Gallery: Native Americans in the War
Cherokee Braves Flag
This flag was carried by Colonel Stand Watie’s Cherokee Mounted Rifles; the body of the flag is the First National pattern flag of the Confederate States; the canton is blue with eleven white stars in a circle, surrounding five red stars representing the Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminole); the large red star in the center represents the Cherokee Nation. “Cherokee Braves” is lettered in red in the center of the white stripe.
The 1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles was organized in July 1861, under the command of Colonel John Drew, and consisted of full-blood Cherokees. The 2nd Cherokee Mounted Rifles was organized under the command of Colonel Stand Waite, and consisted of Cherokees of mixed blood. A portion of Drew’s regiment deserted in late 1861; the majority of the remainder deserted following the Confederate defeat at the Battle of Fort Wayne in October 1862.
The remaining members of Drew’s regiment combined with Waite’s and were reorganized as the 1st Regiment Cherokee Mounted Rifles; during the Civil War Waite’s regiment participated in twenty-seven major engagements and numerous skirmishes. Most of his activities utilized guerilla warfare tactics.
The flag was one of two captured by Lieutenant David Whittaker of Company B, 10th Regiment Kansas Volunteer Infantry at Locust Grove, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory, on July 3, 1862.
Following the Battle of Locust Grove, Lieutenant Whittaker continued his military career, serving as provost marshal for the 1st Division of the Army of the Frontier and in St. Louis, Missouri. While in St. Louis, he was a member of a Board of Officers that examined and reported upon the qualifications of applicants for appointment as commissioned officers of colored troops. He was mustered out of service on August 19, 1864 at the expiration of his enlistment.
Returning to Doniphan County, Kansas, Whittaker was elected to the Kansas legislature in 1869 and re-elected the following year. In March 1869 he was appointed one of the commissioners to audit civilian claims from the 1864 Price Raid. In 1870 Whittaker was appointed adjutant general of Kansas and confirmed by the Kansas Senate with the rank of colonel. He served in that capacity during Governor James Harvey’s term of office. David Whittaker died on September 6, 1904 at Topeka, Kansas.
Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; WICR 30118
