Although involvement was not sought,
some 20,000 Indians fought in Civil War

“There were possibly 20,000 American Indians who fought in the Civil War, however, it was a war in which Indians would have preferred not to be involved,” according to Dr. Paul Rominger, Civil War historian.

But, Cherokee Nation Principal Chief John Ross effectively summed up the Indian choice to be involved, stating in a letter that “self preservation fully justified” the course at least followed by his tribe.

Ross claimed that neutrality was a proper and wise course as long as there was a “reasonable probability” that the differences between the North and South could be settled. But, he added, a different course (war) might place Indian rights in jeopardy and lead to the sacrifice of the (Indian) people.

Five Indian nations who had been removed from the Southeast were involved in the war and aligned with the Confederacy – the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws and Seminoles. The Chippewas and Ottawas were among those tribes loyal to the Union.

Rominger, who spoke recently at the Madison County Civil War Roundtable, said it was difficult to determine precisely how many Indians were involved in the war as, since their removal from their home territory, many southern Indians hid their identity.

“Indians,” he said, “were considered to be colored people. Many had been enslaved decades earlier and listed on plantation manifests as Negroes.

“When the Civil War began, it was a white man’s war. It was only when man-power became scarce that greater numbers of colored people, including Indians, were admitted into the armies in larger numbers.”

Rominger pointed out there was a strictness to color designation that would surprise people today.

“If you were one-sixty-fourth African, Indian or that group that is now called Melungeon, you were considered colored. In other words, if one of your 64 great, great, great, great grandparents was colored, you were colored.

“If you were from the better sort of people in, for example, Charlotte, N.C., and were traveling to Lexington, you carried letters of introduction indicating who you were, what you were known for and the fact that you were acceptable.”

Indians, Rominger said, were considered to be a dying race and it was assumed they did not have a soul, as they were not mentioned in the Bible. Confederate Brig. Gen. Albert Pike, who was Confederate Commissioner of Indian Affairs, sought their Civil War involvement, but did not have a high regard for their ability, believing they were entirely undisciplined.

Stand Watie, principal chief of the Southern Cherokee, was quite disciplined and effective, however. He organized the First Cherokee Mounted Rifles in 1861 and his troops participated in 27 major engagements. At the 1862 Battle of Pea Ridge, Ark., Watie’s men covered the retreat of Confederate forces and captured federal artillery despite the Union victory.

Pike promised Indians funds, ammunition, artillery, arms, commissary supplies and clothing.  But, after the Battle of Pea Ridge, all Indian supplies were stopped at Fort Smith and Little Rock.

“In both the Southern and Northern armies, Indians were issued little military clothing, probably only jackets, and were generally expected to use weapons they had brought from home,” the speaker noted. “At Pea Ridge, Gen. Pike gave the First Cherokee Mounted Rifles permission to fight in their own fashion.”

They often used long bows and a deadly Cherokee fighting knife. That weapon featured a sharp blade and clip and could effectively disembowel an opponent.

“The Civil War reduced Indian country to rubble, as was the case everywhere battles were fought,” Rominger explained. “Homes were burned, crops destroyed and livestock killed.  Citizenship which had been promised did not soon materialize. Indians were not recognized as legal persons until the court case of Standing Bear vs. Crook in 1871, which was the first time native people successfully challenged the government’s right to impose reservation.

“Citizenship did not come until the Indian Citizenship Act of 1824. It also applied to about 125,000 of the 300,000 estimated Indians living within U.S. territory. Even then, the right to vote in seven states did not become legal until 1948.

“Laws have remained discriminatory until recently. Indian religious practices, tribal pow wows and other native ways were illegal either under federal or state laws. It was still legal until 1973 to kidnap Indian children and put them in white-oriented boarding schools. And, in Georgia, it was legal until 1975 to shoot an Indian and illegal until 1948 to call yourself an Indian.”

There is now a revival of Indian ways, Rominger concluded.

“There’s a resurgence and pride in being an Indian and a gradual disintegration of the fear of letting others know you are Indian.”