Apuckshunubbee

Apuckshunubbee
Born	1740
Died	October 18, 1824
Residence	Choctaw Nation, now Madison County, Mississippi
Nationality	Choctaw
Employer	Choctaw Nation
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Title	Tribal chief
Successor	Robert Cole, then Greenwood LeFlore

Apuckshunubbee (ca. 1740–October 18, 1824) was one of three principal chiefs of the Choctaw Native American tribe in the early nineteenth century, from before 1800. He led the western or Okla Falaya (Tall People) District in present-day Madison County, Mississippi. There were also the eastern and southern districts.

During the early 1800s, Apuckshunubbee and the other two division chiefs signed several treaties with the United States, ceding land to settlers in the hope of ending their encroachment on Choctaw territory. On his way to Washington, DC in 1824 with the other two division chiefs and a Choctaw delegation to meet with US officials, Apukshunubbee suffered a fall and died. His name was also spelled as Apvkshvnvbbee, Apυkshυnυbbee, Puckshenubbee, Pukshunnubbu, and Pukshunnubbee.

Apuckshunubbee was likely born into a high-status family and clan; the Choctaw had a matrilineal system of property and hereditary leadership. Children belonged to their mother's clan, and her brothers would have been more important to his upbringing than his biological father, who belonged to a different clan.

He was described as "a large man, tall and bony, with a down look, and was of the superstitious and religious cast of mind."

Apuckshunubbee was one of the three division chiefs among the Choctaw in Mississippi by 1801. He represented the western division of the people, known as the Okla Falaya Clan (Tall People), located in western Mississippi.

As such a leader, he signed numerous treaties on behalf of the Choctaw with the US government, including the Treaty of Mount Dexter, Treaty of Fort St. Stephens, and the Treaty of Doak's Stand. By these land cessions, the Choctaw hoped to end European-American encroachment on their lands, but new settlers kept arriving and entering their territory. The US government did not enforce the treaty provisions.

He was nearly 80 years old when he made the 1824 trip with the other principal chiefs, Mushulatubbee and Pushmataha to protest settler violations made against the Treaty of Doak's Stand. The Choctaw delegation also included Talking Warrior, Red Fort, Nittahkachee, Col. Robert Cole and David Folsom, both Choctaw of mixed-race; Captain Daniel McCurtain, and Major John Pitchlynn, the U.S. Interpreter.

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