Indians in the Civil War

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INDIANS IN THE CIVIL WAR

INDIANS IN THE CIVIL WAR. American Indians who fought in the Civil War did so only reluctantly and almost all of them with the hope that federal officials would reward them by protecting them in their homelands. This was certainly true of the Ojibwes and Ottawas from Michigan and the Senecas from New York, who, at the outbreak of the war, saw their small land bases continually reduced. Others, like the Pequots and Mohegans from Connecticut, may have joined the war effort for purely economic reasons, hoping that service in the war would lead them out of poverty.

In the West, the war had unintended tragic consequences. Because regular army troops were called east to fight, some western posts were manned by poorly trained and undisciplined local militia. One of these militia units was led by John Chivington against a peaceful band of Cheyennes at Sand Creek in Colorado in November 1864. Chivington's forces slaughtered hundreds of people (mostly women and children) and mutilated their bodies in one of the most brutal massacres of Native people that this country has ever seen.

American Indians in the South, remembering that it was the U.S. government that had signed treaties with them, initially wished to maintain neutrality in this "fight between brothers." According to the Cherokee "declaration," "no other course was consistent with the dictates of prudence or could secure the safety of their people and immunity from the horrors of a war waged by an invading enemy than a strict neutrality." But neutrality could not be sustained; feeling pressure from all sides, some tribes in Indian Territory took up arms for the South. Never happy with the removal process that had moved them from their traditional lands, they feared that if the North won, they might be displaced from their lands once again. In addition, some southern tribal leaders had cultural affiliations with the South; indeed, some Native people were also slave owners. Again in the words of the Cherokee "declaration," "Whatever causes the Cherokee people

may have had in the past, to complain of some of the Southern States, they cannot but feel that their interests and their destiny are inseparably connected with those of the South."

The Five Civilized Tribes declared their allegiance to the South, but many towns in their territory in the Southeast stayed out of the war. The Indian units from both sides distinguished themselves. In fact, the last Confederate general to surrender was Stand Watie, the Cherokee leader of the Indian brigades of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi, who gave up the fight on 23 June 1865, two months after General Robert E. Lee's surrender on 9 April.

After the war, it became evident that the fears of the Native people were well-founded. The western tribes were subjected to intense pressure to give up their free lives on the Plains and move to reservations. Despite their loyal service in the war, Oneida, Seneca, and Ojibwe communities continued to face hostile neighbors with little federal protection. Virtually all the tribal communities that fought in the war were also deeply affected by the death and destruction the conflict wrought. With large numbers of orphans and widows living on reservations, it became very difficult to rebuild these communities, and many fell even deeper into poverty and despair. Finally, after the war, the Five Civilized Tribes were forced to sign new treaties with the United States that under-mined their land base and permitted new intrusions into their territories.