city, seat (1907) of Choctaw county, southeastern Oklahoma, U.S. Located on the edge of the Kiamichi Mountains, the city was founded as a station along the Arkansas and Choctaw Railroad and developed as a centre of peanut (groundnut) cultivation and processing. It was named by the wife of railroad surveyor W.H. Darrough in honour of the French novelist Victor Hugo (Hugo, Victor). Fort Towson (1824), 15 miles (24 km) to the east, served as an administrative centre and trading post for the newly relocated Five Civilized Tribes; there Cherokee Brigadier General Stand Watie (Watie, Stand) signed the last treaty ending the U.S. Civil War, on June 23, 1865. Inc. 1902. Pop. (1990) 5,978; (2000) 5,536.