What is "pushmataha"

Pushmataha (c. 1760s – December 24, 1824; also spelled Pooshawattaha, Pooshamallaha, or Poosha Matthaw), 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.

Rejecting the offers of alliance and reconquest proffered by Tecumseh, Pushmataha led the Choctaw to fight on the side of the United States in the War of 1812. He negotiated several treaties with the United States.

In 1824, he traveled to Washington to petition the Federal government against further cessions of Choctaw land; he met with John C. Calhoun and Marquis de Lafayette, and his portrait was painted by Charles Bird King. He died in the capital city and was buried with full military honors in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

Pushmataha was a merchant sloop. Apparently named for noted Choctaw Nation warrior and statesman Chief Pushmataha, little is known of the vessel except for its service to Confederate commercial interests during the American Civil War.

In a war dispatch dated October 8, 1863, the USS Cayuga--a ship assigned to the Union Navy’s West Gulf Blockading Squadron—reported engaging the Pushmataha off Texas’ Sabine Pass, on the Calcasieu River in Louisiana. While attempting to enter the Mermentau River the Pushmataha ran aground, three-quarters of a mile from a beach.

Upon being boarded by a party from the Cayuga, the Pushmataha was found to have been abandoned by its crew, which was rowing ashore in boats. Its crew had opened gunpowder casks and set one on fire. The Cayuga’s crew extinguished the fire and, after being unable to refloat the ship, removed its cargo and destroyed it.

According to papers found aboard the Pushmataha it had received its cargo of rum, wine and gunpowder in Havana, Cuba. The ship bore the English ensign (thought to be the British Red Ensign) and, according to her registration papers, was crewed by two Englishmen, one Italian, and one Portuguese. The Pushmataha’s muster roll had been signed in Havana on September 22, 1863 by “Her Britannic Majesty’s acting consul-general in Cuba,” according to the report by the Cayuga.

Pushmataha (c. 1760s–1824) was one of the three regional chiefs of the major divisions of the Choctaw in the 19th century.

Pushmataha may also refer to:

• Pushmataha (sloop)
• Pushmataha, Alabama
• Pushmataha County, Oklahoma
• Pushmataha County, Sequoyah
• Pushmataha District
• Pushmataha Wildlife Management Area
• Pushmataha Area Council