Navitive American Indians Profile (NAIP)© Pushmataha, ca. 1765-1824, a59y District Chief of the Choctaw, ca. 1800-1824

     This individual {1} was a distinguished warrior of the
Choctaw Nation, (East) {2} and a fair specimen of the talents and
propensities of the modern Indian. It will have been noticed, by
those who have paid attention to Indian history, that the savage
character is always seen in a modified aspect among those of the
tribes who reside in juxtaposition with the whites. We are not
prepared to say that it is either elevated or softened by this
relation; but it is certainly changed. The strong hereditary bias
of the wild and untamed rover of the forest remains in prominent
development, while some of the arts, and many of the vices of the
civilized man, are engrafted upon them. The Choctaws have had
their principal residence in that part of the country east of the
Mississippi, River which now forms the State of Mississippi and
have had intercourse with the European race from the time of the
discovery of that region by the French, nearly two centuries ago.
In 1820, that tribe was supposed to consist of a population of
twenty-five thousand souls. They have always maintained friendly
relations with the American people, and have permitted our
missionaries to reside among them; some of them have addicted
themselves to agriculture, and a few of their females have
intermarried with the white traders.

     Pushmataha was born about the year 1764, and at the age of
twenty was a captain, or a war chief, and a great hunter. In the
latter occupation he often passed to the western side of the
Mississippi, to hunt the buffalo, upon the wide plains lying
towards our southern frontier. On one occasion, while hunting on
the Red River with a party of Choctaws, he was attacked by a
number of Indians of a tribe called the Callageheahs, {3} near the
Spanish line, and totally defeated. He made his own escape,
alone, to a Spanish settlement, where he arrived nearly starved;
having, while on the way given a little horse, that he found
grazing on the plains, for a single fish. He remained with the
Spaniards five years, employing himself as a hunter, brooding
over the plans of vengeance which he afterwards executed, and
probably collecting the information necessary to the success of
his scheme. Wandering back to the Choctaw country, alone, he came
by stealth, in the night, to a little village of the enemies by
whom he had been defeated, suddenly rushed in upon them, killed
seven of the inhabitants, and set fire to the lodges, which were
entirely consumed before the surviving occupants recovered from
their alarm.

     After this feat he remained in his own nation about six
years, increasing his reputation as a hunter, and engaging
occasionally in the affairs of the tribe. He then raised a party
of his own friends, and led them to seek a further revenge for
the defeat which still rankled in his bosom. Again he surprised
one of their towns upon Red River, and killed two or three of
their warriors without any loss on his own side. But engaging in
an extensive hunt, his absence from home was protracted to the
term of eight months. Resting from this expedition but ten days,
he prevailed on another party of Choctaw warriors to follow his
adventurous steps in a new enterprise against the same enemy, and
was again victorious, bringing home six of the scalps of his foes
without losing a man. On this occasion he was absent seven or
eight months. In one year afterwards he raised a new party, led
them against the foe whom he had so often stricken, and was once
more successful. {4}

     Some time before the war of 1812, a party of Creek Indians,
who had been engaged in a hunting expedition, came to the Choctaw
country, and burned the house of Pushmataha, who was in the
neighborhood intently occupied in playing ball, a game at which
he was very expert. He was too great a man to submit to such an
injury, and, as usual, immediate retaliation ensued. He led a
party of Choctaws into the Creek country, killed several of that
nation, and committed as great destruction of their property as
was practicable in his rapid march; and he continued from time to
time, until the breaking out of the war between the United States
and Great Britain, to prosecute the hostilities growing out of
this feud with relentless vigor; assailing the Creeks frequently
with small parties, by surprise, and committing indiscriminate
devastation upon the property or people of that tribe. Such are
the quarrels of great men; and such have been the border wars of
rude nations from the earliest times.

     In the war that succeeded, he was always the first to lead a
party against the British or their Indian allies; and he did much
injury to the Creeks and Seminoles during that contest. His
military prowess and success gained for him the honorary title
which he seems to have well deserved; and he was usually called
General Pushmataha.

     This chief was not descended from any distinguished family,
but was raised to command, when a young man, in consequence of
his talents and prowess. He was always poor, and when not engaged
in war, followed the chase with ardor and success. He was brave
and generous; kind to those who were necessitous, and hospitable
to the stranger. The eagerness with which he sought to revenge
himself upon his enemies, affords no evidence of ferocity of
character; but is in strict conformity with the Indian code of
honor, which sanctions such deeds as nobly meritorious.

     It is curious to observe the singular mixture of great and
mean qualities in the character of a barbarous people. The same
man who is distinguished in war, and in the council, is often the
subject of anecdotes which reflect little credit on his character
in private life. We shall repeat the few incidents which have
reached us, in the public and private history of Pushmataha.

     He attended a council held in 1823 near the residence of
Major Pitchlynn,{5} a wealthy trader among the Choctaws, and at a
distance of eighty miles from his own habitation. The business
was closed on the third of July, and on the following day, the
anniversary of our independence, a dinner was given by Major
Pitchlynn to Col. Ward, the agent of the Government of the United
States, and the principal chiefs who were present. When the
guests were about to depart, it was observed that General
Pushmataha had no horse; and as he was getting to be too old to
prosecute so long a journey on foot, the Government agent
suggested to Mr. Pitchlynn the propriety of presenting him a
horse. This was readily agreed to, on the condition that the
chief would promise not to exchange the horse for whisky; and the
old warrior, mounted upon a fine young animal, went upon his way
rejoicing. It was not long before he visited the Agency, on foot,
and it was discovered that he had lost his horse in betting at
ball-play. "But did you not promise Mr. Pitchlynn," said the
agent, "that you would not sell his horse?" "I did so, in the
presence of yourself and many others," replied the chief; "hut I
did not promise that I would not risk the horse on a game of
ball."

     It is said that during the late war, General Pushmataha,
having joined our Southern army with some of his warriors, was
arrested by the commanding general to striking a soldier with his
sword. When asked by the commander why he had committed this act
of violence, he replied that the soldier had been rude to his
wife, and that he had only given him a blow or two with the side
of his sword to teach him better manners "But if it had been you,
general, instead of a private soldier," continued he, "I should
have used the sharp edge of my sword in defense of my wife, who
has come so far to visit a great warrior like myself."

     At a time when a guard of eight or ten men was kept at the
Agency, one of the soldiers having become intoxicated, was
ordered to be confined; and as there was no guard house, the
temporary arrest was effected by tying the offender. Pushmataha
seeing the man in this situation, inquired the cause, and on
being informed. exclaimed, "Is that all?" and immediately untied
the unfortunate soldier, remarking coolly, "many good warriors
get drunk."

     At a meeting of business at the Agency, at which several
American gentlemen, and some of the chief men of the Choctaw
nation were present, the conversation turned upon the Indian
custom of marrying a plurality of wives. Pushmataha remarked that
he had two wives, and intended to have always the same number.
Being asked if he did not think the practice wrong, the chief
replied, "No; is it not right that every woman should be married
and how can that be, when there are more women than men, unless
some men marry more than one ? When our Great Father the
President caused the Indians to be counted last year, it was
found that the women were most numerous, and if one man could
have but one wife, some women would have no husband."

     In 1824, this chief was at the City of Washington, as one of
a deputation sent to visit the President, for the purpose of
brightening the chain of friendship between the American people
and the Choctaws. The venerable Lafayette, then upon his
memorable and triumphal tour through the United States, was at
the same metropolis, and the Choctaw chiefs came to pay him their
respects. Several of them made speeches, and among the rest,
Pushmataha addressed him in these words: "Nearly fifty snows have
melted since you drew the sword as a companion of Washington.
With him you fought the enemies of America. You mingled your
blood with that of the enemy, and proved yourself a warrior.
After you finished that war, you returned to your own country;
and now you are come back to revisit a land where you are honored
by a numerous and powerful people. You see everywhere the
children of those by whose side you went to battle crowding
around you, and shaking your hand as the hand of a father. We
have heard these things told in our distant villages, and our
hearts longed to see you. We have come, we have taken you by the
hand, and are satisfied. This is the first time we have seen you;
it will probably be the last. We have no more to say. The earth
will part us for ever."

     The old warrior pronounced these words with an affecting
solemnity of voice and manner. He seemed to feel a presentiment
of the brevity of his own life. The concluding remark of his
speech was prophetic. In a few days he was no more. He was taken
sick at Washington, and died in a strange land. When he found
that his end was approaching, he called his companions around
him, and desired them to raise him up, to bring his arms, and to
decorate him with all his ornaments, that his death might be that
of a man. He was particularly anxious that his interment should
be accompanied with military honors, and when a promise was
kindly given that his wishes should be fulfilled, he became
cheerful, and conversed with composure until the moment when he
expired without a groan. In conversation with his Indian friends
shortly before his death, he said: "I shall die, but you will
return to our brethren. As you go along the paths? you will see
the flowers, and hear the birds sing, but Pushmataha will see
them and hear them no more. When you shall come to your home,
they will ask you, `Where Pushmataha?' and you will say to them,
`He is no more.' They will hear the tidings like the sound of the
fall of a mighty oak in the stillness of the woods."

     The only speech made by Pushmataha, on the occasion of his
visit to Washington, was the following. It was intended by him to
be an opening address, which, had he lived, he would doubtless
have followed by another more like himself We took it down as he
spoke it. {6} The person addressed was the Secretary of War.

     "Father- I have been here some time. I have not talked have
been sick. You shall hear me talk today. I belong to another
district. You have no doubt heard of me I am Pushmataha.

     "Father- When in my own country, I often looked towards this
Council House, and wanted to come here. I am in trouble. I will
tell my distresses. I feel like a small child, not half as high
as its father, who comes up to look in his father's face, hanging
in the bend of his arm, to tell him his troubles. So, Father, I
hang in the bend of your arm, and look in your face, and now hear
me speak.

     "Father- When I was in my own country, I heard there were
men appointed to talk to us. I would not speak there; I chose to
come here, and speak in this beloved house. I can boast, and say,
and tell the truth that none of my fathers or grandfathers, nor
any Choctaw, ever drew bows against the United States. They have
always been friendly. We have held the hands of the United States
so long,, that our nails are long like birds' claws; and there is
no danger of their slipping out.

     "Father- I have come to speak. My nation has always listened
to the applications of the white people. They have given of their
country till it is very small. I repeat the same about the land
east of the Tombigby. I came here when a young man to see my
Father Jefferson. He told me if ever we got in trouble we must
run and tell him. I am come. This is a friendly talk; it is like
a man who meets another and says, How do you do ? Another will
talk further." {7}

     The celebrated John Randolph, in a speech upon the floor of
the Senate, alluded thus to the forest chieftain whose brief
memoirs we have attempted to sketch: "Sir, in a late visit to the
public graveyard, {8} my attention was arrested by the simple
monument of the Choctaw Chief Pushmataha. He was, I have been
told by those who knew him, one of nature's nobility; a man who
would have adorned any society. He lies quietly by the side of
our statesmen and high magistrates in the region for there is one
such where the red man and the white man are on a level. On the
sides of the plain shaft that marks his place of burial, I read
these words: `Pushmataha, a Choctaw Chief, lies here. This
monument to his memory is erected by his brother chiefs, who were
associated with him in a delegation from their nation, in the
year 1824, to the Government of the United States. Pushmataha was
a warrior of great distinction. He was wise in council, eloquent
in an extraordinary degree; and on all occasions, and under all
circumstances, the white man's friend. He died in Washington, on
the 24th of December, 1824, of the croup, in the 60th year of his
age.'" Among his last words were the following: "When I am gone,
let the big guns be fired over me."

     The chief had five children. His oldest son died at the age
of 21, after having completed an excellent English education The
others were young at the time of the decease of their father. A
medal has been sent by the President to the oldest surviving son,
as a testimony of respect for the memory of a warrior whose
attachment to our Government was steady and unshaken throughout
his life.

     The day after the funeral of Pushmataha, the deputation
visited the officer in charge of the Bureau of Indian Affairs."
The countenances of the chiefs wore a gloom which such a loss was
well calculated to create. Over the face of one of the
deputation, however, was a cloud darker than the rest, and the
expression of his face told a tale of deeper sorrow. Ask that
young man, said the officer in charge of the Bureau, what is the
matter with him? The answer was, "I am sorry." Ask him what makes
him sorry? The loss, the answer was expected to be, of our
beloved chief But no it was, "I am sorry it was not me." Ask him
to explain what he means by being sorry that it was not him. The
ceremonies of the funeral, the reader will bear in mind, were
very imposing. The old chief had said, "When I am gone, let the
big guns be fired over me"; and they were fired. Beside the
discharge of minute guns on the Capitol Hill, and from the ground
contiguous to the place of interment, there was an immense
concourse of citizens, a long train of carriages, cavalry.
military, bands of music, the whole procession extending at least
a mile in length; and there were thousands lining the ways, and
filling the doors and windows, and then the military honors at
the grave, combined to produce in this young chief's mind a
feeling of regret that he had not been himself the subject of
these honors Hence his reply "I am sorry it was not me"; and so
he explained himself."

[REF:#001] Notes:

{1} The full original form of his name is Apushimataha, or
Apushimalhtaha, "which name, no doubt, was given to the future
mingo [chief] in his babyhood, from some trivial circumstance,
the memory of which  has long since been lost. Apushi im alhtaha,
literally translated, is 'The sapling is ready, or finished for
him.' The statement made in Brewer's Alabama, p. 16, note, that
Pushmataha means, `He has won all the honors of his race,' is not
worth a second's consideration." Halbert in Transactions Alabama
Historical Society, Vol. II., 108, 1898.

{2} The Choctaw are a tribe of the Muskhogean family. Their early
habitat was the territory now included in southern and central
Mississippi, and extending for some distance eastward from
Tombigbee River into Georgia. Soon after the middle of the
eighteenth century, some of their bands settled beyond the
Mississippi River, in Louisiana and Texas, and most of the
remainder, beginning in 1832 (having ceded their lands in the
south), departed for Indian Territory, where lands had been set
aside for them. Here they still live, their population numbering
17, 529 in 1906, exclusive of 1550 "Choctaw by intermarriage,"
and 5378 Negroes, who were formerly slaves. The Choctaw have made
marked progress in civilization, constituting one of the Five
Civilized Tribes.

{3} These were the Cherokee. The locality referred to is the
Texas border.

{4} Early in the nineteenth century Pushmataha became mingo, or
chief, of the Okla Hannali, or the Six Towns district of the
Choctaw. His influence extended also over the Potato-eating
People and the Long People, as the northeastern and western
divisions of the Choctaw were called. Halbert in Transactions
Alabama Historical Society, II., 109, 1898.

{5} Early in the father of Peter P. Pitchlynn, born in the
present Noxubee County, Mississippi, January 30, 1806; died in
Washington, D.C., in January, 1881, and was buried in the
graveyard (Congressional Cemetery) where lie the remains of
Pushmataha. Dickens refers to him in his American Notes. See also
Charles Lanman, Recollection of Curious Characters and Pleasant
Places, Edinburgh, 1881, pp. 67-94.

{6} The occasion was the treaty with the Choctaw and the United
States, concluded at Washington, January 20, l825. McKenney was a
witness to this treaty. The tenth article reads: "The chief,
Puck-she-nubbee [Pushmataha], one of the members of the
delegation, having die on his journey to see the President, and
Robert Cole being recommended by the delegation as his successor,
it is hereby agreed, that the said Robert Cole shall receive the
medal which appertains to the office of chief, and, also, an
annuity from the United States of one hundred and fifty dollars
during his natural life, as was received by his predecessor."

{7} Much has been written about the oratory of this celebrated
chief, but inasmuch as Pushmataha knew no English himself, and as
none of the other members of the Choctaw delegation were educated
men, the flowery speeches attributed to this Indian, as well as
to many others, must be taken with considerable allowance. Mr. H.
S. Halbert (Transactions Alabama Historical Society Vol. II.,
114, 1898) regards "the dying talk of Pushmataha," given by
McKenney and Hall, as a piece of pure fiction, and presents good
reasons for his assertion.

{8} The Congressional Cemetery at Washington.

{9} This officer was Thomas L. McKenney.

{10} The accompanying portrait of Pushmataha was painted by
Charles B. King, probably at the time of the visit to Washington
that ended with Pushmataha's death in 1824. The subject was
evidently a favorite one with this artist, as two portraits of
the celebrated Choctaw hung in the Indian Gallery (numbers 22 and
42 of the Rhees list), while another, representing him as wearing
a hat adorned in front with three ostrich plumes, is among the
King collection (number 201) in the Redwood Library at Newport,
Rhode Island. The Inman copy is preserved in the Peabody Museum
(No. 28. 188).

     The following notice of Pushmataha appeared in The National
Journal, Washington, December 28, 1824:

     "Died, at his lodgings at Tennison's, on Thursday night
last, at about 12 o'clock, in his sixtieth year, Pushmataha, one
of the Choctaw Delegation, now at Washington, on business with
the Government. The best attendance and best medical skill were
employed to save him, but in vain. He died of the croup, and was
ill but a day. He was buried on Saturday with military honors,
which were performed by the Marine Corps, by direction the Hon.
the Secretary of the Navy, assisted by Captain Mauro's and
Captain Dyer's companies of volunteers: Christian ceremonies by
the Rev. Mr. Hawley. The procession was large (at least two
thousand), and highly respectable. General Jackson, who knew and
appreciated the services of this Chief, paid his last respects to
his memory, as did also many members of both Houses of Congress,
and members of the Government, some of whom attended him, though
so distant, to the grave.

     "Pushmataha was an extraordinary man. He was one of the
three great Chiefs of his nation, and had attained that
distinction by his powers of oratory and military prowess. Nature
had impressed him with the stamp of greatness, and he was himself
even in death. `I am told,' he said (in his native tongue, for he
spoke no English), `that I am better. It is a mistake. I shall
die and at about 12 o'clock tonight. It has always been in my
heart that I should die in the land of strangers.' He then gave
some direction respecting his family, and the disposition of his
affairs, and concluded by saying: `When I am dead, let the big
guns be fired over me.' His request was respected. He had won
this high distinction by his uniform attachment to the people and
cause of the United States, and by the scars he had received, and
the blood he had shed in seconding our power on our borders, when
it was exerted to save our citizens from the hostile of his own
race, and the combined hostility of the enemy with them, and
especially in the late war. He even foiled Tecumseh- though not
with the sword. He saw his opportunity, and seized it; he knew
his means, and he employed them. He triumphed over that master-
spirit, broke the spell in which he was attempting to build his
nation, and turned the sword of his people upon our enemies. It
was by the powers of his oratory. Every arm fell when Pushmataha
had spoken. Every hostile spirit was hushed; and the Choctaw
nation, powerful as it was, were united to us. He put himself at
the head of 500 warriors, and entered our service was in twenty-
four battles served under the eye of General Jackson in his
Pensacola campaign, and won the admiration of even this veteran.
Pushmataha remembered his leader in death. `I want,' said he, `to
see General Jackson.' But it was late at night, and the knowledge
of this wish was not conveyed. To the writer of this hasty
notice, General Jackson said, when informed of it the next day,
`I deeply regret it. Had it been midnight, I would have risen and
gone to see him.'

     "Pushmataha, though uneducated himself, saw the necessity of
improving his people, and demonstrated his attachment to
civilization by giving $2000 of his annuity, for fifteen years,
towards the support of the school system.

     "Pushmataha sleeps with the great and the venerated of our
land. He lies in the same enclosure with our Clintons and Gerrys.
When the tidings of his death shall reach his people, they will
be like the fall of the noblest tree in their forest, which had
long furnished them with shelter and shade; every ear will listen
to the echoes occasioned by its fall, and all hearts will mourn
the mighty ruin. But let them remember, though he `died in the
land of strangers,' that he was respected and treated like a
friend, and that the `big guns' were fired over him, not barely
in compliance with his last request, but out of respect for his
services, and to show that his attachment to our people, and his
efforts in our cause, were not forgotten.

     "It was the boast of Pushmataha that `his hand was white.'
'It has never been stained,' said he, `by the blood of Americans.
But it is red with that of their enemies.' `I am an American,'
said he, the other day, to the writer of this. `My skin is red,
but my heart is white.' He was asked, about ten weeks ago, how he
was? He threw his eyes upward, and, with a most devotional and
grateful look, spoke: `He says,' said his interpreter, `he feels
that the Great Spirit loves him today. He is so well that he
feels happy.'

     "On his way to Washington he met an old acquaintance going
to the land of his achievements in war. `You have come in a path,
so far,' said Pushmataha, 'which is straight, and the green grass
and flowers border it. The trees are all leafy, and the birds
sing amidst their branches. You are going where the paths are all
crooked, and where the land is desolate and white with the bones
of my enemies.'

     "Did time permit, even with the barren resources which are
at hand, it would be easy to illustrate the extraordinary sayings
of this man. He was of Nature's construction in intellect and
prowess. And when she turns off a favorite, as in Shakespeare,
art only fetters, and its adventitious aids are spurned as
beneath the attention of the mind which is rich and powerful in
its own resources."

     For additional information, consult Halbert, op. cit., and
Lanman, Recollections of Curious Characters, Edinburgh, 1881.


Source & Reference Notes!

	REF:#001]
	"The�Indian�Tribes of North�America"
	By�John�R. Swanton; 1944
	[Retired�from active membership on the�staff�of�the 
	[Bureau of American Ethnology in 1944]

	REF:#002]
	Pushmataha ca. 1765 - 1824
	District Chief of the Choctaw, ca. 1800 - 1824
	Portrait by Charles Byrd King 1824
	Original in the collection of
	Gulf States Paper Corporation
	http://www2.netdoor.com/~carleton/pushmata.html

http://www2.netdoor.com/~carleton/index.html
The Choctaw
The Choctaw are a tribe indigenous to the states of Mississippi and Alabama. The majority of the people were Removed to Oklahoma (first Choctaw Territory, later Indian Territory, then Oklahoma) in the first Indian Removals in the early 1830s leaving only about 20% of the tribal members in Mississippi.
This site will discuss history and archaeology that cover all of the Choctaw ancestors before the Removal, but in the post Removal period it will concentrate on the Mississippi Choctaw. 
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Choctaw N. (East)

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