Talk:Stand Watie

John Ross
John Ross's party was democraticaly elected by the vast majority of the tribe. This needs to be mentioned. It was Stand Watie that was a dissenting faction, not Ross. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Notenderwiggin (talk • contribs) 17:46, 16 February 2009 (UTC)


 * The National Council suspended elections in 1832 because of the on-going troubles with the State of Georgia at the suggestion of Ross and with the support of the Ridges and Waties, so there were no properly elected officials in the Cherokee Nation at the time of the Treaty of New Echota. The Ridges and Waties were on the National Council in 1835 under those same conditions.  The delegation at New Echota was authorized by the General Council in October 1835 to meet with Schermerhorn to negotiate and sign a treaty if they could get at least $5 million.  They got more than that.  Of the 600 persons who showed up to witness the proceedings, all voted unanimously for approval before the twenty signed the treaty.  That October General Council had also delegated a delegation of twenty under Ross to meet with Jackson to attempt to stave off removal, or at least get a better deal.  John Ridge and Elias Boudinot were members of that delegation.  Jackson refused to meet with them because his representative in that matter, Schermerhorn, was in New Echota, and he had previously sent word that was who they should deal with. Chuck Hamilton (talk) 19:46, 16 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Furthermore, why does something about John Ross "need to be mentioned" in an article about Stand Watie (especially when it isn't entirely accurate)? You are obviously trying to push a certain POV, which is an NPOV violation. Chuck Hamilton (talk) 23:00, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Mother's heritage
My sources say that Watie's mother, Susanna Reese was part-English. Do you have a specific source, other than her name, that says she was Welsh? WBardwin 02:40, 13 October 2005 (UTC)


 * I've seen that phrasing used as a synonym for half-white before, so I wouldn't necessarily see the sources as contradictory.


 * Unfortunately, however, I'm not able to cite my source immediately. I'm pretty sure it was the book about him I bought at the museum at Sycamore Shoals, Tennessee some years back which said explicitly that she was a welsh/cherokee halfbreed. That's in a box somewhere, I'll dig through them and see if I can't find the book and the passage. (I hope it was that, if not it was in a library and I'll never be able track it down.)


 * I just looked and can't seem to find an online source that clarifies the point, most of the hits are just various copy of the same (usually unattributed) source. Even the ones that aren't don't go into any details on her parents. Perhaps it should be changed to 'half-white' until you have the source? Arker 07:46, 13 October 2005 (UTC)


 * I'll make the change for now -- but please look for your book. "Of Welsh ancestry" would be a little less POV than "white" half breed, after all.  Thanks.  WBardwin 15:21, 13 October 2005 (UTC)
 * most cherokee at the time had some white blood. For example, chief Ross was 7/8th scottish.  I don't think it's fair to include stuff on his ancestry without noting the metis-like analgam that was going on thier.  To be part white did not negate one's identity as Cherokee.  Also, this article is unfair to the anti-removal faction led by Chief Ross, who was the legitimatly democraticly elected leader.  Hello, Bardwin, I think we have worked together on the history of syphilis.  - notenderwiggin (I can't sign anything today for some reason)

Old subpage Stand Watie/source
This is an old subpage which hasn't been edited in a year. I'm going to nominate it for deletion and copy the contents here. Thatcher131 19:11, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

Stand Watie (1806-1871) was a member of the Cherokee nation, who had the distinction of being the only Native American on either side to rise to a brigadier general's rank during the American Civil War.

Stand Watie was born on the 12 December 1806, near Rome, Georgia. His father was David Watie (or Oowatie), who became a wealthy slave-owning planter in 1827. Stand learned to read and write English at a mission school in Georgia, and occasionally helped write for the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper, which led him into the dispute over the Georgia state repressive anti-Indian laws. Later, when gold was discovered on Cherokee lands in northern Georgia, and thousands of white settlers poached on Indian lands, only the federal treaties gave Indians any protection from the states. Nevertheless, in 1832, Georgia confiscated most of the Cherokee land, and the Georgia militia destroyed the Cherokee Phoenix.

In 1835, the Watie family agreed with the New Echota Treaty which required Cherokees to leave Georgia in return for 800,000 acres (3,237 km²) in the Indian Territory and a cash settlement. Other Cherokee factions disagreed and an internal civil war ensued, until a truce was established in 1846. Many murders were committed, including Stand Ridge’s uncle. After the truce was signed, Stand Watie joined the Tribal Council from then until 1861, eventually presiding over a Cherokee population of 21,000 in the Indian Territory in 1861.

The Confederacy
The Union abandoned all Indian Territory military posts in the spring of 1861, violating treaty pledges and making the area vulnerable to attack. As a slave-owning planter, Watie joined the Confederacy in 1861 because he feared the consequences of Lincoln's election and the Republican Party's free soil promises to open the west and the Indian Territory to white settlement.

Watie agreed to form a Cherokee cavalry unit after native American soldiers began to be recruited. At the Battle of Pea Ridge March 6-8, 1862, Stand Watie and his Cherokee Mounted Rifles captured Union artillery batteries in a dramatic charge and held their position to allow an orderly withdrawal of Earl Van Dorn's Confederate army. Pea Ridge began the Union invasion of the Indian Territory.

Although other Indian tribes began to desert, Stand Watie continued to fight. He took part in the Indian Expedition of 1862:
 * June 28: the advance from Fort Leavenworth led by Col. William Weer, who sought to take over the Indian Territory lands for his personal gain. The capture of John Ross occurred at this time
 * July 3: defeat at Locust Grove against the 6th Kansas Cavalry and the black First Kansas Colored Infantry. After Weer's officers had mutinied and retreated back to Kansas Watie was left in control of the Cherokee lands.  His forces conducted a brutal campaign of revenge against pro-Union Cherokees and white missionaries. In
 * September 30: Watie joined a Confederate raid into southwest Missouri led by Col. Cooper and Jo Shelby, defeating Frederick Salomon at Newtonia

Stand Watie conducted raids in 1863 and 1864, focusing on military targets and distributing captured supplies to his people:
 * In November, 1863, he attacked the Union Cherokees at Tahlequah, Oklahoma, destroyed the town and burned the Rose Cottage of John Ross.
 * In December, Gen. Samuel Maxey began to rebuild Confederate Indian forces in the Territory and Watie was ordered to increase his raids to force a Union withdrawal from Fort Gibson. From his bases south of the Canadian River in 1864, he captured hundreds of horses from Fort Gibson and deprived the Union cavalry of fresh mounts.

On May 6, 1864, Watie was promoted to Brigadier General.

Two of his greatest successes were probably:
 * June 15 1864 at Pleasant Bluff, near the mouth of the Canadian River, he captured the steamer J. R. Williams carrying supplies to Fort Gibson.
 * September 19 1864 he captured 300 supply wagons carrying $1.5 million worth of supplies in a federal wagon supply train in the second battle of Cabin Creek on September 19, 1864

Watie surrendered on June 23, 1865, the last Confederate general to lay down his arms. After the war, he served as a member of the Southern Cherokee delegation during the negotiation of the Cherokee Reconstruction Treaty of 1866. He then retired from public life.

Stand Watie died on Sept. 9, 1871, at his home on Honey Creek in Delaware County, Oklahoma. After his death the "Southern Cherokee Nation" was moved to Kentucky by his cousin James S.Martin (www.southerncherokeenation.net) In 1893 the Southern Cherokee Nation were welcomed to Kentucky and recognized as an Indian tribe by Governor John Y. Brown. The Southern Cherokee Nation is still in Henderson,Co,Kentucky. to day.

External link

 * Comprehensive biography: includes maps, photographs and a bibliography
 * A second biography: some dates differ
 * Brief notes including a photograph of Stand Watie

Only Native American Civil War general?
I believe Ely Parker also made Brigadier General on the Union Side. He was a full-blood Iroquois. Bigmac31 00:19, 8 March 2007 (UTC)
 * According to this Native American site, Ely Parker attained the rank of Brigadier General after the war, but the promotion was back dated to the surrender. Reb 15:49, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

No sources...
Sadly, this article has no sources/references. Please add some if you have the time. I'm not an expert on Stand Watie and I happen to just heard about him so I cannot contribute. ResurgamII 18:27, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

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