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Cherokee and The Civil War

On May 28, 1830, the Indian Removal Act was signed into law by Andrew Jackson. It authorized the president to grant land west of the Mississippi in exchange for the Indian land within the existing states borders.

Many Cherokee chose to side with the Confederacy because of a promise of representation at the Confederate Congress in Richmond, Virginia. Some joined the Union in an attempt to save the lands they still possessed in the North. Around 30,000 Native Americans joined the fight during the Civil War. In the North, they were integrated among white and colored soldiers. In the South, they served among the white and Native American commanders. They were not as well-equipped as the white soldiers, but their warrior skills were admired by all.

June 23rd, 1865 - It is three months after the Virginia blockade was broken and the Confederate Capitol in Richmond has fallen. It is two months after the two armies signed the terms of surrender at Appomattox, Virginia. Stand Waite, a brilliant Cherokee leader and tactician, appears at Fort Townsend, Oklahoma. Waite was the highest ranking Native American in the Confederate Army, and was the last Confederate General to surrender. He was going to surrender only under his own terms. As part of his surrender in 1866, he made the government promise that the property of the Cherokee will be free from encroachment, even property of those that fought for the Confederacy.

The Cherokee Removal created a civil war within a civil war as the Cherokee Nation was fractured into pieces. In 1835, John Ross refused to relocate the tribe, while the rest saw their relocation as inevitable. A group of Cherokee signed an unauthorized treaty at Echota and the family of Stand Waite were present. Ross' group got left behind, but were later forced off their land at gunpoint.

The Trail of Tears took two routes - a land and a water route. The forced march was over a thousand miles. John Ross's wife along with over 4,000 Cherokees die on the journey.

Many sought revenge on those who signed the treaty through the Cherokee Blood Law. Stand Waite and his relatives were marked for death. On June 22nd, 1839 his brother, uncle, and cousin were murdered. Waite was warned of the plot ahead of time and he escaped. Waite led series of attacks against the Ross party. Those who signed the treaty were assassinated by those who didn't sign. The family of those who were assassinated then sought revenge. This led to bad blood between the Cherokees, and that hatred still exists today.

In 1846, the US tried to halt the ongoing Indian violence through use of peace-keeping troops at Fort Gibson. At Gibson, the two sides were compelled to end the fighting. John Ross' status as Principal Chief was affirmed and the Nation became one again (but only on the surface). The start of the Civil War would immediately reopen the wounds as the Cherokee were pressured to take sides. Stand Waite saw the Civil War as a chance to take back the Cherokee Nation from John Ross.

During the summer of 1862, the Union forces return to the Indian Territory to retake Fort Gibson. Three days after Fort Gibson is recaptured, Ross approaches them to seek a deal.

Waite joins the Confederacy, so John Ross is sent to Fort Scott, Kansas for protection. Ross later goes to Washington, DC where he spends the rest of the war pleading the Cherokee cause to the federal government.

Waite creates a horse mounted rifle unit of the Army which sees fierce battle around the Indian Territory. In 1861 at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, Missouri he was made colonel of the Confederate Army. He was almost captured twice (at Cowskin Prarie and at Fort Wayne) and so he decides not to participate in any more conventional war tactics.

Waite tightens down on the supply lines to the enemy ports. Over ninety battles take place in Indian Territory. Waite keeps the Union troops entangled in the West in order to draw the their troops away from battles in the East.

In the summer of 1864, Brigadier General Waite learns from a prisoner of war that a Union supply train is going from Fort Scott to Fort Gibson. The train consisted of 300 wagons carrying over a million dollars of supplies.

Waite knows the route they will take, so he teams up with Texas Brigadier General Richard Gano. On September 18th, they gather 2,000 troops (1/2 were white & 1/2 were Cherokee) at the high bluffs around Cabin Creek to prepare for the attack.

At nightfall, they approach the wagon train guarded by 460 well-armed troops. Waite attacks from the West, while Gano attacks from the East. Cabin Creek served as their third flank.

Their first attack is against the mules which causes a huge stampede. As the sleeping troops awaken to the chaos, they have no way to move their wagons out of the line of fire. Over 160 federal troops were killed / wounded with only 45 Confederate dead. Waite's group load up everything they can and then they burn the remaining supplies.

As the Confederate forces are taking over the Indian Territory, in the East, William Tecumseh Sherman reaches Atlanta. The victory in the west is not enough to save the war from the losses in the east. Waite is shocked to hear of the Confederate struggle in the east. All of the progress in the Indian Territory was made by the Cherokee warriors.

Between 1889 and 1906 the promised Indian Territory is given away to new settlers in land lotteries held by the federal government.

John Ross dies in Washington in 1866 while on a self-imposed exile from the Cherokee Nation. Waite eventually loses his wealth and most of his family, only being survived by his daughters by 2 years.

The rift between the Cherokee still exists today with an Eastern Band in North Carolina and a Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma.

Reference: Indian Warriors - The Untold Story of the Civil War