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Nashoba County (
Choctaw The Choctaw ( ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States, originally based in what is now Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choct ...
: ''Kanti Nashoba'') was a political subdivision of the
Choctaw Nation The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma (Choctaw: ''Chahta Okla'') is a Native American reservation occupying portions of southeastern Oklahoma in the United States. At roughly , it is the second-largest reservation in area after the Navajo, exceeding t ...
of
Indian Territory 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 States, ...
. The county formed part of the Nation’s
Apukshunnubbee District Apukshunnubbee District was one of three provinces, or districts, 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 was ...
, 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 Neshoba County is a county located in the central part of the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 29,087. Its county seat is Philadelphia. The county is known for the Neshoba County Fair and harness horse r ...
, 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, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...
chiefs prior to the removal to the west now known as the
Trail of Tears The Trail of Tears was the forced displacement of about 60,000 people of the " Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850, and the additional thousands of Native Americans and their black slaves within that were ethnically cleansed by the U ...
, 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 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 West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...
(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 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, a proposed county made up of part of King County * Cedar County, Utah Territory, a fo ...
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 (from Malay language, Malay: ''rotan''), 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 clos ...
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 U.S. state, state to be established from the Indian Territory in Eastern Oklahoma, eastern present-day Oklahoma. In 1905, with the end of tribal governments looming, Five Civilized Tribes, Native Americans (th ...
. 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 Sequo ...
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 ( – December 24, 1824; also spelled Pooshawattaha, Pooshamallaha, or Poosha Matthaw) 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 a ...
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: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...
’s admission to statehood on November 16, 1907.


References

{{reflist Indian Territory Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma