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Please add profiles of those who were born, lived or died in Sequoyah County, Oklahoma.
Official Website
History
Sequoyah County was created in 1907 when Oklahoma became a state. It was named after Sequoyah, who created the Cherokee syllabary and its written language.
French traders came to this area in the 1700s, as they had posts in neighboring present-day Arkansas, part of their La Louisiane colony. Spain claimed the area until 1800, when France under Napoleon re-asserted control. He was making a last effort for French colonization in North America. But he ceded control by selling the Louisiana in 1803, when the United States purchased all French territory west of the Mississippi River.
Until 1816 the powerful Osage Nation dominated this and a much larger territory, reaching to the Mississippi River. Under Lovely's Purchase, the US bought some of their land. Under pressure in the Southeast, some Cherokee migrated to the west early, and settled here on land granted by the US. The area was then known as Lovely County, Arkansas Territory.
The US forced removal of the Western Cherokee from Arkansas in 1829, resettling them in Indian Territory: present-day Sequoyah County, Oklahoma. Sequoyah was among the Cherokee who moved into this area, where he built a cabin that still stands. The Dwight Mission was moved to a site on Sallisaw Creek, and it still stands.
In the late 1830s, the US forced Indian Removal of most of the Cherokee in the Southeast from the remainder of their lands. They had to trek under Army escort to Indian Territory, a passage they called the Trail of Tears for its high fatalities and sorrows of leaving their homelands.
The Cherokee Nation established its first capital at a place called Tahlonteskee (Tahlontuskey), near the present town of Gore, Oklahoma. Tahlonteskee remained the capital until 1839, when it was superseded by Tahlequah. It continued as a meeting place for the "Old Settlers," as the Western Cherokee were known.
This area, then known as the Sequoyah District, was dominated by Cherokee who were Confederate sympathizers during the Civil War, as were the majority of the nation. Many of the Cherokee were slaveholders; they also had been told that the Confederates would provide them with a Native American state if victorious in the war. The only combat was on June 15, 1864, when Colonel Stand Watie and his Confederate troops conducted the ambush of the Union steamboat J. R. Williams on the Arkansas River.
Adjacent Counties
- Cherokee County
- Adair County
- Crawford County, Ark.
- Sebastian County, Ark.
- Le Flore County
- Haskell County
- Muskogee County
Cities & Towns
- Gans
- Gore
- Marble City
- Moffett
- Muldrow
- Paradise Hill
- Roland
- Sallisaw (County Seat)
- Vian
Other Communities
Akins | Badger Lee | Belfonte | Blackgum | Box | Brent | Brushy | Carlisle | Cottonwood | Dwight Mission | Evening Shade | Flute Springs | Foreman | Hanson | Liberty | Long | Marble City Community | McKey | Nicut | Notchietown | Pinhook Corner | Redbird Smith | Redland | Remy | Short | Stoney Point | Sycamore
Links
Fort Smith Nat'l Hist. Site (part)