Stand Watie (December 12, 1806 – September 9, 1871) (also known as Standhope Oowatie, Degataga “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. He also served as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation 1862-1866.
Watie was one of only two Native Americans on either side of the Civil War to rise to a brigadier general’s rank. The other was Ely S. Parker, an Seneca who fought on the Union side.[1]
After Chief John Ross and the Cherokee Council decided to support the Confederacy, Watie organized a regiment of cavalry. In October 1861, he was commissioned as colonel in the First 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 and Seminole and others who chose to support the Union. Watie is noted for his role in the Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, a Union victory, on March 6–8, 1862. Watie’s troops captured Union artillery positions and covered the retreat of Confederate forces from the battlefield.
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 was given the command of the First Indian Brigade, 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 was also a participant in what is considered to be the greatest Confederate victory in Indian Territory, which took place at Cabin Creek during mid-September, 1864, where he and General Richard Montgomery Gano led a raid that captured a Federal wagon train and netted approximately one million dollars worth of wagons, mules, commisary supplies, and other needed items.[2]
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