PUSHMATAHA

born c. 1765, on Noxuba Creek [now in Mississippi, U.S.] died Dec. 24, 1824, Washington, D.C. also spelled Pushmatahaw Choctaw Indian chief whose compliance facilitated U.S. occupation of Indian land in the early 19th century. In 1805, shortly after being elected chief, he signed the Treaty of Mount Dexter, ceding much of his people's land in Alabama and Mississippi for white occupancy. His opposition was important to the failure of the Shawnee chief Tecumseh's effort to include the Southern Indians in his antiwhite confederation (1811). Pushmataha persuaded the Choctaw to ally themselves with the United States during the Creek War (181314) and fought with distinction in the Battle of Holy Ground (Econochaca), Dec. 23, 1813. He made further land cessions in 1816 and 1820.