INDIANS

 

The Forgotten Riders of the Confederacy

 

 

          One of the least known aspects of the War Between the States is the participation of native American Indians who allied themselves on the side of the Confederacy.  Many comprehensive histories do not even mention these soldiers, and if so, relegate their role to that of irregular raiders.  Yet regular units of Confederate cavalry made up of Indians, fought with distinction throughout the war.            

  There are several reasons why these units have been relegated to the dustbin of history.  The First and most obvious, is that they fought on the losing side.  Also, Their activities were confined,  ( for the most part ) to the Indian Territories, such as todays Oklahoma.  And finally, the engagements they fought in the West were not suffieciently notable to affect the outcome of the war

The most enduring names among these all-but-unknowns were those of Stand Waite, A Cherokee,  John Jumper, A Seminole and Samuel Checote, A Creek.  To properly understand who these men were and why they chose to align themselves with the Confederate States cause, we must turn momentarily to the very early history of the United States.

While the original States were forging a federal union, a simular path was being followed in the South, mostly in Georgia, but by Native peoples, not whites.   American Indians known as the Five Civilized Tribes were forming Nations.  They were the Cherokee, the Seminole, the Creek, the Choctaw and the Chickasaw.  The best organized were the Cherokee, who developed their own written language, set up schools, and emplaced their own government and court system, their own Nation within a Nation.  Hence the term "Civilized Nations."

Unfortunatly for the Cherokee and the other civilized tribes, they did too well.  In the mid-18th century, following the defeat of Scotland by England, many Scots migrated to America.  Large numbers of them were welcomed into the Cherokee Nation.  A good manyof these Scots came from Northern Ireland, which had been populated with them by Oliver Cromwell as a means of thwarting Irish independence.  These Scots carried with them the deceptive bybrid title Scots-Irish.  This misnomer was compounded by thier becoming known as Scotch-Irish, although the later comes in a bottle and not in a kilt.

There was conciderable intermarriage, resultiong in a hard-working, properous people, who, in their daily lives, were much more comparible to European Southerners than to the Plains or "Wild" Indians so familuar to American Lore.  Waite himself was a wealthy planter and slave owner, as were a number of his fellow civilized Indians.

However, the five civilized tribes fell victim to the doctrine, or inevitability, of Manifest Destiny.  There were Greedy Americans who could not stand the fact that Indians  (or "Breeds" as the many of mixed blood were referred to) were doing so well; making a good deal of money and acting and living in the manner of Southern Gentry.

As a consequence, Georgia began to enact laws which would make life intolerable for the South's Tribes.  At the same time, the Indians were told that, if they moved to Oklahoma, they would be paid for their land and would be able to reestablish themselves far from the interference of the white man.

The leader of the Cherokee "half breeds",  who favoured collecting the money and moving, was Waite.  His rivil for control of the Cherokee Nation and the leader of the "Pure Bloods" was Chief John Ross.  One assumes he aquirred the Scottish name of Ross out of fancy. Ross favored sticking it out.  During the 1820's, theCherokee had taken Georgia to court a number of times.  In 1832 one of the most interesting - and little known - tests of the Constitution's system of checks and balances.

The supreme court of the United States ruled that Georgia ( and by extension, The United States) was wrong, and that laws restrictive of the Civilized Nations were unconstitutional.  To this an angry President Andrew Jackson stated: "[Chief Justice] John Marshal has made his decision, now let him enforce it."

In 1838  Jackson sent Gen. Winfield Scott into civilized Nations to forcibly relocate the Indians to Oklahoma.  This passage became know as the "Trail of Tears."  From 19th century dramatists to 20th century Hollywood, the average American has retained a picture of thousands of poor, starving and threadbare Indians walking from Georgia to Oklahoma, prodded by the U.S. Cavalry.

Certainly the move was hard on a number of Indians.  A number died during the trek.  But, what is less known is that a great deal of money was paid to many Indians.  Just how much was paid out and who recieved what is arguable.  It is known that those who had been wealthy land owners, and slave holders in Georgia resumed their status in Oklahoma.

 

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