Cherokee History to the Trail of Tears
Cherokee Removal Forts-Trail of Tears
Before the outbreak of the Civil War the position of the Cherokees was unique. They were reported as capable of making treaties with the United States; they negotiated directly with special United States agents, with various departments of the Federal government and with Congress; no state occupied such a position.
Moreover, the strategic location of the Cherokee nation made it peculiarly difficult for the Cherokees as a whole to join either the North or the South. Cherokee History for three quarters of a century were filled with complexities; both domestic and those arising from Federal relations. Domestic problems, for a score of years preceding the Civil War, demanded the attention of the nations most capable men. When those problems were brought near solution the Indians were forced into that struggle between the states which was no quarrel of their own.
The Choctaw Nation
In 1830 the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek provided that the Choctaws give up their land in the east and remove to Indian Territory. The Choctaws were the first to give up all their lands and move enmass to Indian Territory. The period of removal was during the fall and winter seasons of three years, beginning in 1831-32. The tribe traveled in large companies of five hundred to a thousand under the supervision of army officers and removal agents. Many Choctawas died along the way and were buried where they died. The journey was also called by the Choctaw as 'The Trail of Tears'.
Commanders and Units |
Brig. General Stand Watie's Indian Cavalry Brigade
Colonel (later General) Douglas H. Cooper , the former Choctaw Indian agent from Mississippi, had assembled a formidable Indian force of 1,400 mounted men in the fall of 1861.
Stand Watie b. 12 Dec 1806 at the Cherokee town of Oothcaloga, near present day Rome, GA. His Indian name was Degadoga, He Stands (on Two Feet). His christian name was Issac S. Watie, and he soon dropped his christian name and became known as Stand Watie. His father was David Oowatie and his mother was Susanna Reese, a white woman. He had two brother's. Buck Oowatie, who later became known as Elias Boudinot, and was the Editor of the Cherokee newspaper, The Cherokee Phoenix His younger brother was Thomas Oowatie.
The Watie family had large landholdings and ran a profitable ferry service on the Hightower River. The family were members of the famous Ridge family that dominated Cherokee politics in the 1820's and 1830's. As early as 1828, Watie served as clerk of the Cherokee Supreme Court, and for more than forty years as a praticing attorney within the Cherokee Nation.
In October, 1861, Watie recieved a commission as a colonel in the army of the Confederacy. He joined forces with General Ben McCulloch's Texas Cavalry to raise a force to protect the Indian Territory from Federal invasion by Kansas jayhawkers. The fall of 1861, confederates under the command of Colonel (later General) Douglas H. Cooper, the former Choctaw Indian agent from Mississippi, had assembled a formidable Indian force of 1,400 mounted men. This cavalry unit included six companies of Cooper's Choctaw and Chickasaw regiment, Colonel Daniel McIntosh's Creek regiment, Lieutenant Chilly McIntosh's and Major John Jumper's mixed battalion of Creeks and Seminoles. These forces were supported by the five hundred white soldiers of the 9th Texas Cavalry.
General Stand Watie was greatly respected as a daring military master and strategist by the Union Generals . In 1864 Watie was in command of the Indian Cavalry Brigade. The Brigade was composed of the First and Second Cherokee Cavalry, the Creek Squadron, the Osage Battalion, and the Seminole Battalion. Headquarted south of the Canadian River Watie sent squads to raid and plunder the Federal details around Fort Gibson. On June 10, 1864, his forces captured the stern wheeler 'J.P. Williams' laden with supplies and goods worth approximently 1.5 million dollars. He was promoted to Brigidier General. On September 19, 1864 his forces were victorious at the second battle of Cabin Creek. General Stand Watie was the last Confederate General to surrender after the Civil War at Doaksville, Indian Territory on June 23 1865.Genealogy of the Family of Stand Watie.
After the Civil War families of many Confederate Indians who served Gen. Watie fled into north Texas and Arkansas some returned to the Nation years later.
Related Sites Of Interest :::
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I will be adding more information relating to the Civil War in Indian Territory that will be based on my Huff and Smith Families who lived in Texas, Arkansas and Geogria prior to the Civil War and eventually moved to Indian Territory after the Civil War. Their roots were originally in northwest Georgia and the story gained from my research protrays families on the move ten years before the Civil War. Their part in the war and their lives after the war. Visit these links on my genealogy sites: Huff and Smith.
Updated: 20 June 2009