page_title: Cherokee military history
section_title: Western bands
hierarchical_section_title: Cherokee military history / American Civil War / Western bands
caption_attribution_description: ᏣᎳᎩ: ᎦᏙᎬ ᏕᎦᏔᎦEnglish: Isaac Stand Watie Degataga. Note: The Cherokee chief Stand Watie was the last Confederate general to surrender in the Civil War.
context_page_description: The Cherokee people of the southeastern United States, and later Oklahoma and surrounding areas, have a long military history. Since European contact, Cherokee military activity has been documented in European records. Cherokee tribes and bands had a number of conflicts during the 18th century with European colonizing forces, primarily the English. The Eastern Band and Cherokees from the Indian Territory fought in the American Civil War, with bands allying with the Union or the Confederacy. Because many Cherokees allied with the Confederacy, the United States government required a new treaty with the nation after the war. Cherokees have also served in the United States military during the 20th and 21st centuries.
context_section_description: The Civil War was devastating for the Western Cherokee, who fought on both sides. After their forced removal from their southern homelands to the Indian Territory, the Cherokee were wary of the south; however, the Confederacy wooed them with promises of autonomy and land security. In 1861 the Confederacy had three regiments of Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek and Seminole soldiers, who fought in the 1862 Battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas.
  Because of Native alliances with the Confederacy, the 10th Regiment Kansas Volunteer Infantry (5,000 Union soldiers commanded by Colonel William Weer) swept through the Indian Territory in the summer of 1862. They fought the Confederacy at Locust Grove in the Cherokee Nation on July 2, 1862. On July 16 Captain Greeno's 6th Kansas Cavalry captured Tahlequah, the Cherokee Nation capital. On July 19 Colonel Jewell's 6th Kansas Cavalry captured Fort Gibson, a strategic port.
  Cherokees, Muscogee Creeks, and Seminoles joined Union regiments organized by William A. Phillips of Kansas. They fought in Missouri, Arkansas and at Honey Springs and Perryville in the Cherokee Nation. Most Cherokee traditionalists supported the abolition of slavery, opposed the South and formed an association known as the Pin Indians, identifying themselves with a pair of crossed pins under their coat lapels.
  Principal Chief John Ross tried to keep the Cherokee Nation out of the war, issuing a proclamation of neutrality in 1861. Stand Watie, who supported the Confederacy, challenged Ross' authority. On May 21 of that year, the Cherokee held a council attended by over 4,000 men. Most who were present supported the South, and Ross conceded to maintain tribal unity. The South seemed to be winning the war at the time, and Union politicians voiced anti-Indian sentiments. In October 1861, Ross signed a treaty with the Confederate States of America. Union troops captured him during the summer of 1862; he was paroled, and spent the rest of the war in Washington and Philadelphia working to convince the Cherokee Nation government to remain loyal to the Union.
  In 1863 the Cherokee Nation abolished slavery, emancipating all Cherokee slaves. Because the Nation allied with the Confederacy, the US government required a new treaty. The treaty stipulated that Cherokee freedmen must be accepted by the tribe as full members, as their counterparts became citizens of the United States throughout the South. On June 23, 1865, Brigadier General (and Cherokee leader) Stand Watie was the last Confederate general to surrender.
caption: Stand Watie
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