Native Americans
In the Civil War
In 1861 the Civil War started. Most People think that it was just Northern English Americans against Southern English
Americans. WRONG! About 20,000 Native Americans fought in the Civil War also, for both the North and the South. The Native
Americans fought in the Civil War for many reasons.
The main reason they fought in the Civil War was because Americans were kicking them out of their land. Northern Indians,
which fought for this cause, mainly fought for the Union. The Southern and Western Indians were split between the Union side
and the Confederate side. If they fought for the Union, it was mainly because they had signed peace treaties and they felt
it was the right thing to do. If they fought for the Confederates it was because even before the war, Confederate Cherokees
owned more than 4,000 slaves and they wanted to keep them. Another reason they fought for the Confederates because they were
ticked off at the Union breaking all of its promises.
Another reason was survival. Americans would capture Native American tribes for the land, so if they didnt
fight for the side that captured them, they would be killed right then. And the last main reason was non-partisan. Some found
war an adventure, so they joined because they wanted an adventure. Also, if they volunteered for the army, they would get
paid, just as the Americans did. Also, in some tribes you proved your manliness by fighting in wars; the more wars you fought
in, the manlier you were. About 11,500 Native Americans fought for the Confederates, and about 8,500 fought for the Union.
Now that I have got the point
across that the Native Americans did indeed fight in the Civil War, I will tell you what they did in the war. The Pamonkies
fought in rivers. Some northern tribes fought on Union whaleboats. An example of those tribes would be the Nastantuket Peequats
that lived in Connecticut. Most Native Americans served in the army, and some served in the navy. And those who did fight
in the army fought in the U.S. Colored Troops, which at first Native Americans thought they were meant only for African American
and Native Americans. Most of them did realize that colored really meant non-white. You could be from Spain or Greece and
still be in the colored regiments.
Out of all the Native Americans
that fought in the Civil War, Colonel Ely Parker, an aid to General U.S. Grant, was one of the most well known. Parker was
there when Robert E. Lee surrendered at the Appomattox Court House.
Another well-known Native
American in the Civil War was Stand Watie. He was ¾ Cherokee and born in 1806 in Rome, Georgia. Stand became the leader of
the minority party after he signed the treaty saying that the Cherokees would leave their home of Georgia and move to the
Oklahoma Territory. The minority party was for the Confederate side of the Civil War. He organized the First Cherokee Mounted
Rifles regiment, which fought at Wilsons Creek, in Missouri,
Elkhorn, in Arkansas, and a bunch more places. He died in 1871, at age
65. After he died, he was buried at the Old Ridge Cemetery located in Delaware County, Oklahoma.
For the entire year of 1864,
there was fighting going on all throughout New Mexico and Minnesota, Americans, trying to get Native Americans to fight for
their side of the Civil War, against the Native Americans. But on the 29th of November that year, The Sand Creek
Massacre occurred. The Americans murdered hundreds of Arapaho and Cheyenne warriors, woman, and children. Some people escaped
but the rest were killed or captured easily.
Some random facts about Native
Americans in the Civil War are: Native American regiments participated in The Battle of Pea Ridge, The Battle of Second Massachusetts,
The Battle of Antietam, The Battle of Spotsylvania, The Battle of Cold Harbor, and the Federal Assaults against Petersburg;
Albert Pike was sent on a mission to get the Native Americans to side with the South on the slavery issue; About 50% of all
Cherokees fought in the Civil War; Native Americans on both sides participated in hit-and-run attacks on the other side in
the first few years of the war; in the 1860s the Americans spread smallpox and cholera to Native Americans and they would
yell, The curse of the white man is upon us! And last but not least: In 1863,
President Lincoln repaid the Pueblo tribe for their help in the war with silver-crowned canes, now known as Lincoln Canes.
By the end of the war 14% of all Native Americans were orphans, 16% were without dads and
33% were widows, all because of the war. But overall, in speaking of Native Americans in the Civil War, they did pretty good,
in my opinion that is.
