Dear Readers:  You may remember my column dated June 11 entitled “Tecumseh’s visit to the Choctaw Nation.” I have heard from many of you with favorable comments about this column pertaining to a historical account of a meeting between Chief Pushmataha of the Choctaw Nation and Chief Tecumseh of the Shawnee Nation. Therefore, I wanted to write a short piece about the famous Choctaw Chief Pushmataha. I would like to thank my good friend, Mr. Roy Watts, for his contribution to my Pushmataha historical research and for his continued encouragement and support.

    The legacy of Pushmataha has always been his support and friendship of the Americans. This was clearly evident in 1811. History recorded that Chief Pushmataha sent the Shawnee Chief Tecumseh packing from the Choctaw lands .It was when Tecumseh proposed a unified Indian uprising against the Americans.  It was at the end of a ten day council when Tecumseh finished his campaign to unit the Choctaws with the effort of destroying the Americans that Pushmataha was quoted as stating, “The Creeks were once our friends.  They have joined the English war (The War of 1812), and we must now follow different trails. When our fathers took the hand of Washington, they told him the Choctaw would always be friends of his nation, and Pushmataha can not be false to their promises. I am now ready to fight against both the English and the Creeks.”

    The facts pertaining to the early life of Pushmataha where poorly documented. It is thought he was born around the year of 1764. Tradition stated that his parents were killed in a raid by a neighboring tribe. The area of East Mississippi and West Alabama were occupied by the Muskogean family of Indian tribes. Included were the Creek, Seminoles, Choctaws and Chickasaws. The Choctaws and Chickasaws possessed similar language and customs, and occupied the major part of what is now Western Alabama, all of Mississippi and Louisiana, and Western Tennessee. It was from this area and these people that Pushmataha descended. A colorful legend of his origin was told:

    “A little cloud was once seen in the northern sky. It came before a rushing wind, and covered the Choctaw country with darkness.  Out of it flew an angry fire. It struck a large oak, and scattered its limbs and its trunk all along the ground, and from that spot sprung forth a warrior fully armed for war.”

    As young as 13, Pushmataha fought in a war against the Creek tribe. Between 1784 and 1789, Pushmataha participated in wars with the Osage and Caddo people. At a young age, he participated in raids that extended into the territories that would later become the states of Arkansas and Oklahoma. By 1800, Pushmataha’s reputation as a mighty warrior and spiritual leader allowed him the position of Mingo (chief) of the Choctaws, eventually for the Six Towns district – a great honor. He was known for his sharp logic, humorous wit, and lyrical, eloquent speaking style.

    Author, W. B. Morrison, described Pushmataha as follows:

“In personal appearance he was every inch a chief.  He was of the purest Indian blood, six feet, two inches tall and robust in proportion to his height, with form and features finely modeled. His deportment was calm and dignified.  The Indians sometimes called him the ‘Panther’s Claw.’ He was by nature a leader among men, and that not alone in his own tribe.  No Indian of his day was so highly respected by white men as was Pushmataha.  He possessed wonderful powers as an orator.  General Sam Dale, the famous Indian fighter, who witnessed Pushmataha’s appeal against Tecumseh, declared him to be the greatest orator he ever heard.  The Indian’s picturesque word for Pushmataha’s flow of language was the ‘waterfall.’

    Some historians credit Chief Pushmataha equal with Andrew Jackson in saving our Southern States to the United States in the War of 1812. Pushmataha and seven hundred warriors fought valiantly at the battle of Horseshoe Bend in support of General Jackson and his army. It was just a year later at New Orleans that the Americans faced the British. Pushmataha, now a brigadier-general of the American army, rendered efficient and valiant service as he led eight hundred fighting Choctaws to the aid of Andrew Jackson.

    Pushmataha spent his entire life in the interest of his people. At the time of the treaty of 1820 which finalized the sale of the Choctaw lands in Mississippi to the United States and the eventual removal of his people to Oklahoma, Pushmataha made plans to set aside a large sum of the proceeds from the land sale as a school fund for the education of the Choctaw. He commented on the treaty: “We have acquired from the United States her best remaining territory west of the Mississippi, and this treaty provides a perpetual fund for the education of our children.  I predict that in a few generations its benefits will enable the Choctaws to fight in the white man’s armies and to hold office in the white man’s government.”

    It was in 1824 that Pushmataha went to Washington to attend to the business of his people for the last time. It was at that time in his address to the Secretary of War that he said, “I can boast and tell the truth that none of the Choctaws ever drew bow against the United States. We have held the hand of the United States so long that our nails are long like birds’ claws.” On December 24, 1824, after a short illness of pneumonia, he died.  General Andrew Jackson visited him just before his death and asked what he could do for him. Pushmataha looked into the face of his longtime friend and said, “When I die, let the big guns be fired over me.” Andrew Jackson made the proper arrangements . Pushmataha was given the funeral of a general in the United States army and his remains are buried in the Congressional Cemetery at Washington.

    These are his last recorded words:

“I am about to die, but you will return to our country. As you go along the paths, you will see the flowers, and hear the birds sing; but Pushmataha will see and hear them no more. When you reach home they will ask. ‘Where is Pushmataha?’ And you will say to them, ‘He is no more.’ They will hear your words as they do the fall of the great oak in the stillness of the midnight woods.”

    The legacy of Choctaw Chief Pushmataha continues even today as a tribute to the integrity of true friendships, the brave and honest soldier, and the great general leader – a man among men who always kept the interest and care of his people first.

Anne B. McKee is an author and storyteller.  She lives in Meridian. Anne is listed on the Mississippi Artist Roster, sponsored by Mississippi Arts Commission, as a dramatic and literary artist and as a Teaching Artist. She is active with the arts and educational communities throughout Mississippi. Visit her web site: www.annemckee.net.