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The Civil War
Native Americans and the Civil War
Period: 1860s
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In 1861, many Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles
decided to join the Confederacy, in part because some of the tribes' members owned slaves. In return, the Confederate states agreed to pay all annuities that the U.S. government had provided and let the tribes send delegates to the Confederate Congress. A Cherokee Chief, Stand Watie (1806-1871), served as a brigadier general for the Confederacy and did not surrender until a month after the war was over.
After the war, these nations were severely punished for supporting
the Confederacy. The Seminoles were required to sell their reservation
at 15 cents an acre and buy new land from the Creeks at 50 cents
an acre. The other tribes were required to give up half their
territory in Oklahoma. This land would become reservations for
the Arapahos, Caddos, Cheyennes, Commanches, Iowas, Kaws, Kickapoos,
Pawnees, Potawatomis, Sauk and Foxes, and Shawnees. In addition,
all these nations had to allow railroads to cut across their land.
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