Tuskahoma is a community in northern
Pushmataha County, Oklahoma, four miles east of
Clayton, Oklahoma.
History
A
United States Post Office was established at Tushka Homma, Indian Territory on February 27, 1884. On October 28, 1891, the spelling changed to Tushkahomma. On December 6, 1910 the official spelling changed to its present rendering, Tuskahoma. The community has also been served by
post office locations at nearby
Council House, Oklahoma (1872–1880) and
Lyceum, Oklahoma (1896–1900). Council House was located at the Choctaw Capitol Building and Lyceum was located at the former Choctaw Female Academy.George H. Shirk,
Oklahoma Place Names, pp. 55, 130, 209-210; Post Office Site Location Reports, Record Group 28, National Archives.
Tuskahoma is a
compound word meaning “red warrior” in the
Choctaw language.Angie Debo,
Rise and Fall of the Choctaw Republic, pp. 158-159.
Tuskahoma was designated as (political) capital of the
Choctaw Nation in 1882 when an Act of the Choctaw Nation dated October 20, 1882 established the community as the permanent seat of government. The Nation’s first capital after the
Trail of Tears was at Nanih Waiyah, two miles east of Tuskahoma. Afterward, during a time of constitutional experimentation, it had changed back and forth from Nanih Waiyah to
Doaksville,
Skullyville,
Fort Towson and
Boggy Depot. Its wartime capital during the
American Civil War was Armstrong...
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