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Gaines and Pushmataha’s Oak Tree Negotiations
In the 1820s, an oak tree near Demopolis, Alabama became the site of talks that would change a nation. U.S. Indian Agent George Gaines met with Choctaw Chief Pushmataha under what came to be known as the Pushmataha Oak.
Their talks led to the 1830 Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, which took 11 million acres from the Choctaw. Soon after, nearly 15,000 Choctaw people were forced to walk to Indian Territory…