Nashoba County was a political subdivision of the

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 ...

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 ...

. The county formed part of the Nation’s

Apukshunnubbee District 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. The Apukshunnubbee District ...

, or Second District, one of three administrative super-regions in the Nation. This territory was later made part of the state of Oklahoma.

History

Nashoba County, Choctaw Nation was named for Neshoba County, Mississippi, where some of the Choctaw had historically lived. ''Nashoba'' is the Choctaw word for “wolf.” Although occasionally known as Wolf County, the county was generally referred to by its Choctaw name. Due to an agreement among

clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...

chiefs prior to the removal to the west now known as the

Trail of Tears The Trail of Tears was an ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of approximately 60,000 people of the "Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850 by the United States government. As part of the Indian removal, members of the Cherokee, ...

, many of the residents of Neshoba County settled in the new Nashoba County in the Choctaw Nation after they reached Indian Territory. Nashoba County’s boundaries were established and designated according to easily recognizable natural landmarks, as were the boundaries of all Choctaw Nation counties. The

Kiamichi River The Kiamichi River is a river in southeastern Oklahoma, United States of America. A tributary of the Red River of the South, its headwaters rise on Pine Mountain in the Ouachita Mountains near the Arkansas border. From its source in Polk County, ...

valley formed its northern boundary and

Little River Little River may refer to several places: Australia Streams New South Wales *Little River (Dubbo), source in the Dubbo region, a tributary of the Macquarie River * Little River (Oberon), source in the Oberon Shire, a tributary of Coxs River (Haw ...

formed its western boundary.

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

(admitted as a state in 1836) was to its east, and its southern border was along a line drawn from Arkansas to Little River on the west. Although the act of legislation establishing Nashoba County does not reference it, the southern border appears to have been drawn to be coextensive with the Seven Devils Mountains. This general line of seven mountain peaks appears on early-day maps and in early accounts. The Seven Devils were considered to be a formidable geographic barrier. Four counties bordered Nashoba County:

Wade County Wade County was a political subdivision of the Choctaw Nation of Indian Territory, prior to Oklahoma being admitted as a state. The county formed part of the Nation's Apukshunnubbee District, or First District, one of three administrative super-reg ...

on the north,

Cedar County Cedar County may refer to: * Cedar County, Iowa * Cedar County, Missouri * Cedar County, Nebraska * Cedar County, Choctaw Nation * Cedar County, Washington The list of county secession proposals in the United States includes proposed new co ...

on the west, and Bok Tuklo and Eagle counties on the south. Its county seat was Nashoba Court House, a meeting ground which is no longer extant. It was located in present-day McCurtain County. The county was the site of Alikchi, designated as the capital of the Apukshunnubbee District. This was one of three administrative super-regions comprising the Choctaw Nation, of which Nashoba County was a constituent county. Present-day

Rattan Rattan, also spelled ratan, is the name for roughly 600 species of Old World climbing palms belonging to subfamily Calamoideae. The greatest diversity of rattan palm species and genera are in the closed-canopy old-growth tropical forests of ...

developed to the west of Alikchi, which is no longer extant. The county served as an election district for members of the National Council, and as a unit of local administration. Constitutional officers, all of whom served for two-year terms and were elected by the voters, included the county judge, sheriff, and a ranger. The judge’s duties included oversight of overall county administration. The sheriff collected taxes, monitored unlawful intrusion by intruders (usually white Americans from the United States), and conducted the census. The county ranger advertised and sold strayed livestock.

Statehood

As Oklahoma’s statehood approached, its leading citizens gathered for the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention, and to lay out the future state’s counties. The Choctaw Nation’s counties had been logically designed for their purposes, but convention members concluded these could not exist as economically viable political subdivisions. In most, the county seat had been established for conducting county court, but they had not developed as population centers. This conundrum was also recognized by the framers of the proposed

State of Sequoyah The State of Sequoyah was a proposed state to be established from the Indian Territory in the eastern part of present-day Oklahoma. In 1905, with the end of tribal governments looming (as prescribed by the Curtis Act of 1898), Native Americans ...

. They had met in 1905 to propose statehood for the Indian Territory, as a jurisdiction to be controlled by Native Americans. The

Sequoyah Constitutional Convention The Sequoyah Constitutional Convention was an American Indian-led attempt to secure statehood for Indian Territory as an Indian-controlled jurisdiction, separate from the Oklahoma Territory. The proposed state was to be called the State of Sequoya ...

also proposed a county structure that abolished the Choctaw counties. Nashoba County was to be divided principally into the proposed Pushmataha County, McCurtain, and Wade counties.Amos D. Maxwell, ''Sequoyah Constitutional Convention'', Boston: Meador Publishing, 1953. Maxwell's book offers further insight. Two years later, the state of Oklahoma’s framers adopted certain of the concepts proposed for the definition of the future McCurtain and

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 ...

counties in Oklahoma. The territory formerly comprising Nashoba County, Choctaw Nation now falls primarily within McCurtain and Pushmataha counties. Nashoba County ceased to exist upon

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

’s admission to statehood on November 16, 1907.

References

{{reflist Indian Territory Choctaw Pre-statehood history of Oklahoma