Chapter 17

CIVIL WAR 1861 TO 1875

The opening salvos of the American Civil War sounded no less ominous to the American Indian Tribes than it did to the men who were destined to fight for the Union or the Confederacy. Tens of thousands of Indian warriors served on both sides of the American Civil War for reasons related more to their own Tribal concerns than in similar beliefs in tune with one side or the other. Some of the Indian tribes were economically dependent on the practice of slaveholding and they found common cause with the goals of the Confederacy. Other tribes were convinced the Union would come out on top in the fighting and they supported the Union cause to protect their own freedom, unique culture and ownership of hunting lands in their families for generations.

The American Civil War divided American families and it also divided American Indian Tribal nations and Confederacies that had lasted for many centuries.

There were Indian warriors participating in almost every major battle of the Civil War acting as scouts and even performing small raids into enemy territory to sever lines of communication and supply.

The Delaware Indian Tribe had generally sided with the American government ever since the time of the American Revolution and when the Civil War started they declared their loyalty to the Union cause even though the entire tribe had been removed from their lands to the Indian Territory in Oklahoma long before the war started. In fact, the vast majority of Indian Tribes joined forces with the Union Army and the most notable exceptions were a minority portion of the Cherokee Tribe, and the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, Catawba and Creek tribes all fighting for the Confederate Army. Some elements of the tribes split and fought on both sides.

While the fighting locales shifted with the changing strategies of the war, The American Indian Tribes fought mostly in the areas to which they had been relocated, The American West. In some cases, the Indians were constituted in a separate unit and retained as a special fighting element to support a specific battle or objective. Strangely, they were treated in the same way the black recruits were treated and generally referred to as "Colored Units". In many instances, the blacks and the Indians fighting for the Confederate Army were treated more as equals than the blacks and the Indians fighting for the Union. The composition of the opposing forces was further complicated by the fact that many of the fighters for the north were either conscripted against their will or were "Substitute" fighters enlisted to fight in the place of a Northern male whose family decided it was better to risk the shame of not fighting and send a financially challenged immigrant or pauper in their place. Of course, any white male with political connections or financial resources would be awarded a commission as a favor for their support regardless of the level of their military expertise. The battlefield had a way of sorting it all out and the survivors all became battle-tested and ready for the next engagement with an entirely new attitude.

An example would be a well-known battle that took place in what was known as Indian Territory in the summer of 1863. It was called the "Battle of Cabin Creek" and the locale was near current day Oklahoma. The First Kansas Colored Infantry under the command of the renegade Confederate General Stand Watie fought to a draw without a major victory for either side. The following year, a "Second Battle of Cabin Creek" was fought with a large force of Indians once again under the command of General Stand Watie fighting for the Confederate cause and they defeated the Union forces.

The 79th U.S. Colored Infantry fighting for the Union Army engaged the rebel forces in the region of Arkansas with vicious conflicts in the 1863-64 period.

Native American Indian Cavalry drove the Confederate forces from Indian Territory in 1862 defeating rebel infantry units attempting to take over the control of Indian affairs. The Delaware Tribe was involved in this fighting.

It was the fact that early Confederate victories at the beginning of the American Civil War caused a number of American Indian warriors to seriously consider fighting on the Confederate side because it looked like they were the better fighters. Fortunately, a number of the tribes stayed neutral before eventually joining the Union forces when the outcome seemed a lot more certain after the battles of Gettysburg and the Mississippi Campaign. The Cherokee Nation split and internal fighting was rampant. In the case of the Cherokee, they eventually sided with the Confederate forces in exchange for a promise of protection from the Union Army. The Cherokee formed almost a dozen companies of mounted fighters to protect Indian Territory but did not engage in any major engagements.

The Confederate cavalry force of the Second Cherokee Mounted Rifles fought the Union Army at the "Battle of Pea Ridge" in Arkansas in 1862. After that battle, the Cherokee troops switched sides and joined the Union Army forces in what is now the State of Kansas. They became known as the Indian Home Guard, a sort of National Guard for that area. The entire area of Kansas-Missouri was notorious for the Guerilla style fighting that often made civilians the victims and seldom fought the pitched battles of the war like those in the regions further east where mass slaughter took place with the use of Gatling guns and Artillery.

In the early part of the American Civil War, Stand Watie, then a Colonel was chosen principal chief of the Cherokee Nation. In one of the odd facts of the American Indian Tribes involvement in the American Civil War, Chief Stand Watie seems to be from an unbiased perspective the most successful and resourceful Cavalry officer on either side and there were some good Cavalry officers in both the Union and the Confederate Armies. I can only conclude he was omitted from the history books because he was both an Indian and on the losing side. He can be described as a thoughtful political thinker and skilled in all types of warfare without benefit of any schooling. His first move as the main chief of the Cherokee Nation was to draft all males over the age of 18 into the Confederate Army. He had made his decision early and stuck with it through the entire period of the Civil War.

Stand Watie was promoted to the rank of General in May 1864. The combination of his position of leadership in the Cherokee Nation and the fact that the other tribes were willing to follow his leadership made his units valuable military assets to the Confederacy. The hit-and-run tactics that he employed were particularly well suited to the Indian style of fighting and very little training was necessary since the warriors had been practicing these tactics from childhood. He was considered a superior cavalry officer by both sides and there was no doubt he was a genius in the art of unconventional fighting. The Union Army considered him a major threat to their lines of communication and supply and would often assemble large forces to flush him out of hiding but he never took the bait.

In the open area west of the Mississippi River Valley Basin, he was thought to be the most successful field commander and his units were well-disciplined and aggressive. When he was promoted to the rank of General in 1864, he commanded a large strike force comprised of the First and Second Cherokee Indian Cavalry Battalions and he also assembled additional Battalions of Creek, Seminole and Osage Indian Tribes who followed his orders without question.

In a series of brilliant moves, he interdicted the wagon routes of supply into Indian Territory and harassed the Union Army moves to reinforce their sparse forces. Additionally, he captured and looted several Union Army transport steamboats using the waterways to give their troops logistical support. General Grant considered him a dangerous opponent and recognized his presence behind the Union lines caused the Union Army to tie up tens of thousands of troops needed elsewhere.

General Stand Watie was the last Confederate General to lay down his arms and surrender and he did so reluctantly hoping to the last that some of the Confederate forces would join him in continuing to fight the encroachment of the Union Army into the western territory. His Cherokee name can be translated as "Stands Firm".

The Catawba Indian Tribe was heavily involved in the American Civil War. It can be stated that nearly all Catawba warriors served the Confederacy in units of the Fifth, Twelfth, and Seventeenth South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment of the Army of Northern Virginia. These Indian warriors were present in the battles of Manassas, Antietam, and the entire Peninsula Campaign. They also served in the defenses around the headquarters in Petersburg, Virginia. It is a sad fact that their sacrifices for their home State resulted in devastating numbers of killed and wounded and the life force of the Catawba Tribe was close to extinction.

All throughout the scene of fighting in the American Civil War, the Indian Tribes served honorably on both sides. They piloted Union ships down treacherous waterways, and made daring raids on enemy forces behind enemy lines. They were designated "sharpshooters" and served as snipers for both sides.

It is a matter of historical fact that the Indians were referred to as "colored" just like the black troops involved in the fighting. It is not likely that the designation was intended as anything other than descriptive for recording purposes and was not the result of some form of prejudice against the unit.

Probably the most famous American Indian Tribe unit in the Union Army was the well-known "Company K of the First Michigan Sharpshooters". This entirely Indian component was comprised of warriors from the Ottawa, Huron, Delaware, Oneida, Ojibwa, and Potowami Tribes. They served under the command of General of the Army U.S. Grant and were recognized for bravery at the "Battle of the Wilderness" and "Spotsylvania". Their unit captured close to a thousand Confederate troops in Virginia. Unfortunately, they were surrounded and low on ammunition at the "Battle of the Crater" and they were decimated and died with honor.

While some historians reported that General Stand Watie was the only Indian to reach the rank of General in the American Civil War, it must be noted that the Union Army boasted an Indian General of their own called General Ely S. Parker. General Parker was both a lawyer and a member of the Seneca Indian Tribe. He was the one who wrote the terms of surrender for General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Courthouse at the end of the war. He was a special assistant to General U.S. Grant and had at one time been refused military service because of his Indian heritage.

The Cherokee Nation was affected negatively by the American Civil War. The nation was split in two factions and the population figures dropped almost thirty percent as a result of casualties sustained in the fighting. Despite the promises to pardon all Indians fighting for the Confederacy, the Federal Government considered the entire Cherokee Nation as enemies and revoked most of their rights as citizens.

The American Indian Tribes had the objective of closer relations with the American Government after the war was concluded. It was their hope that their loyalty and service would curtail the discrimination against the American Indian Tribes and stop the government from the program of "Relocation" to the Indian Territories in the west. However, as the "carpetbaggers" moved south to extract reparations from the southern States, and the blacks were fully emancipated, the Indians received the brunt of a policy of relocation, removal, and eventual extermination of the American Indian Tribes as threat to the concept of "manifest destiny".