Indian removal.
The Treaty of Doak's Stand was signed on October 18, 1820 between the United States and the Choctaw Indian tribe. Based on the terms of the accord, the Choctaw agreed to give up approximately one-half of their remaining Choctaw homeland. In October 1820, Andrew Jackson and Thomas Hinds were sent as commissioners who represented the United States to negotiate a treaty to surrender a large portion of Choctaw country in Mississippi. They met with tribal representatives at Doak's Stand on the Natchez Trace. They met with the chiefs Pushmataha, Mushulatubbee, and Apuckshunubbee, who represented the three major regional divisions of the Choctaw. Chiefs of the towns and other prominent men accompanied them, such as Colonel Silas Dinsmoor.
Peter Perkins Pitchlynn, of the Hat-choo-tuck-nee clan, was a Choctaw chief of Choctaw and Anglo-American ancestry. He was principal chief of the Choctaw Republic from 1864-1866 and surrendered to the Union on behalf of the nation at the end of the Civil War.
The Treaty of Fort St. Stephens or Treaty of Choctaw Trading House was signed between the United States and the Choctaws. The treaty was signed at the Choctaw trading house on October 24, 1816. It ceded 10,000 acres (40 km2) of Choctaw land east of the Tombigbee River. The land was exchanged for 6,000 US dollars annually for twenty years. In 2008 dollars that would be nearly $80,000.
The Treaty of Mount Dexter was signed between the United States and the Choctaws. The treaty was signed November 16, 1805. The 4,142,720-acre (16,765.0 km2) area ceded was from the Natchez District to the Tombigbee Alabama River watershed, mostly in present-day Mississippi.
Apuckshunubbee was one of three principal chiefs of the Choctaw Native American tribe in the early nineteenth century, from before 1800. He led the western or Okla Falaya District of the Choctaw, of which the eastern edge ran roughly southeast from modern Winston County to Lauderdale County, then roughly southwest to Scott County, then roughly south-southeast to the western edge of Perry County. His contemporaries were Pushmataha and Moshulatubbee, who respectively led the southern district Okla Hannali and the north-eastern district Okla Tannap.
The Choctaw Trail of Tears was the attempted ethnic cleansing and relocation by the United States government of the Choctaw Nation from their country, referred to now as the Deep South, to lands west of the Mississippi River in Indian Territory in the 1830s by the United States government. A Choctaw Miko (chief) was quoted by the Arkansas Gazette as saying that the removal was a "trail of tears and death." Since removal, the Choctaw have developed since the 20th century as three federally recognized tribes: the largest, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma; the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, and the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians in Louisiana.
The Treaty with Choctaws and Chickasaws was a treaty signed on July 12, 1861 between the Choctaw and Chickasaw and the Confederate States. At the beginning of the American Civil War, Albert Pike was appointed as Confederate envoy to Native Americans. In this capacity he negotiated several treaties, one of the most important being with Cherokee chief John Ross, which was concluded in 1861. The treaty was ratified and proclaimed on December 20, 1861 by the Confederacy. The Choctaw and Chickasaw also duly ratified the treaty.
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Apukshunnubbee District was one of three administrative super-regions comprising the former Choctaw Nation in Indian Territory. Also called the Second District, it encompassed the southeastern one-third of the nation.
John Pitchlynn served as the official U.S. Interpreter at the Choctaw Agency during the early federal period. Of Scottish-American descent, he had been raised among the Choctaw people. He facilitated relations between the government of the United States and the Choctaw Nation. He was appointed by President George Washington after the United States achieved independence, and served through the administration of Andrew Jackson.
James Lawrence McDonald (c. 1801 — September 1831), was a member of the American Indian tribe called the Choctaw and the first Native leader of his generation to be trained in the American legal system. Thus, he is known as the first Native American lawyer. He was also the first Native activist to make the case for Indian rights directly to American political leaders and to negotiate for those rights in a formal agreement. McDonald did not believe in the use of force in resisting American westward expansion. Instead, he believed that political negotiations between Native American leaders and the United States would be more effective in the fight against the displacement of Natives and would allow for the long-term survival of Native American communities. McDonald urged the U.S. Congress to protect the rights of Native Americans and delayed the removal of his tribe from ancestral lands. As an advisor to Choctaw chiefs and eventual lawyer of the tribe, McDonald successfully negotiated peace treaties with the United States federal government. These negotiations allowed fair compensation for previously ceded land that was undervalued in earlier agreements. He also promoted programs of Indian education and wrote on behalf of the elected tribal governments. McDonald’s work as a lawyer and political activist paved a new path in which future Native American leaders were able to defend the rights of their territory using the American legal system. His career marked the birth of a new approach to federal power, and by extension, the beginning of political activism that was to inspire tribal leaders across the continent.
Choctaw Academy was a historic Indian boarding school at Blue Spring in Scott County, Kentucky for Choctaw students. It existed from 1818 to 1842.