Pushmataha (c. 1764 – 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.

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.

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.

It struck a large oak, and scattered its limbs and its trunk all along the ground, and from that spot sprung forth a warrior fully armed for war.

[4]Most historians agree that he was born in 1764 in the normal manner near the future site of Macon, Mississippi, Choctaw Country.

By 1800, Pushmataha was recognized as a military and spiritual leader, and he was chosen as the mingo (chief) of the Okla Hannali or Six Towns district of the Choctaw.

His sharp logic, humorous wit, and lyrical, eloquent speaking style quickly earned him renown in councils.

[9] Pushmataha negotiated the Treaty of Mount Dexter with the United States on November 16, 1805,[5][10] and met Thomas Jefferson during his term as president.

As chief for the Six Towns district, Pushmataha strongly resisted such a plan, pointing out that the Choctaw and their neighbors the Chickasaw had always lived in peace with European Americans, had learned valuable skills and technologies, and had received honest treatment and fair trade.

After observing that the officers and their wives would promenade along the Tombigbee River, Pushmataha invited his wife to St. Stephens and took part in this custom.

Under Brigadier General Ferdinand Claiborne, Pushmataha and 150 Choctaw warriors took part in an attack on Creek forces at the Battle of Holy Ground, also known as Kantachi or Econochaca, on December 23, 1813.

By February 1814, Pushmataha led a larger band of Choctaws and joined General Andrew Jackson's force to sweep the Creek territories near Pensacola.

A cultural conservative, Pushamataha resisted the efforts of Protestant missionaries, who arrived in Choctaw territory in 1818, despite the fact he sent his son to a Christian school.

"[citation needed]Pushmataha signed only after securing guarantees in the text of the treaty that the US would evict squatters from reserved lands.

In 1824, Pushmataha was upset about encroaching settlement patterns and the unwillingness of local authorities to respect Indian land title.

(Hewitt 1995:51–52) While in Washington, Pushmataha sat in his Army uniform for a portrait by Charles Bird King; it hung in the Smithsonian Institution until 1865.

Pushmataha's chosen assistant also happened to suddenly die on the return journey from Washington, D.C., to Choctaw lands in present day Mississippi.

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 general government of the United States.

Push-ma-ta-ha was a warrior of great distinction he was wise in council – eloquent in an extraordinary degree, and on all occasions & under all circumstances the white man's friend.

At the commencement of the late war on our Southern border, he took an early and decided stand in favor of the weak and isolated settlements on Tombigby, and he continued to fight with and for them whilst they had an enemy in the field.

Military honors were paid to his remains by the Marine Corps of the United States, and by several uniformed companies of the militia.The Hampshire Gazette (MA), Jan. 5, 1825, reported: At Washington city, PUSHA-A-MA-TA-HA, principal chief of a district of the Choctaw nation of Indians.

The Choctaw nation at this time was on the point of Civil War; the faction supported by David Folsom elected John Garland to replace Tappenahoma by October 11, 1828.

In Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society, Vol 6, Halbert mentions a sister named Nahomtima, the mother of Tappenahoma and Oka Lah Homma (from his notes).

Lanman likely based his statement on the notes of Thompson Mckinney,[citation needed] who had resided among the Choctaw for many years.

Mckinney had written in an 1830 letter to James L. McDonald, a Choctaw lawyer in Hinds County, Mississippi, about his interest in writing about Pushmataha.