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Stand Watie

Stand Watie was born on December 12, 1806, in Oothcloga (near present day Rome, Georgia). Degadoga, or “He Stands,” was given the name Isaac S. Watie by his parents; he later dropped his Christian first name and became known as Stand Watie. At age twenty-two Watie acquired a license to practice law and procured a job as clerk of the Cherokee Supreme Court.

During the secession crisis, Watie organized in Indian Territory a secret organization of supporters of Southern rights known as the Knights of the Golden Circle. At the start of the Civil War, his followers actively worked to bring the Cherokee into the Confederate camp. On July 12, 1861, Watie received a colonel’s commission in the Confederate military. He raised a regiment of 300 mixed bloods and proceeded toward the northeastern border with Kansas to guard against a possible Federal invasion. On October 7, 1861, Watie’s regiment was mustered into the Confederate military service as the Cherokee Mounted Rifles.

On March 7-8, 1862, at the Battle of Pea Ridge, although a Confederate defeat, Watie’s regiment performed relatively well. After Pea Ridge, Watie and his regiment participated in numerous conventional battles and skirmishes with Federal troops. On May 6, 1864, Watie was promoted to brigadier general, the only Native American to hold that rank in the Confederate army.

Perhaps Watie’s greatest military accomplishments occurred in the summer and fall of 1864. On June 15, 1864, Watie captured the Federal steamboat J. R. Williams on the Arkansas River with $100,000 worth of supplies; on September 19, 1864, in what was called “the biggest Confederate victory in Indian Territory”, Watie and his men captured a 300 wagon Federal supply train with its $1.5 million dollars worth of supplies at the second battle of Cabin Creek.

General Stand Watie finally surrendered his command on June 23, 1865, becoming the last Confederate general to capitulate.

Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; WICR 31445