Spencer Academy

Of the leaders on this stone, Allen Wright shows how far the school could carry one. Born Kiliahote in Mississippi in November 1826, he came west with his family in 1834 and, taken in by missionary Cyrus Kingsbury, began at the Pine Ridge mission school. He attended Spencer from 1844 to 1848, then Delaware College and Union College in Schenectady, graduating in 1852. In 1855 he finished at Union Theological Seminary in New York, the first Native American student from Indian Territory to earn that degree. He was principal chief of the Choctaw Nation from 1866 to 1870.

What the plaque says

Spencer Academy Noted school for boys, estab- lished by Choctaw Nation 1841; named for John C. Spencer, U.S. Sec. of War. Students who were later prominent leaders includ- ed Coleman E. Nelson, Allen Wright, Jackson McCurtain, Charles S. Vinson, B. F. Smallwood, Jefferson Gardner, Simon T. Dwight, Eliphalet N. Wright, Homer Davis. Oklahoma Historical Society 188-1995

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Towson Historic Site — 6.2 mi
  The 1824 Red River post where arriving Choctaw and Chickasaw families were dispersed after removal, beside the site of Doaksville, the Choctaw capital where Stand Watie surrendered in 1865.

More markers nearby

• Doaksville — 5.5 mi
• Stand Watie's Surrender — 5.5 mi
• Transportation Crossroads — 6.2 mi
• Fort Towson Landing — 6.3 mi