Pushmataha
In the early 19th century, a young male Choctaw Indian's worth was measured by his hunting and fighting abilities. One Choctaw youth became so renowned at warfare he was called Apushamatahahubi--"a messenger of death, whose rifle, tomahawk, or bow is fatal in war or hunting." Known to whites as Pushmataha, he became a great chief, a brigadier-general in the U.S. Army, and an important negotiator in Indian treaties with the United States.
The Choctaw, a tribe of the lower Mississippi Valley, were skilled farmers, with an economy based on agriculture. But they also engaged in annual deer hunts for skins. As European fur traders came in large numbers to their territory in the 1770s, the Choctaw were forced to move their hunts west of the Mississippi, onto Osage and Caddo lands. This led to frequent warfare--and opportunities for Pushmataha to prove himself.
When still a teenager, he took part in a raid against the Osage, but disappeared early in the battle. At the end of the victorious day, the other Choctaw warriors jeered him when he rejoined the group, calling him a coward. Pushmataha is said to have replied, "Let those laugh who can show more scalps
Pushmataha was always a friend to whites. He opposed a planned Shawnee uprising against the Americans, then led 800 warriors to battle on the American side during the War of 1812, helping General Andrew Jackson defeat British forces.
But his favorable reputation with the future President Jackson wasn't enough to keep Choctaw lands off limits to the expanding United States. Pushmataha was a gifted orator; his people's word for their chief's flow of language was "waterfalls." Though he exercised great diplomacy and shrewd bargaining in multiple treaties with Jackson, Pushmataha's people were forced to abandon Mississippi for Oklahoma Indian Territory on the Trail of Tears in 1832.
During a speech on his final trip to Washington, D.C. in 1824, Pushmataha reminded the government that the Choctaw never drew bow against the United States, and had, "held the hand of the United States so long that our nails are long like birds' claws." He caught pneumonia and died on that trip and was buried with great ceremony in the capital.
About Pushmataha's Pumpkin Bread
When the Pilgrims were enjoying their first taste of pumpkin at their colony in Plymouth around 1620, native Americans had already been using similar squash as a major food source for over 7,000 years. One of the first vegetal species to be cultivated (although it's a fruit, not a vegetable!), pumpkin was used by prehistoric man to carry water, for cooking, in the use of clothing and even as a musical instrument!
Pumpkin as a food is believed to have originated in Mexico. Spanish explorers are said to have helped spread use of the seeds by carrying them north into America and also back to Europe. Early North Americans also used pumpkin seed as a medicine, to get rid of parasites in the body, to cure freckles and to neutralize snake bites. One of the principal foods of the Choctaw diet was vegetarian stew containing corn, pumpkin and beans.
Our pumpkin bread kit includes a blend of white and wheat flours and rich spices, and our exclusive pumpkin blend. Add the wet ingredients, eggs and oil to the dry mix, bake, and enjoy one large loaf of moist, delectable pumpkin bread. Rich in potassium and beta-carotene.
