Pushmataha is the most famous
chief of the Choctaw nation and was the primary Choctaw war leader during the
War of 1812. Pushmataha died in 1825 on a diplomatic mission to
Washington DC and is buried there in the Congressional Cemetery as Brigadier
General Pusnmataha.
When CLA member Matt Fennewald
heard the theme of the CLF auction was the War of 1812 he was enthusiastic
about changing his original donation proposal of a horn and bag to a Choctaw
bow. Matt was aware of a bow attributed to Chief Pushmataha and
supposedly was carried by him during the War of 1812. Pushmataha was a
believer in traditional Choctaw cultural and the spiritual power of traditional
ways and weapons. It is likely that the stories he carried a bow into
battle in the Creek wars are true. There is a probability that he was in the
small contingent of Choctaw warriors at the Battle of New Orleans but that
cannot be verified.
Matt’s quest to build a
faithful copy of that bow is a story in itself. He contacted the Choctaw
National Museum, who holds the bow in their collections and after some
discussion with personnel at the museum he believes that particular bow is
actually Filipino and not Choctaw. Matt did not want to do something that
might be misrepresented, so he decided to make what he feels is a little more
likely as far as a Choctaw bow, arrow, and quiver set that could have been used
by Pushmataha in the War of 1812.
The bow is made from
hickory and has a string twisted out of whitetail deer back sinew. The
arrows are river cane, fletched with wild turkey wing feathers, and have fore
shafts made from hickory. Matt included several different point styles as
he feels this best represents the variety that would have been found on the
arrows in a working quiver. The quiver is woven from river cane and was
made by Paul Fennewald, Matt’s father, who is also a CLA member and lives in
Missouri.
Matt says he did not use any
special tools in the construction “just some research, a hatchet, drawknife,
shaving horse, pocket knife, and some sweat“ In the preservation of traditional
artistry, that is special.
The river cane used in the
construction of the arrows and quiver have a connection to another Indian chief
who was also connected to the War of 1812. This material was gathered
near Lake Wappapello, in the St. Francis River watershed, in Southeast
Missouri. Lake Wappapello is named after Chief Wapepilese, a Shawnee who
reportedly hunted in this area, and was friendly to the early white settlers in
southeast Missouri. His village was located on the site of present day
Bloomfield, MO.
Matt and his father are both
from farms on Moniteau Creek in Moniteau county Missouri. Paul gave Matt
his first flintlock rifle at the age of 10, in return for a summer working the
farm. Endless hours of Matt’s childhood were spent pouring over The Books
of Buckskinning, as there was nothing more in life he wanted than to be a
mountain man. Later on he spent a few years studying art at college, then
left to spend some time hitch hiking around this great country and trying to
live off the land. When the time came to settle down the only place that
felt like home to Matt was back along the Moniteau Creek and so that is where
lives today on a small farm along with his amazing wife and three
children. Matt is noted for his brain tanning, hand crafted bows and
arrows, hand stitched hunting bags, and powder horns.
Matt said he made this
donation to the CLA because “ I wanted to donate to the CLA for the
Foundation Auction foremost for the reason that I think the CLA is great and
their promotion of the long rifle culture is something sorely needed
today. Also I think it is great exposure for the donating artist.”
Matt’s contact information is
:
Matthew Fennewald
2302 Cotton Drive
Clarksburg, Mo 65025
Phone number is (660)-466-0060
Beautiful work!
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