place to die. Pushmataha's chosen assistant also happened to suddenly die on the return journey from Washington, DC to Choctaw lands in present day Mississippi. Pushmataha requested full military honors for his funeral, and gave specific instructions as to his effects. His last recorded words were these: I am about to die, but you will return to our country. As you go along the paths, you will see the flowers, and hear the birds sing; but Pushmataha will see and hear them no more. When you reach home they will ask you, 'Where is Pushmataha?' And you will say to them, 'He is no more.' They will hear your words as they do the fall of the great oak in the stillness of the midnight woods. Pushmataha died on December 24, 1824. As requested, he was buried with full military honors as a brigadier general of the U.S. Army, in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington. He is one of two Native American chiefs interred there, the other being Peter Pitchlynn, also a Choctaw. His epitaph, inscribed in upper case letters, reads: The National Intelligencer reported on December 28, 1824, on his death: At Tennison's Hotel, on Friday last, the 24th instant, Pooshamataha, a Chief of the Choctaw Nation of Indians, distinguished for his bold elocution and his attachment to the United States. At the commencement of the late war on our Southern border, he took an early and decided stand in favor of the weak and isolated settlements on Tombigby, and he continued to fight with and for them whilst they had an enemy in the field. His bones will rest a distance from his home, but in the bosom of the people he delighted to love. May a good hunting ground await his generous spirit in another and a better world. Military honors were paid to his remains by the Marine Corps of the United States, and by several uniformed companies of the militia. The Hampshire Gazette (MA), Jan. 5, 1825, reported: At Washington city, PUSHA-A-MA-TA-HA, principal chief of a district of the Choctaw nation of Indians. This chief was remarkable for his personal courage and skill in war, having been engaged in 24 battles, several of which were fought under the command of Gen. Jackson. Successors There is a six-month period in which no documentation of the Chief of the Six Towns is recorded; however, Tappenahoma, nephew of