Hitchcock 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. Sequoyah was an attempt by the

Five Civilized Tribes The term Five Civilized Tribes was applied by European Americans in the colonial and early federal period in the history of the United States to the five major Native American nations in the Southeast—the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek ...

and others in the

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...

—who did not wish to be incorporated into an American state—to establish full statehood for the territory. Although their attempt to achieve statehood was unsuccessful, many of their deliberations in establishing proposed counties proved useful to the framers of Oklahoma, who met just two years later for the purpose of establishing the

State of Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New M ...

. The boundaries of modern-day

Choctaw The Choctaw (in the Choctaw language, Chahta) 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 ...

Pushmataha Pushmataha (c. 1764 – 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 cons ...

and McCurtain counties in Oklahoma are derived largely from the work of the Sequoyah Constitutional Convention. Hitchcock County, with

Hugo Hugo or HUGO may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Hugo'' (film), a 2011 film directed by Martin Scorsese * Hugo Award, a science fiction and fantasy award named after Hugo Gernsback * Hugo (franchise), a children's media franchise based on ...

as its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

, was proposed, in general, to take the place of

Kiamitia County 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. Kiamitia ...

(Kiamichi County),

Choctaw Nation The Choctaw Nation ( Choctaw: ''Chahta Okla'') is a Native American territory covering about , occupying portions of southeastern Oklahoma in the United States. The Choctaw Nation is the third-largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...

, which would be abolished with the advent of Sequoyah statehood. The county was named in honor of Ethan Allen Hitchcock (1835-1909), the federal Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes, formerly the American minister (

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

) to the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. Hitchcock County was created and sized appropriate to the economic heft of Hugo

merchants A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as industry ...

, whose trade territory was to be included, more or less whole, in the new county. The usefulness of these arrangements did not escape the attention of Oklahoma's framers, who in 1907 borrowed, largely intact, the concept and proposed boundaries of Hitchcock County for

Choctaw County, Oklahoma Choctaw County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 15,205. Its county seat is Hugo. Formerly part of the Choctaw Nation in Indian Territory, this county was reorganized and redefined in ...

. The recorded minutes of the Sequoyah Constitutional Convention's committee on counties have been lost, so no additional information on the proposed Hitchcock County is available.Amos Maxwell, ''The Sequoyah Constitutional Convention'', 1953.

References

Indian Territory