Involvement of American Indian Tribes in the Civil War

Weakened by disease, wars and inner(a) disunity, the Indians had steadily retreated before the irresistible onrush of face cloth settlers. In the North Tecumseh had failed to organize effective resistance during the warfare of 1812. In 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote, "half convinced and half compelled, they go to reside new deserts, where the importunate whites will not let them quell ten years in peace." By 1860, only 30,000 Indians were left hand in the North east of the Mississippi, mostly in Michigan, tonic York and Wisconsin.

The first great surge of settlers into the Northwest Territories had been facilitated by the native improvements, canals, roads and steamboats partially subsidized by the federal g all overnment, and after the 1840s by the building of the railroads. Another great surge followed the notes rush of 1849 in California where disease, starvation and white massacres had trim back the Indian population from somewhat 100,000 in 1848 to 35,000 in 1860.

In the South, the Indian Relocation Act of 1830 which authorized the exchange of uncoordinated public land in present day Oklahoma, past known as the Indian Territory, for Indian lands in the South, resulted in the wholesale relocation of 84,000 Indians of the Five Civilized Nations, Cherokees, Chickasaws, creeks, Choctaws and Seminoles over the 'Trail of Tears,' over which 20-25 percent of

American Indians drank from a bitter cup when they decided or, in most cases, were dragooned into active in the Civil War. Most of them served the cause they selected well and altruistically in the hope of advancing their nations' cause. The results were tragic and catastrophic. The victory of the industrialize North ensured that the economic development of the continent would be accelerated, alone no matter which side won, the Indians were sure losers.

An important creek chief, Opothleyahola, defected and attempted to flee to the Union lines but was massacred at the participation of Chustenahlah in December 1861. The survivors fled into Kansas, starting a flood of Creek and later Cherokee refugees north, some of whom later enlisted in the Union Army.

after Cherokee Principal Chief John Ross was captured by Union forces in 1862, the Cherokee effort was split, a significant minority, called the Pins, deserting to the North.

Randall, Clarence and David Donald. The Civil War and Reconstruction. capital of Massachusetts: D. C. Heath, 1961.

The treaties were largely the handiwork of Confederate agent and soldier, Brig. General Albert Pike, and a Georgia-born Cherokee and slaveholder Stand Watie, then a Colonel, who rose to acquire a Brig. General in the Confederate Army. Watie led intricate Indian cavalry and other forces throughout the war in the Trans-Mississippi. Watie's 2,000 man Indian Brigade fought effectively at the difference of Pea Ridge or Elkhorn Tavern in meet 7-9, 1862 near the Arkansas-Missouri border, which the Confederates lost. The Indians mutilated white northern corpses during that battle, --i.e. took scalps, which led to outcries about their use in the North. As to their overall military effectiveness, Foote says they were fall in on the attack than in fixed defensive positions because of their solicitude of Yankee artillery.

Foote, Shelby. The Civil War A Narrative foregather Sumter to Perryville. New York: Random House, 1958.

From August 17-23, 1862, the Santee Sioux re
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