Our Arklahoma Heritage: The legacy of Principal Choctaw Chief Edmund Aaron McCurtain - 1842-1890
- Dennis McCaslin
- Aug 16, 2025
- 2 min read
Just northeast of the small town of Kinta in Haskell County, a modest home stands as a quiet landmark of Choctaw history. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, the house once belonged to Edmund Aaron McCurtain, who served as Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation from 1884 to 1886.
It’s one of the few remaining physical reminders of a family whose leadership shaped the tribe during a time of transition and recovery.
Born on June 4, 1842, at Fort Coffee in Indian Territory, Edmund McCurtain came from a line deeply rooted in both Choctaw and American history.
His mother, Mahayia Nelson Belvin, was the granddaughter of Sho-ma-ka, a member of the original Choctaw tribe. His father, Cornelius McCurtain, was born in Mississippi before the family was forced west during the Trail of Tears--a journey that claimed thousands of lives and reshaped the Choctaw Nation.
At age 19, Edmund enlisted in the Confederate Army, serving as a Second Lieutenant under his brother, Captain Jackson McCurtain, in the First Regiment of Choctaw and Chickasaw Mounted Rifles.
After the Civil War, he settled in Sans Bois, now part of Haskell County, where he became a rancher and public servant. He held several roles including Judge of Sans Bois County, Trustee of Schools, and Superintendent of Education.
In 1884, Edmund succeeded his brother Jackson as Principal Chief. He served one term and chose not to run again, instead supporting Thompson McKinney for the role. His tenure was marked by efforts to improve education and governance within the Nation.
The McCurtain family produced four Choctaw leaders over multiple generations. Edmund’s brothers, Jackson and Greenwood “Green” McCurtain, and his nephew Allen Cornelius McCurtain, all served as Principal Chiefs. In 1907, McCurtain County was named in honor of the family when Oklahoma became a state.
Edmund died on November 9, 1890, in Skullyville, a once-thriving Choctaw settlement east of Spiro. He had been returning from a National Council meeting when he passed away at age 48. His grave in Skullyville remains marked, but it was nearly disturbed in 1963 when grave robbers attempted to dig up his coffin. The effort was stopped after only a shallow hole was made.
During the 1950s and 1960s, looting of Native burial sites was common in eastern Oklahoma, especially around areas like the Spiro Mounds.
Rumors of buried treasure in Skullyville, which once served as a payment center for the Choctaw Nation, fueled such eactivity. .
Skullyville, once a political and cultural hub, began to fade after the Civil War. The town was bypassed by railroads and officially disbanded in 1917. Today, little remains except the cemetery where Chief McCurtain is buried.
The legacy of Edmund McCurtain and his family continues to echo through Oklahoma’s landscape, not just in names and monuments, but in the ongoing efforts of the Choctaw Nation to preserve its history and honor its leaders.
