Stand Watie Stand Watie ( December 12 , 1806 – September 9 , 1871 ; also known as Standhope Uwatie , Degataga ( ) , meaning " 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 , and was the final Confederate general in the field to surrender at war ' s end . Prior to removal of the Cherokee to Indian Territory in the late 1830s , Watie and his older brother Elias Boudinot were among leaders who signed the Treaty of New Echota in 1835 . The majority of the tribe opposed their action . In 1839 the brothers were attacked in an assassination attempt , as were other relatives active in the Treaty Party . All but Stand Watie were killed . Watie in 1842 killed one of his uncle ' s attackers , and in 1845 his brother Thomas Watie was killed in retaliation , in the continuing cycle of violence . Watie was acquitted at trial in the 1850s on the grounds of self - defense . During the American Civil War and soon after , Watie served as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation ( 1862 – 1866 ) . By then , the majority of the tribe supported the Confederacy . A minority supported the Union and refused to ratify his election . The former chief John Ross , a Union supporter , was captured in 1862 by Union forces . Watie led the Southern Cherokee delegation to Washington after the war to sue for peace , hoping to have tribal divisions recognized . The US government negotiated only with the leaders who had sided with the Union , and named John Ross as principal chief in 1866 under a new treaty . Watie stayed out of politics for his last years , and tried to rebuild his plantation . Early life . Watie was born in Oothcaloga , Cherokee Nation ( now Calhoun , Georgia ) on December 12 , 1806 , the son of " Uwatie " ( Cherokee for " the ancient one " ) , a full - blood Cherokee , and Susanna Reese , daughter of a white father and Cherokee mother . He was named " Degataga " . According to one biography , this name meant " standing firm " when translated to English . He combined his Cherokee and English names into Stand Watie . His brothers were " Gallagina " , nicknamed " Buck " ( who later took the name Elias Boudinot ) ; and Thomas Watie . They were close to their paternal uncle Major Ridge , and his son John Ridge , both later leaders in the tribe . By 1827 , their father David Uwatie had become a wealthy planter , who held African - American slaves as laborers . After " Uwatie " converted to Christianity with the Moravians , he took the name of David Uwatie ; he and Susanna renamed " Degataga " as Isaac . In his life , Degataga preferred to use a form of the English translation of his Cherokee name , " Stand Firm . " Later , the family dropped the " U " from the spelling of their surname , using " Watie . " Along with his two brothers and sisters , Stand Watie learned to read and write English at the Moravian mission school in Spring Place , Cherokee Nation ( now Georgia ) . Adult life . Stand Watie occasionally helped write articles for the " Cherokee Phoenix " newspaper , for which his older brother Elias served as editor from 1828 - 1832 . The first Native American newspaper , the " Phoenix " published articles in both Cherokee and English . Watie became involved in the dispute over Georgia ' s repressive anti - Indian laws . After gold was discovered on Cherokee lands in northern Georgia , thousands of white settlers encroached on Indian lands . There was continuing conflict , and Congress passed the 1830 Indian Removal Act , to relocate all Indians from the Southeast , to lands west of the Mississippi River . In 1832 Georgia confiscated most of the Cherokee land , despite federal laws to protect Native Americans from state actions . The state sent militia to destroy the offices and press of the " Cherokee Phoenix " , which had published articles against Indian Removal . Believing that removal was inevitable , the Watie brothers favored securing Cherokee rights by treaty before relocating to Indian Territory . They were among the Treaty Party leaders who signed the 1835 Treaty of New Echota . The majority of the Cherokee opposed removal , and the Tribal Council and Chief John Ross , of the National Party , refused to ratify the treaty . One source states that Stand Watie married four women : Eleanor Looney , Elizabeth Fields , Isabella Hicks , and Sarah Caroline Bell . His child with Elizabeth Fields was stillborn in 1836 . He and Sarah Bell married in 1842 . They had three sons and two daughters , but there were no grandchildren . Early years in Indian Territory . In 1835 , Watie , his family , and many other Cherokee emigrated to Indian Territory ( eastern present - day Oklahoma ) . They joined some Cherokee who had relocated as early as the 1820s and were known as the " Old Settlers " . Those Cherokee who remained on tribal lands in the East were rounded up and forcibly removed by the U . S . government in 1838 . Their journey , on which they took their slaves , became known as the " Trail of Tears , " as 4 , 000 people died . After removal , members of the National Party targeted Treaty Party men for assassination ; their giving up tribal lands was considered a " blood " or capital offense . Stand Watie , his brother Elias Boudinot , their uncle Major Ridge and cousin John Ridge , along with several other Treaty Party men , were attacked . Those four men named were all attacked on 22 June 1839 ; only Stand Watie survived . He arranged for his brother Elias ' children to be sent for their safety and education to their mother ' s family in Connecticut ; their mother Harriet had died in 1836 before the migration . In 1842 Watie encountered James Foreman , whom he recognized as one of his uncle ' s assassins , and shot him dead . This was part of the post - Removal violence within the tribe , which was close to civil war for years . Ross partisans killed Stand ' s brother Thomas Watie in 1845 . At least 34 politically related murders were committed among the Cherokee in 1845 and 1846 . In the 1850s Stand Watie was tried in Arkansas for the murder of Foreman ; he was acquitted on the grounds of self - defense . His nephew Elias Cornelius Boudinot , who had returned to the West and become a lawyer , defended him . Watie , a slave holder , developed a successful plantation on Spavinaw Creek in the Indian Territory . He served on the Cherokee Council from 1845 to 1861 , and part of the time served as Speaker . After John Ross fled to Federal - controlled territory in 1862 , Watie replaced Ross as principal chief . Civil War service . 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 , a Seneca who fought on the Union side . After a majority of the Cherokee Nation voted to support the Confederacy in the American Civil War , Watie organized a regiment of cavalry . In October 1861 , he was commissioned as colonel in the 1st 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 , Seminole and others in Indian Territory who chose to support the Union . Watie is noted for his role in the Battle of Pea Ridge , Arkansas , on March 6 – 8 , 1862 . Under the overall command of General Benjamin McCulloch , Watie ' s troops captured Union artillery positions and covered the retreat of Confederate forces from the battlefield after the Union took control . However , many of the Cherokees who had joined Colonel John Drew ' s regiment defected to the Union Side . Drew , a nephew of Chief Ross , remained loyal to the Confederacy . In August 1862 , after John Ross and his followers announced their support for the Union , went to Fort Leavenworth , the remaining Southern Confederates elected Stand Watie as principal chief . 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 in 1864 . He commanded the First Indian Brigade of the Army of the Trans - Mississippi , 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 took part in what is considered to be the greatest ( and most famous ) Confederate victory in Indian Territory , the Second Battle of Cabin Creek , which took place in what is now Mayes County , Oklahoma on September 19 , 1864 . He and General Richard Montgomery Gano led a raid that captured a Federal wagon train and netted approximately $ 1 million worth of wagons , mules , commissary supplies , and other needed items . Stand Watie ' s forces massacred black haycutters at Wagoner , Oklahoma during this raid . Union reports said that Watie ' s Indian cavalry " killed all the Negroes they could find " , including wounded men . During the war , General Watie ' s family and other Confederate Cherokee took refuge in Rusk and Smith counties of east Texas . Knowing their families were relatively secure at the Mount Tabor Community , later known as Bellview , Texas , enabled the warriors to stay out on campaigns . The Cherokee and allied warriors became a potent Confederate fighting force that kept Union troops out of southern Indian Territory and large parts of north Texas throughout the war . On June 23 , 1865 , at Doaksville in the Choctaw Nation , Watie signed a cease - fire agreement with Union representatives for his command , the First Indian Brigade of the Army of the Trans - Mississippi . He was the last Confederate general in the field to surrender . In September 1865 , after his surrender , Watie went to Texas to see his wife Sallie and to mourn the death of their son , Comisky , who had died at age 15 . After the war , Watie was a member of the Cherokee Delegation to the Southern Treaty Commission which renegotiated treaties with the United States . Tribal leadership . John Ross had signed an alliance with the Confederacy in 1861 , but repudiated it two years later . He reflected the shifting support within the Cherokee Nation , although by then a majority favored the Confederacy . After he was captured by Union forces and ended up in Washington , D . C . , Tom Pegg took over as principal chief of the pro - Union Cherokee . Following Lincoln ' s Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863 , Pegg called a special session of the Cherokee National Council . On February 18 , 1863 , it passed a resolution to emancipate all slaves within the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation . Most of the " freed " slaves were held by masters who were part of the pro - Confederate Cherokee , so they did not gain immediate freedom . Stand Watie was elected principal chief of the pro - Confederate Cherokee , who increasingly outnumbered pro - Union elements . Ross ' supporters , by then in the minority , refused to recognize his election . Open warfare broke out between the " Union Cherokee " and the " Confederate Cherokee " within Indian Territory . After the Civil War ended , both factions sent delegations to Washington , DC . Watie pushed for recognition of a separate " Southern Cherokee Nation " , but never achieved that . The US government refused to recognize the divisions among the Cherokee . As part of the new treaty , it required the Cherokee free their slaves . The Southern Cherokee wanted the government to pay to relocate the Cherokee Freedmen from their lands . The Northern Cherokee suggested adopting them into the tribe , but wanted the federal government to give the Freedman an exclusive piece of associated territory . The federal government required that the Cherokee Freedmen would receive full rights for citizenship , land , and annuities as the Cherokee . It assigned them land in the Canadian addition . In the treaty of 1866 , the government declared John Ross as the rightful Principal Chief . The tribe was strongly divided over the treaty issues and return of Ross . He died in 1867 and a new chief was elected , Lewis Downing , a full - blood and compromise candidate . He was a shrewd and politically savvy Principal Chief , bringing about reconciliation and reunification among the Cherokee . Tensions lingered into the 20th century , but the Cherokee did not have the extended insurrection among pro - Confederate forces that occurred in the South . Shortly after Downing ' s election , Watie returned to the nation . After the treaty signing , he had gone into exile in the Choctaw Nation . He tried to stay out of politics and rebuild his fortunes . He returned to Honey Creek , where he died on September 9 , 1871 . He was buried in the old Ridge Cemetery , later called Polson ' s Cemetery , in what is now Delaware County , Oklahoma , on September 9 , 1871 . He was a citizen of the Cherokee Nation .