Choctaw County
Unlike Western Oklahoma’s flat, red and dry lands, Choctaw and surrounding counties abound with beautiful wilderness rivers and streams and numerous lakes. The area is often billed as a “Sportsman’s Paradise” because of plentiful game and fishing opportunities in, and surrounding Hugo and Choctaw County. Much of this outdoor paradise lies in and around the Kiamichi (Ki-A-Mee-Chee) Mountains and the Kiamichi River, from which the Hugo Lake is formed. Though once believed to be an Indian word, the word ‘Kiamichi’ was introduced by early French explorers, who found the area abounding with wild game, and also a very large and outspoken woodpecker. They named the bird and the area ‘Kiamichi’ –their word for “raucous bird.”
Hugo is the county seat of Choctaw County, located in deep Southeast Oklahoma, approximately 60 miles from the Arkansas and Louisiana borders, and 25 miles north of Paris, Texas.
In these early settlement days, supplies were brought into Fort Towson 15 miles east of Hugo. Fort Towson, built in 1824 along with Ft. Gibson in anticipation of the coming of the Five Civilized Tribes, became a hub trading village. Today Fort Towson gains in historical significance as History buffs discover that it was there that the very last treaty ending the Civil War was signed By Brigadier General Stand Watie, the last Confederate general officer to surrender and lay down his arms on June 23, 1865.
On November 3, 2011, the U.S. Navy honored Choctaw County with the naming of a ship. The upcoming vessel–a Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV)–simultaneously honored the three American counties named Choctaw County, in Alabama, Mississippi, and Oklahoma. “I grew up in Choctaw County, Miss., where people work hard to raise their families and provide for their children,” Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said when he announced the naming. “I chose to name JHSV after Choctaw County to honor those men and women who represent rural America.” USNS Choctaw County will bear hull number JHSV-2. The swords on its coat of arms symbolize cooperation and teamwork and the JHSV’s capability to transport both U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps personnel and their military vehicles.