The Coolidge examiner., 1932-11-25

colloquialism meaning that's me- or that's
what said" and as Pushmataha pronounced it,
IL sounded like "O'kay" or "0keh." In rendering
it into English and in using 1t as a symbol or
approval, Jackson is said to have translated it
into the literal 20. X"
Similar evidence to support the Indian origin
of the term is contained in Byington's Gram
mar of the Choctaw Language" which gives
"okeh" as meaning ut is so and in no other
way"
If as II seems most highly probable, the ex-
preston did originate in the ChOctaw language
and Pushmataha was principally responsible for
its gift to the white man, he is worthy or more
than passing comment. In fact, he Is worthy or
being remembered much longer for other things
than for the mere accident of his using an ex-
preston which became a common Americanism.
For Andrew Jackson frequently expressed the
opinion that he was the greatest and bravest
Indian he had ever known and John Randolph
of Roanoke in pronouncing eulogy on him in
the United States senate uttered the words re-
garding his wisdom, his eloquence and his friend
ship for the whites that were afterward inscribed
on his monument.
Pushmataha's Indian name was Apushim-alh-
taha, which means ''the saplng is ready, or fin
ished, for him." According to the biography or
him in the Handbook of American Indians is
sued by the Bureau of American Ethnology he
was born in Noxubee county in Mississippi in
1894. Before he was twenty years of age he dis
tinguished himself in an expedition against the
Osages.
Young Pushmataha disappeared early in the
conflict that lasted all day and rejoining the
Choctaw warriors he jeered at and accused
of being a coward whereupon he replied, Let
those laugh who can show more scalps than
can" Saying this, he threw down the scalps of
five of the enemy whom he had slain by himself.
Later he became head of the Oklahannali or
Six Towns district of the Choctaws and exerted
his powerful influence in promoting friendly rela
tions with the whites. In 1911 when Tecumseh,
the great Shawnee leader. visited the Choctaw
to persuade them to join in his conspiracy
against the Americans, Pushmataha opposed him
so strongly that the Choctaws remained loyal
to the United States. During the War of 1912 1t
was Pushmatahas influence which held them
loyal to the Americans when the Creeks tried
to persuade them to cast their fortunes with the
British.
In council held to decide what course the
Choctaws would pursue Pushmataha made an
eloquent speech in which he said ''The Creeks
were once our friends. They have joined the
English and must now follow different trails
When our fathers took the hand OF Washington,
they told him the Choctaw would always be
friends of his nation and Pushmataha cannot be
false to their promises. am now ready to fight
against both the English and the Creeks"
And fight he did at the head of 500 warriors
he served under Jackson in the Pensacola cam
pagn, taking part in "a battles and skirmishes
In 1913 with about $50 warriors he Joined Gen
eral Claiborne and distinguished himself in the
attack and defeat of the Creeks under the
famous Weatherford at the Battle of Holy
Ground in Alabama. While aiding the American
troops he is said to have instituted such rigid
system of discipline among his warriors that
they made fine record as soldiers and won for
Pushmataha the title of "the Indian General"
(S by Western Newspaper UnioEs,