Indian Territory in the American Civil War
Encyclopedia
During the American Civil War
, Indian Territory
occupied most of what is now the U.S. state of Oklahoma
and served as an unorganized region
set aside for Native American tribes of the Southeastern United States
; they had been removed from their lands
. The area was the scene of numerous skirmishes and seven officially recognized battles involving Native American units allied with the Confederate States of America
, Native Americans loyal to the United States government, and Union and Confederate troops.
A total of 7,860 Native Americans participated in the Confederate Army, as both officers and enlisted men; they were mostly from the Five Civilized Tribes: the Cherokee
, Chickasaw
, Choctaw
, Creek
, and Seminole
nations. The Union did not incorporate Native Americans into its regular army.
and Arkansas
, which had already joined the Confederacy. The Confederacy took an interest, seeking a possible source of food in the event of a Union blockade, a connection to western territories, and a buffer area between Texas and the Union-held Kansas
. At the onset of war, Confederate forces took possession of the US army forts in the area. In June and July 1861, its officers negotiated with Native American tribes for combat support.
Stand Watie
, a member of the Cherokee tribal council, was among the Indian leaders to join and was commissioned as an officer. Other leaders within the Cherokee and Creek governments opted to remain neutral, while some allied themselves with the Union, including the Creek leader Opothleyahola
. After refusing to allow Creek lands to be annexed by the Confederacy, he took Creek supporters to Kansas, having to fight along the way. Leaders from each of the Five Civilized Tribes
, acting without the consensus of their councils, agreed to be annexed by the Confederacy in exchange for certain rights, including protection and recognition of current tribal lands.
After reaching Kansas and Missouri, Opothleyahola
and Native Americans loyal to the Union formed three volunteer regiments known as the Indian Home Guard
. It fought in Indian Territory and Arkansas.
. A total of 7,000 men, women, and children resided in his camp. A force of 1,400 Confederate soldiers under Colonel Douglas Cooper initiated the Battle of Round Mountain
, but were repulsed after several waves, leading to a Southern loss. Opothleyahola moved his camp to a new location at Chustenalah
. On December 26, 1861, Confederate forces again attacked, this time driving Opothleyahola and his people to Kansas during a snowstorm. Also in 1861 Union General James G. Blunt
ordered Colonel William Weer
to lead an expedition into the Indian Territory. Weer's expedition met with early success at the battle of Locust Grove in Missouri, but a mutiny within the Union army stopped the expedition before making any real progress into Indian Territory. The expedition encouraged the organization of three Indian Home Guard regiments in support of the Union.
The Union victory at the Battle of Pea Ridge
in northwest Arkansas during March 1862 limited the Confederate government's ability to protect its Indian allies. Stand Watie and other officers had to fight on without support. The Union army recaptured its forts in the territory, but abandoned them when faced with ongoing raids by Stand Watie. Later the Union recaptured them; Stand Watie was the last Confederate commander in the field to surrender.
Following the Battle of Honey Springs
in 1863, a decisive Union victory that secured Indian Territory, guerrilla warfare
was the primary means of combat. Honey Springs Depot, a site of frequent skirmishes, was chosen by Union General James G. Blunt as the place to engage the largest Confederate forces in Indian Territory. Anticipating that Confederate General Douglas H. Cooper
would attempt to join with General William Cabell
, who was moving to attack Fort Gibson
, Blunt approached Honey Springs on July 17, 1863 with a force of 3,000 men, including Native Americans and African-American former slaves. On the morning of July 17, he engaged Cooper, who commanded a force of 3,000–6,000 men composed primarily of Native Americans. Cooper's troops became unorganized and retreated when wet gunpowder caused misfires and rain hampered their movements. The battle was the largest in Indian Territory.
in Choctaw lands, General Stand Watie officially became the last Confederate general to surrender on June 25, 1865. Watie went to Washington D.C. that year for negotiations on behalf of his tribe; as the principal chief of the pro-Confederacy group elected in 1862, he was seeking recognition of a Southern Cherokee Nation. He did not return home until May 1866. The US government negotiated only with the Cherokee who had supported the Union; it named John Ross
as the rightful principal chief (he had gone into exile in 1862 when the majority supported the Confederacy).
As part of the peace treaty, US officials forced land concessions upon the tribes; it also required the Cherokee and other tribes to emancipate their slaves and give them full rights as members of their respective tribes, including rights to annuities and land allocations. The Southern Cherokee had wanted the US government to pay to relocate the Freedmen from the tribe. Later the issue of citizenship caused contention when American Indian lands were allotted to households under the Dawes Commission
. In the late twentieth century, the Cherokee Nation voted to exclude Cherokee Freedmen from the tribe, unless they also had direct descent from a Cherokee (not just a Cherokee Freedman) listed on the Dawes Rolls
(1902-1906).
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, Indian Territory
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land set aside within the United States for the settlement of American Indians...
occupied most of what is now the U.S. state of Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
and served as an unorganized region
Unorganized territory
An unorganized territory is a region of land without a "normally" constituted system of government. This does not mean that the territory has no government at all or that it is unclaimed territory...
set aside for Native American tribes of the Southeastern United States
Southeastern United States
The Southeastern United States, colloquially referred to as the Southeast, is the eastern portion of the Southern United States. It is one of the most populous regions in the United States of America....
; they had been removed from their lands
Indian Removal
Indian removal was a nineteenth century policy of the government of the United States to relocate Native American tribes living east of the Mississippi River to lands west of the river...
. The area was the scene of numerous skirmishes and seven officially recognized battles involving Native American units allied with the Confederate States of America
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
, Native Americans loyal to the United States government, and Union and Confederate troops.
A total of 7,860 Native Americans participated in the Confederate Army, as both officers and enlisted men; they were mostly from the Five Civilized Tribes: the Cherokee
Cherokee Nation (19th century)
The Cherokee Nation of the 19th century —an historic entity —was a legal, autonomous, tribal government in North America existing from 1794–1906. Often referred to simply as The Nation by its inhabitants, it should not be confused with what is known today as the "modern" Cherokee Nation...
, Chickasaw
Chickasaw
The Chickasaw are Native American people originally from the region that would become the Southeastern United States...
, Choctaw
Choctaw
The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...
, Creek
Creek people
The Muscogee , also known as the Creek or Creeks, are a Native American people traditionally from the southeastern United States. Mvskoke is their name in traditional spelling. The modern Muscogee live primarily in Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida...
, and Seminole
Seminole
The Seminole are a Native American people originally of Florida, who now reside primarily in that state and Oklahoma. The Seminole nation emerged in a process of ethnogenesis out of groups of Native Americans, most significantly Creeks from what is now Georgia and Alabama, who settled in Florida in...
nations. The Union did not incorporate Native Americans into its regular army.
Native American alliances
Before the outbreak of war, the United States government relocated all soldiers in Indian Territory to other key areas, leaving the territory unprotected from TexasTexas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
and Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
, which had already joined the Confederacy. The Confederacy took an interest, seeking a possible source of food in the event of a Union blockade, a connection to western territories, and a buffer area between Texas and the Union-held Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
. At the onset of war, Confederate forces took possession of the US army forts in the area. In June and July 1861, its officers negotiated with Native American tribes for combat support.
Stand Watie
Stand Watie
Stand Watie , also known as Standhope Uwatie, Degataga , meaning “stand firm”), and Isaac S. Watie, was a leader of the Cherokee Nation and a brigadier general of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War...
, a member of the Cherokee tribal council, was among the Indian leaders to join and was commissioned as an officer. Other leaders within the Cherokee and Creek governments opted to remain neutral, while some allied themselves with the Union, including the Creek leader Opothleyahola
Opothleyahola
Opothleyahola, also spelled Opothle Yohola, Opothleyoholo, Hu-pui-hilth Yahola, and Hopoeitheyohola, was a Muscogee Creek Indian chief, noted as a brilliant orator. He was a speaker of the Upper Creek Council. He led Creek forces against the United States government during the first two Seminole...
. After refusing to allow Creek lands to be annexed by the Confederacy, he took Creek supporters to Kansas, having to fight along the way. Leaders from each of the Five Civilized Tribes
Five Civilized Tribes
The Five Civilized Tribes were the five Native American nations—the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole—that were considered civilized by Anglo-European settlers during the colonial and early federal period because they adopted many of the colonists' customs and had generally good...
, acting without the consensus of their councils, agreed to be annexed by the Confederacy in exchange for certain rights, including protection and recognition of current tribal lands.
After reaching Kansas and Missouri, Opothleyahola
Opothleyahola
Opothleyahola, also spelled Opothle Yohola, Opothleyoholo, Hu-pui-hilth Yahola, and Hopoeitheyohola, was a Muscogee Creek Indian chief, noted as a brilliant orator. He was a speaker of the Upper Creek Council. He led Creek forces against the United States government during the first two Seminole...
and Native Americans loyal to the Union formed three volunteer regiments known as the Indian Home Guard
Indian Home Guard (American Civil War)
The Indian Home Guard were volunteer infantry regiments recruited from the Five Civilized Tribes of Indian Territory to support the Union during the American Civil War....
. It fought in Indian Territory and Arkansas.
Battles
The first battle in the territory occurred on November 19, 1861. Opothleyahola rallied Indians to the Union cause at Deep ForkDeep Fork River
Deep Fork River is an Oklahoma tributary of the North Canadian River. The headwaters flow from north Oklahoma City and the river empties into the North Canadian at Lake Eufaula about away....
. A total of 7,000 men, women, and children resided in his camp. A force of 1,400 Confederate soldiers under Colonel Douglas Cooper initiated the Battle of Round Mountain
Battle of Round Mountain
The Battle of Round Mountain No primary source documents report the engagement as having occurred at a place named "Round Mountains". The name originates from a single writer who noticed a curl at the end of Mountain on the report and changed 'mountain' to its plural...
, but were repulsed after several waves, leading to a Southern loss. Opothleyahola moved his camp to a new location at Chustenalah
Battle of Chustenahlah
The Battle of Chustenahlah was fought in Osage County, Oklahoma, on December 26, 1861, during the American Civil War. A band of 9,000 pro-Union Native Americans was forced to flee to Kansas in bitter cold and snow in what became known as the Trail of Blood on the Ice.Confederate troops had...
. On December 26, 1861, Confederate forces again attacked, this time driving Opothleyahola and his people to Kansas during a snowstorm. Also in 1861 Union General James G. Blunt
James G. Blunt
James Gillpatrick Blunt was a physician and abolitionist who rose to Union major general during the American Civil War.-Early life & career:...
ordered Colonel William Weer
William Weer
William Weer was a lawyer, attorney general for Kansas and an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War...
to lead an expedition into the Indian Territory. Weer's expedition met with early success at the battle of Locust Grove in Missouri, but a mutiny within the Union army stopped the expedition before making any real progress into Indian Territory. The expedition encouraged the organization of three Indian Home Guard regiments in support of the Union.
The Union victory at the Battle of Pea Ridge
Battle of Pea Ridge
The Battle of Pea Ridge was a land battle of the American Civil War, fought on March 6–8, 1862, at Pea Ridge in northwest Arkansas, near Garfield. In the battle, Union forces led by Brig. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis defeated Confederate troops under Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn. The outcome of the...
in northwest Arkansas during March 1862 limited the Confederate government's ability to protect its Indian allies. Stand Watie and other officers had to fight on without support. The Union army recaptured its forts in the territory, but abandoned them when faced with ongoing raids by Stand Watie. Later the Union recaptured them; Stand Watie was the last Confederate commander in the field to surrender.
Battle of Honey Springs
The Battle of Honey Springs was an American Civil War battle, an important victory for Union forces in their efforts to gain control of the Indian Territory. The battle was also unique in the fact that white soldiers were the minority in both forces...
in 1863, a decisive Union victory that secured Indian Territory, guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
was the primary means of combat. Honey Springs Depot, a site of frequent skirmishes, was chosen by Union General James G. Blunt as the place to engage the largest Confederate forces in Indian Territory. Anticipating that Confederate General Douglas H. Cooper
Douglas H. Cooper
Douglas Hancock Cooper was a politician, a soldier, an Indian Agent in what is now Oklahoma, and a Confederate general during the American Civil War.-Early life and career:...
would attempt to join with General William Cabell
William Lewis Cabell
-External links:* from the published 1880, hosted by the...
, who was moving to attack Fort Gibson
Fort Gibson
Fort Gibson, now located in Oklahoma and designated Fort Gibson Historical Site, guarded the American frontier in Indian Territory from 1824 until 1890...
, Blunt approached Honey Springs on July 17, 1863 with a force of 3,000 men, including Native Americans and African-American former slaves. On the morning of July 17, he engaged Cooper, who commanded a force of 3,000–6,000 men composed primarily of Native Americans. Cooper's troops became unorganized and retreated when wet gunpowder caused misfires and rain hampered their movements. The battle was the largest in Indian Territory.
Aftermath
At Fort TowsonFort Towson
Fort Towson was a frontier outpost for Frontier Army Quartermasters along the Permanent Indian Frontier located about two miles northeast of the present community of Fort Towson, Oklahoma....
in Choctaw lands, General Stand Watie officially became the last Confederate general to surrender on June 25, 1865. Watie went to Washington D.C. that year for negotiations on behalf of his tribe; as the principal chief of the pro-Confederacy group elected in 1862, he was seeking recognition of a Southern Cherokee Nation. He did not return home until May 1866. The US government negotiated only with the Cherokee who had supported the Union; it named John Ross
John Ross (Cherokee chief)
John Ross , also known as Guwisguwi , was Principal Chief of the Cherokee Native American Nation from 1828–1866...
as the rightful principal chief (he had gone into exile in 1862 when the majority supported the Confederacy).
As part of the peace treaty, US officials forced land concessions upon the tribes; it also required the Cherokee and other tribes to emancipate their slaves and give them full rights as members of their respective tribes, including rights to annuities and land allocations. The Southern Cherokee had wanted the US government to pay to relocate the Freedmen from the tribe. Later the issue of citizenship caused contention when American Indian lands were allotted to households under the Dawes Commission
Dawes Commission
The American Dawes Commission, named for its first chairman Henry L. Dawes, was authorized under a rider to an Indian Office appropriation bill, March 3, 1893...
. In the late twentieth century, the Cherokee Nation voted to exclude Cherokee Freedmen from the tribe, unless they also had direct descent from a Cherokee (not just a Cherokee Freedman) listed on the Dawes Rolls
Dawes Rolls
The Dawes Rolls were created by the Dawes Commission. The Commission, authorized by United States Congress in 1893, was required to negotiate with the Five Civilized Tribes to convince them to agree to an allotment plan and dissolution of the reservation system...
(1902-1906).
See also
- Southern Cherokee Nation of KentuckySouthern Cherokee Nation of KentuckyThe Southern Cherokee Nation of Kentucky claim descent from the Cherokee forcibly removed to Indian Territory in 1838, and to have first emerged as a distinct political faction known as the Treaty Party before the Trail of Tears, circa 1835. They report having fled Indian territory, after the...
- Cherokee in the American Civil WarCherokee in the American Civil WarCherokee in the American Civil War were active in two major regions. In the east, Confederate Cherokee led by William Holland Thomas hindered Union forces trying to use the Appalachian mountain passes of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee...
- Confederate Units of Indian Territory
- Indian Home Guard (American Civil War)Indian Home Guard (American Civil War)The Indian Home Guard were volunteer infantry regiments recruited from the Five Civilized Tribes of Indian Territory to support the Union during the American Civil War....
Union - History of OklahomaHistory of OklahomaThe history of Oklahoma refers to the history of the state of Oklahoma and the land that the state now occupies. Areas of Oklahoma east of its panhandle were acquired in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, while the Panhandle was not acquired until the U.S...
- Native Americans in the Civil War
- Oklahoma TerritoryOklahoma TerritoryThe Territory of Oklahoma was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 2, 1890, until November 16, 1907, when it was joined with the Indian Territory under a new constitution and admitted to the Union as the State of Oklahoma.-Organization:Oklahoma Territory's...
- Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil WarTrans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil WarThe Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War was the major military and naval operations west of the Mississippi River. The area excluded the states and territories bordering the Pacific Ocean, which formed the Pacific Coast Theater of the American Civil War.The campaign classification...
- Treaty with Choctaws and ChickasawsTreaty with Choctaws and ChickasawsThe Treaty with Choctaws and Chickasaws was a treaty signed on July 12, 1861 between the Choctaw and Chickasaw and the Confederate States of America. At the beginning of the American Civil War, Albert Pike was appointed as Confederate envoy to Native Americans...
Further reading
- Downing, David C. A South Divided: Portraits of Dissent in the Confederacy. Nashville: Cumberland House, 2007. ISBN 978-1-58182-587-9