McIntosh County, Oklahoma

McIntosh County, Oklahoma
The McIntosh County Courthouse in Eufaula.
Location in the U.S. state of Oklahoma
Oklahoma's location in the U.S.
Founded	1907
Seat	Eufaula
Largest city	Checotah
Area
• Total	712 sq mi (1,844 km2)
• Land	618 sq mi (1,601 km2)
• Water	94 sq mi (243 km2), 13%
Population (est.)
• (2013)	20,493
• Density	33/sq mi (13/km²)
Congressional district	2nd

McIntosh County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 20,252. Its county seat is Eufaula. The county is named for an influential Muscogee Creek family, whose members led the migration of the Lower Towns to Indian Territory and served as leaders for generations.

It is one of the counties within the jurisdiction of the federally recognized Muscogee (Creek) Nation.

In 1825, the Creek of the Lower Towns in the territory of present-day Georgia, led by William McIntosh, agreed by the Treaty of Indian Springs with the United States, to exchange their land in Georgia for land in Indian Territory. These Creek were a historic people who had originated in the Southeast and were part of the larger Creek Confederacy for centuries. Much of their new territory was included in what later became McIntosh County. Chief McIntosh was executed in Georgia in 1825 by order of the Creek National Council, which had forbidden such land cessions without agreement by the full council.

His descendants and followers of the Lower Towns migrated to Indian Territory. There the Creek repeatedly battled with the Osage, who had historically occupied a large area including this and up through present-day Missouri. In 1836, the Creek established North Fork Town on the Texas Road, about two miles east of present-day Eufaula, Oklahoma. A post office named Micco operated in North Fork Town from 1853 to 1886. This area became part of the Eufaula District of the Creek Nation.

Albert Pike, representing the Confederate States of America, signed treaties with the Chickasaw, Choctaw and Creek nations at the beginning of the Civil War. They allied with the Confederacy in the hopes of gaining an Indian state after the war. The Battle of Honey Springs, the largest battle of the war in what is now Oklahoma, was fought near Rentiesville. The Union Army won and took control of that part of Indian Territory north of the Arkansas River.