Stand Watie
Encyclopedia
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
. He commanded the Confederate Indian cavalry
of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi
, made up mostly of Cherokee
, Muskogee and Seminole
.
Watie served as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation
1862-1866, during the war years and immediately after. By that time, he had support of the majority of the tribe, but a minority refused to ratify his election. The former chief John Ross
was captured in 1862 by Union forces. Two delegations went to Washington after the war to sue for peace, hoping to have tribal divisions recognized; Watie hoped to gain recognition of a Southern Cherokee Nation. The US government negotiated only with those who had sided with the Union, and named John Ross as principal chief in 1866 under a new treaty.
) on December 12, 1806, the son of Uwatie (Cherokee for "the ancient one"), full-blood Cherokee, and Susanna Reese, daughter of a white father and Cherokee mother. His brothers were Gallagina, nicknamed "Buck" (who later took the name Elias Boudinot
); and Thomas Watie. The brothers were nephews of Major Ridge
, and cousins to John Ridge
. By 1827, their father David Uwatie had become a wealthy slave-owning planter
.
After Uwatie converted to Christianity with the Moravians, he took the name of David Uwatie; he and Susanna renamed Degataga as Isaac. He preferred the English translation of his Cherokee name, "Stand Firm". Later, the family dropped the "U" from the spelling of their surname and it became Watie. Along with his brothers and sisters, Stand Watie learned to read and write English at the Moravian mission school in Spring Place, Cherokee Nation (now Georgia
).
newspaper, which his older brother Elias started in 1828 with Samuel Worcester
, a missionary and printer who cast the type for the Cherokee syllabary
. Stand Watie became involved in the dispute over Georgia's repressive anti-Indian laws. After gold
was discovered on Cherokee lands in northern Georgia, thousands of white settlers encroached on Indian lands. In spite of federal treaties protecting Indians from state actions, after Congress' passage in 1830 of the Indian Removal Act
, in 1832 Georgia confiscated most of the Cherokee land. Georgia militia
destroyed the offices and press of the Cherokee Phoenix, which had published articles against Indian Removal.
Believing that removal was inevitable, the Watie brothers favored securing Cherokee rights by treaty before relocating to Indian Territory
. They were among the Treaty Party that signed the 1835 Treaty of New Echota
. The majority of the Cherokee opposed removal, and the Tribal Council and Chief John Ross
refused to ratify the treaty. They belonged to the National Party.
were forcibly removed by the U.S. government in 1838; their journey, on which they took their slaves, became known as the "Trail of Tears
," during which 4,000 people died.
Members of the National Party targeted Treaty Party men for assassination because they had given up tribal lands; it was a blood offense. Stand Watie, his brother Elias Boudinot
, their uncle Major Ridge and cousin John Ridge, along with several other Treaty Party men were attacked. Of the first four men attacked on 22 June 1839, only Stand Watie survived.
In 1842 Watie encountered James Foreman, one of his uncle's assassins, and shot him dead. He was tried for murder in Arkansas and acquitted as acting in self defense. In the post-Removal violence within the tribe, close to civil war, Ross partisans killed Stand's brother Thomas in 1845. At least 34 politically related murders were committed among the Cherokee in 1845 and 1846.
Watie, a slave holder, developed a successful plantation
on Spavinaw Creek in the Indian Territory
. He served on the Cherokee Council from 1845 to 1861, serving part of that time as speaker.
on either side of the Civil War to rise to a brigadier general's rank. The other was Ely S. Parker
, a Seneca
who fought on the Union side.
After a majority of the Cherokee Nation voted to support the Confederacy in the American Civil War
, Watie organized a regiment
of cavalry
. In October 1861, he was commissioned as colonel
in the 1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles
. Although he fought Federal troops, he also led his men in fighting between factions of the Cherokee, as well as against the Creek, Seminole
and others in Indian Territory who chose to support the Union
. Watie is noted for his role in the Battle of Pea Ridge
, Arkansas
, on March 6–8, 1862. Watie's troops captured Union artillery
positions and covered the retreat of Confederate forces from the battlefield after the Union took control.
After Cherokee support for the Confederacy fractured, Watie continued to lead the remnant of his cavalry. He was promoted to brigadier general by General Samuel Bell Maxey, and given command of the First Indian Brigade of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi
, composed of two regiments of Mounted Rifles and three battalions of Cherokee, Seminole and Osage
infantry. These troops were based south of the Canadian River
, and periodically crossed the river into Union territory. They fought in a number of battles and skirmishes in the western Confederate states, including the Indian Territory, Arkansas, Missouri
, Kansas
, and Texas
. Watie's force reportedly fought in more battles west of the Mississippi River
than any other unit. Watie participated in what is considered to be the greatest (and most infamous) Confederate victory in Indian Territory, which took place at Cabin Creek during mid-September 1864. He and General Richard Montgomery Gano
led a raid that captured a Federal wagon train and netted approximately $1 million dollars worth of wagons, mules, commissary supplies, and other needed items.. Stand Watie also oversaw a massacre of black haycutters at Wagoner, Oklahoma during this raid. Union reports stated that Watie's Indian cavalry "killed all the Negroes they could find", even murdering wounded men..
During the war, General Watie's family and other Confederate Cherokee took refuge in Rusk and Smith counties of east Texas. Knowing their families were relatively secure at the Mount Tabor Community, also known as Bellview, Texas, enabled the warriors to stay out on campaigns. The Cherokee and allied warriors became a potent Confederate fighting force that kept Union troops out of southern Indian Territory and large parts of north Texas throughout the war.
On June 23, 1865, following the Battle of Doaksville
, at Fort Towson
in the Choctaw
Nation's area of the Indian Territory
, Watie signed a cease-fire agreement with Union representatives for his command, the First Indian Brigade of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi
. He was the last Confederate general in the field to surrender.
, Tom Pegg took over as principal chief of the pro-Union Cherokee. Following Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation
in January 1863, Pegg called a special session of the Cherokee National Council. On February 18, 1863, it passed a resolution to emancipate all slaves within the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation. Most of the "freed" slaves were held by masters who were part of the pro-Confederate Cherokee, so did not gain immediate freedom.
Stand Watie was elected principal chief of the pro-Confederate Cherokee, who increasingly outnumbered pro-Union elements. Ross' supporters, by then in the minority, refused to recognize his election. Open warfare broke out between the "Union Cherokee" and the "Confederate Cherokee" within Indian Territory. After the wider war ended, both factions sent delegations to Washington, DC. Watie pushed for recognition of a separate "Southern Cherokee Nation", but never achieved that.
The US government refused to recognize the divisions among the Cherokee, although there were critical differences. The Southerners wanted the government to pay to relocate the Cherokee Freedmen from their lands; the Northerners suggested adopting them into the tribe, but having the government giving them an exclusive piece of associated territory. The government went further, adding that the Cherokee Freedmen would receive full rights for citizenship, land, and annuities as the Cherokee. It assigned them land in the Canadian addition. In the treaty of 1866, the government declared John Ross as the rightful Principal Chief.
Open hostilities threatened the stability of the tribe over Ross's return and the treaty issues, but Ross died and a new chief was elected in 1867. The Cherokee Nation elected the full-blood Lewis Downing
, a compromise candidate who proved to be a shrewd and politically savvy Principal Chief. He brought about reconciliation and reunification. As between the North and South, tensions lingered into the 20th century, but the Cherokee did not have the extended insurrection among pro-Confederate forces that occurred in the South.
Shortly after Downing's election, Watie returned to his home from exile in the Choctaw Nation, where he had gone after the treaty signing. He tried to rebuild his fortunes while staying out of politics. He died in 1871, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation.
, a novel by Harold Keith
. It is about a young Union soldier from Kansas, and his experiences with Watie and his people in Tahlequah
and in the surrounding areas.
The song "Coyotes," as recorded by Don Edwards
, is an old cowboy's lament about things that have disappeared from the Old West
-- among them, Comanches
, outlaws
, longhorns
, Geronimo
, the red wolf
, and Stand Watie.
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...
and a brigadier general of the Confederate States Army
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...
during the American Civil War
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...
. He commanded the Confederate Indian cavalry
Indian cavalry
Indian cavalry is the name collectively given to the Midwest and Eastern American Indians who fought during the American Civil War, most of them on horseback and for the South.-Cherokee Nation:...
of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi
Army of the Trans-Mississippi
The Army of the Trans-Mississippi was the major Confederate field army for the Department of the Trans-Mississippi during the American Civil War...
, made up mostly of Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
, Muskogee 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...
.
Watie served as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation
Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation
Principal Chief is today the title of the chief executives of the Cherokee Nation, of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, the three federally recognized tribes of Cherokee. In the eighteenth century, when the people were organized by clans and...
1862-1866, during the war years and immediately after. By that time, he had support of the majority of the tribe, but a minority refused to ratify his election. The former chief John Ross
John Ross (Cherokee chief)
John Ross , also known as Guwisguwi , was Principal Chief of the Cherokee Native American Nation from 1828–1866...
was captured in 1862 by Union forces. Two delegations went to Washington after the war to sue for peace, hoping to have tribal divisions recognized; Watie hoped to gain recognition of a Southern Cherokee Nation. The US government negotiated only with those who had sided with the Union, and named John Ross as principal chief in 1866 under a new treaty.
Early life
Watie was born in Oothcaloga, Cherokee Nation (now Calhoun, GeorgiaCalhoun, Georgia
Calhoun is a city in Gordon County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 15,650. The city is the county seat of Gordon County.-Geography:Calhoun is located at , along the Oostanaula River....
) on December 12, 1806, the son of Uwatie (Cherokee for "the ancient one"), full-blood Cherokee, and Susanna Reese, daughter of a white father and Cherokee mother. His brothers were Gallagina, nicknamed "Buck" (who later took the name Elias Boudinot
Elias Boudinot (Cherokee)
Elias Boudinot , was a member of an important Cherokee family in present-day Georgia. They believed that rapid acculturation was critical to Cherokee survival. In 1828 Boudinot became the editor of the Cherokee Phoenix, which was published in Cherokee and English...
); and Thomas Watie. The brothers were nephews of Major Ridge
Major Ridge
Major Ridge, The Ridge was a Cherokee Indian member of the tribal council, a lawmaker, and a leader. He was a veteran of the Chickamauga Wars, the Creek War, and the First Seminole War.Along with Charles R...
, and cousins to John Ridge
John Ridge
John Ridge, born Skah-tle-loh-skee , was from a prominent family of the Cherokee Nation, then located in present-day Georgia. He married Sarah Bird Northup, of a New England family, whom he had met while studying at the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall, Connecticut...
. By 1827, their father David Uwatie had become a wealthy slave-owning planter
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
.
After Uwatie converted to Christianity with the Moravians, he took the name of David Uwatie; he and Susanna renamed Degataga as Isaac. He preferred the English translation of his Cherokee name, "Stand Firm". Later, the family dropped the "U" from the spelling of their surname and it became Watie. Along with his brothers and sisters, Stand Watie learned to read and write English at the Moravian mission school in Spring Place, Cherokee Nation (now Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
).
Adult life
Stand Watie occasionally helped write for the Cherokee PhoenixCherokee Phoenix
The Cherokee Phoenix was the first newspaper published by Native Americans in the United States and the first published in a Native American language. The first issue was published in English and Cherokee on February 21, 1828, in New Echota, capital of the Cherokee Nation . The paper continued...
newspaper, which his older brother Elias started in 1828 with Samuel Worcester
Samuel Worcester
Samuel Austin Worcester , was a missionary to the Cherokee, translator of the Bible, printer and defender of the Cherokee's sovereignty. He was a party in Worcester v...
, a missionary and printer who cast the type for the Cherokee syllabary
Syllabary
A syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent syllables, which make up words. In a syllabary, there is no systematic similarity between the symbols which represent syllables with the same consonant or vowel...
. Stand Watie became involved in the dispute over Georgia's repressive anti-Indian laws. After gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
was discovered on Cherokee lands in northern Georgia, thousands of white settlers encroached on Indian lands. In spite of federal treaties protecting Indians from state actions, after Congress' passage in 1830 of the Indian Removal Act
Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830.The Removal Act was strongly supported in the South, where states were eager to gain access to lands inhabited by the Five Civilized Tribes. In particular, Georgia, the largest state at that time, was involved in...
, in 1832 Georgia confiscated most of the Cherokee land. Georgia militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
destroyed the offices and press of the Cherokee Phoenix, which had published articles against Indian Removal.
Believing that removal was inevitable, the Watie brothers favored securing Cherokee rights by treaty before relocating to 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...
. They were among the Treaty Party that signed the 1835 Treaty of New Echota
Treaty of New Echota
The Treaty of New Echota was a treaty signed on December 29, 1835, in New Echota, Georgia by officials of the United States government and representatives of a minority Cherokee political faction, known as the Treaty Party...
. The majority of the Cherokee opposed removal, and the Tribal Council and Chief John Ross
John Ross (Cherokee chief)
John Ross , also known as Guwisguwi , was Principal Chief of the Cherokee Native American Nation from 1828–1866...
refused to ratify the treaty. They belonged to the National Party.
Early years in Indian Territory
In 1835, Watie, his family, and many other Cherokee emigrated to Indian Territory (eastern present-day Oklahoma). They joined some Cherokee who had relocated as early as the 1820s. Those Cherokee who remained on tribal lands in the EastEastern United States
The Eastern United States, the American East, or simply the East is traditionally defined as the states east of the Mississippi River. The first two tiers of states west of the Mississippi have traditionally been considered part of the West, but can be included in the East today; usually in...
were forcibly removed by the U.S. government in 1838; their journey, on which they took their slaves, became known as the "Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears
The Trail of Tears is a name given to the forced relocation and movement of Native American nations from southeastern parts of the United States following the Indian Removal Act of 1830...
," during which 4,000 people died.
Members of the National Party targeted Treaty Party men for assassination because they had given up tribal lands; it was a blood offense. Stand Watie, his brother Elias Boudinot
Elias Boudinot (Cherokee)
Elias Boudinot , was a member of an important Cherokee family in present-day Georgia. They believed that rapid acculturation was critical to Cherokee survival. In 1828 Boudinot became the editor of the Cherokee Phoenix, which was published in Cherokee and English...
, their uncle Major Ridge and cousin John Ridge, along with several other Treaty Party men were attacked. Of the first four men attacked on 22 June 1839, only Stand Watie survived.
In 1842 Watie encountered James Foreman, one of his uncle's assassins, and shot him dead. He was tried for murder in Arkansas and acquitted as acting in self defense. In the post-Removal violence within the tribe, close to civil war, Ross partisans killed Stand's brother Thomas in 1845. At least 34 politically related murders were committed among the Cherokee in 1845 and 1846.
Watie, a slave holder, developed a successful plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
on Spavinaw Creek in the 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...
. He served on the Cherokee Council from 1845 to 1861, serving part of that time as speaker.
Civil War service
Watie was one of only two Native AmericansNative Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
on either side of the Civil War to rise to a brigadier general's rank. The other was Ely S. Parker
Ely S. Parker
Ely Samuel Parker , was a Seneca attorney, engineer, and tribal diplomat. He was commissioned a lieutenant colonel during the American Civil War, when he served as adjutant to General Ulysses S. Grant. He wrote the final draft of the Confederate surrender terms at Appomattox...
, a Seneca
Seneca nation
The Seneca are a group of indigenous people native to North America. They were the nation located farthest to the west within the Six Nations or Iroquois League in New York before the American Revolution. While exact population figures are unknown, approximately 15,000 to 25,000 Seneca live in...
who fought on the Union side.
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...
, Watie organized a regiment
Regiment
A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...
of cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
. In October 1861, he was commissioned as colonel
Colonel (United States)
In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, colonel is a senior field grade military officer rank just above the rank of lieutenant colonel and just below the rank of brigadier general...
in the 1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles
1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles
The 1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles was a Confederate States Army regiment which fought in the Indian Territory during the American Civil War. One of its commanders was Stand Watie....
. Although he fought Federal troops, he also led his men in fighting between factions of the Cherokee, as well as against the Creek, 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...
and others in Indian Territory who chose to support the Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
. Watie is noted for his role in 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...
, 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...
, on March 6–8, 1862. Watie's troops captured Union artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
positions and covered the retreat of Confederate forces from the battlefield after the Union took control.
After Cherokee support for the Confederacy fractured, Watie continued to lead the remnant of his cavalry. He was promoted to brigadier general by General Samuel Bell Maxey, and given command of the First Indian Brigade of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi
Army of the Trans-Mississippi
The Army of the Trans-Mississippi was the major Confederate field army for the Department of the Trans-Mississippi during the American Civil War...
, composed of two regiments of Mounted Rifles and three battalions of Cherokee, Seminole and Osage
Osage Nation
The Osage Nation is a Native American Siouan-language tribe in the United States that originated in the Ohio River valley in present-day Kentucky. After years of war with invading Iroquois, the Osage migrated west of the Mississippi River to their historic lands in present-day Arkansas, Missouri,...
infantry. These troops were based south of the Canadian River
Canadian River
The Canadian River is the longest tributary of the Arkansas River. It is about long, starting in Colorado and traveling through New Mexico, the Texas Panhandle, and most of Oklahoma....
, and periodically crossed the river into Union territory. They fought in a number of battles and skirmishes in the western Confederate states, including the Indian Territory, Arkansas, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
, 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...
, and Texas
Texas
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...
. Watie's force reportedly fought in more battles west of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
than any other unit. Watie participated in what is considered to be the greatest (and most infamous) Confederate victory in Indian Territory, which took place at Cabin Creek during mid-September 1864. He and General Richard Montgomery Gano
Richard Montgomery Gano
Richard Montgomery Gano was a physician, Protestant minister, and brigadier general in the army of the Confederate States during the American Civil War.-Early life:...
led a raid that captured a Federal wagon train and netted approximately $1 million dollars worth of wagons, mules, commissary supplies, and other needed items.. Stand Watie also oversaw a massacre of black haycutters at Wagoner, Oklahoma during this raid. Union reports stated that Watie's Indian cavalry "killed all the Negroes they could find", even murdering wounded men..
During the war, General Watie's family and other Confederate Cherokee took refuge in Rusk and Smith counties of east Texas. Knowing their families were relatively secure at the Mount Tabor Community, also known as Bellview, Texas, enabled the warriors to stay out on campaigns. The Cherokee and allied warriors became a potent Confederate fighting force that kept Union troops out of southern Indian Territory and large parts of north Texas throughout the war.
On June 23, 1865, following the Battle of Doaksville
Battle of Doaksville
Brigadier General Stand Watie surrendered the last major Confederate army, which took place in the small town of Doaksville in Indian Territory on June 23, 1865. There was no battle.-External links:*...
, at Fort Towson
Fort 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 the Choctaw
Choctaw
The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...
Nation's area of the 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...
, Watie signed a cease-fire agreement with Union representatives for his command, the First Indian Brigade of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi
Army of the Trans-Mississippi
The Army of the Trans-Mississippi was the major Confederate field army for the Department of the Trans-Mississippi during the American Civil War...
. He was the last Confederate general in the field to surrender.
Tribal leadership
John Ross had signed an alliance with the Confederacy in 1861, but repudiated it two years later, reflecting the shifting support within the Cherokee Nation, although by then a majority favored the Confederacy. After he was captured by Union forces and ended up in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, Tom Pegg took over as principal chief of the pro-Union Cherokee. Following Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation is an executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War using his war powers. It proclaimed the freedom of 3.1 million of the nation's 4 million slaves, and immediately freed 50,000 of them, with nearly...
in January 1863, Pegg called a special session of the Cherokee National Council. On February 18, 1863, it passed a resolution to emancipate all slaves within the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation. Most of the "freed" slaves were held by masters who were part of the pro-Confederate Cherokee, so did not gain immediate freedom.
Stand Watie was elected principal chief of the pro-Confederate Cherokee, who increasingly outnumbered pro-Union elements. Ross' supporters, by then in the minority, refused to recognize his election. Open warfare broke out between the "Union Cherokee" and the "Confederate Cherokee" within Indian Territory. After the wider war ended, both factions sent delegations to Washington, DC. Watie pushed for recognition of a separate "Southern Cherokee Nation", but never achieved that.
The US government refused to recognize the divisions among the Cherokee, although there were critical differences. The Southerners wanted the government to pay to relocate the Cherokee Freedmen from their lands; the Northerners suggested adopting them into the tribe, but having the government giving them an exclusive piece of associated territory. The government went further, adding that the Cherokee Freedmen would receive full rights for citizenship, land, and annuities as the Cherokee. It assigned them land in the Canadian addition. In the treaty of 1866, the government declared John Ross as the rightful Principal Chief.
Open hostilities threatened the stability of the tribe over Ross's return and the treaty issues, but Ross died and a new chief was elected in 1867. The Cherokee Nation elected the full-blood Lewis Downing
Lewis Downing
Lewis Downing served as Chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1867 to 1872. After the death of John Ross, he was a compromise candidate who worked to heal divisions in the tribe following removal to the Indian Territory and the American Civil War.-Background:...
, a compromise candidate who proved to be a shrewd and politically savvy Principal Chief. He brought about reconciliation and reunification. As between the North and South, tensions lingered into the 20th century, but the Cherokee did not have the extended insurrection among pro-Confederate forces that occurred in the South.
Shortly after Downing's election, Watie returned to his home from exile in the Choctaw Nation, where he had gone after the treaty signing. He tried to rebuild his fortunes while staying out of politics. He died in 1871, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation.
In culture
Stand Watie is featured occasionally in Rifles for WatieRifles for Watie
Rifles for Watie is an American children's novel by Harold Keith. It was first published in 1957, and received the Newbery Medal the following year. Commonly shortened "Rifles", Rifles for Watie is written at an 8th grade advanced - 9th grade level....
, a novel by Harold Keith
Harold Keith
Harold Verne Keith was a Newbery Medal-winning American author. Keith was born and raised in Oklahoma, where he also lived and died: the state was his abiding passion. He used Oklahoma as the setting for most of his books, although Rifles for Watie takes place elsewhere.-Biography:Harold Keith...
. It is about a young Union soldier from Kansas, and his experiences with Watie and his people in Tahlequah
Tahlequah, Oklahoma
Tahlequah is a city in Cherokee County, Oklahoma, United States located at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. It was founded as a capital of the original Cherokee Nation in 1838 to welcome those Cherokee forced west on the Trail of Tears. The city's population was 15,753 at the 2010 census. It...
and in the surrounding areas.
The song "Coyotes," as recorded by Don Edwards
Don Edwards (cowboy singer)
Don Edwards is a cowboy singer and guitarist who plays Western music. He has recorded several albums, two of which, Guitars & Saddle Songs and Songs of the Cowboy, are included in the Folklore Archives of the Library of Congress...
, is an old cowboy's lament about things that have disappeared from the Old West
American Old West
The American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...
-- among them, Comanches
Comanche
The Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose historic range consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of northwest Texas. Historically, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers, with a typical Plains Indian...
, outlaws
Outlaw
In historical legal systems, an outlaw is declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, this takes the burden of active prosecution of a criminal from the authorities. Instead, the criminal is withdrawn all legal protection, so that anyone is legally empowered to persecute...
, longhorns
Texas longhorn (cattle)
The Texas Longhorn is a breed of cattle known for its characteristic horns, which can extend to tip to tip for steers and exceptional cows, and tip to tip for bulls. Horns can have a slight upward turn at their tips or even triple twist. Texas Longhorns are known for their diverse coloring...
, Geronimo
Geronimo
Geronimo was a prominent Native American leader of the Chiricahua Apache who fought against Mexico and the United States for their expansion into Apache tribal lands for several decades during the Apache Wars. Allegedly, "Geronimo" was the name given to him during a Mexican incident...
, the red wolf
Red Wolf
The red wolf is a North American canid which once roamed throughout the Southeastern United States and is a glacial period survivor of the Late Pleistocene epoch...
, and Stand Watie.
See also
- Nimrod Jarrett Smith
- Elias BoudinotElias BoudinotElias Boudinot was a lawyer and statesman from Elizabeth, New Jersey who was a delegate to the Continental Congress and a U.S. Congressman for New Jersey...
- Major RidgeMajor RidgeMajor Ridge, The Ridge was a Cherokee Indian member of the tribal council, a lawmaker, and a leader. He was a veteran of the Chickamauga Wars, the Creek War, and the First Seminole War.Along with Charles R...
- Treaty of New EchotaTreaty of New EchotaThe Treaty of New Echota was a treaty signed on December 29, 1835, in New Echota, Georgia by officials of the United States government and representatives of a minority Cherokee political faction, known as the Treaty Party...
Additional reading
- Cottrell, Steve. Civil War in Indian Territory. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing, 1998.
- Cunningham, Frank. General Stand Watie's Confederate Indians. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998.
- Franks, Kenny A. Stand Watie and the Agony of the Cherokee Nation. Memphis, TN: Memphis State University Press, 1979.
- McLoughlin, William G.William G. McLoughlinWilliam Gerald McLoughlin was an historian and prominent member of the history department at Brown University from 1954 to 1992. His subject areas were the history of religion in the United States, revivalism, the Cherokee, missionaries to Native Americans, abolitionism, and Rhode Island.Born in...
Cherokee Renascence in the New Republic. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992. - Wilkins, Thurman. Cherokee Tragedy: The Ridge Family and the Decimation of a People. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1986. ISBN 0-8061-2188-2
External links
- Paul Ridenour, "Stand Watie and Elias Boudinot Family (Sons of David Oo-wa-tie)", Paul Ridenour Website