Colonel Stand Watie, General Earl Van Dorn Official Records Reports, Oklahoma Territory Nation History,
Cherokee Soldiers Confederate Troops, Native American Indians at Battle of Pea Ridge History
SKULLYVILLE, NEAR FORT SMITH, ARK., May 6, 1862.
Maj. Gen. EARL VAN DORN, C.S.A., Memphis, Tenn.
GENERAL: I take the liberty of inclosing copy of report of a skirmish
between Cherokee troops, under Col. Stand Watie, and the Federals. General Pike being near Fort Washita, at Nail's Bridge,
miles southwest, I have thought it might be well to advise you direct of Col. Stand Watie's movements.
As we are
likely to resort to guerrilla warfare, at least those who are outside the new lines of defense, it would, in my opinion, be advisable to confer additional rank
upon Col. Stand Watie, with authority to receive into the service all the reliable Indian force north of the Canadian rivers.
The Indians have great confidence, and justly, in Col. Stand Watie's patriotism, prudence, and courage, and I think would
rally to his standard. His thorough knowledge of the country renders him eminently suitable to direct the movements of guerrilla
bands along the border of the Cherokee country, and the Indians will make the very best guerrillas. White troops should also
be sent into the Cherokee country. As matters now stand, if a Federal force should advance into the Cherokee country I think
Stand Watie would be driven out and a large majority of the Cherokees go over to the Federals. They complain that by treaty
they were promised protection; but instead of protection they have been involved in a war with the Federal Government and
then left to shift for themselves.
I am ordered to fall back to the neighborhood of Boggy Depot, and shall march
day after to-morrow.
I am, general, yours, respectfully and truly,
DOUGLAS H. COOPER
Source: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies
Recommended
Reading: Rifles for Watie.
Description: This is a rich and sweeping novel-rich in its panorama of history; in its details
so clear that the reader never doubts for a moment that he is there; in its dozens of different people, each one fully realized
and wholly recognizable. It is a story of a lesser -- known part of the Civil War, the Western campaign, a part different
in its issues and its problems, and fought with a different savagery. Inexorably it moves to a dramatic climax, evoking a
brilliant picture of a war and the men of both sides who fought in it.
Recommended Reading: General
Stand Watie's Confederate Indians (University of Oklahoma Press). Description: American Indians were
courted by both the North and the South prior to that great and horrific conflict known as the American Civil War. This is
the story of the highest ranking Native American--Cherokee chief and Confederate general--Stand Watie, his Cherokee
Fighting Unit, the Cherokee, and the conflict in the West...
Recommended
Reading: Civil War in the Indian Territory,
by Steve Cottrell (Author), Andy Thomas (Illustrator). Review: From its beginning with the
bloody Battle of Wilson's Creek on August 10, 1861, to its end in surrender on June 23, 1865, the Civil War in the Indian Territory proved to be a test of valor and endurance for both
sides. Author Steve Cottrell outlines the events that led up to the involvement of the Indian
Territory in the war, the role of the Native Americans who took part in the war, and the effect this
participation had on the war and this region in particular. As in the rest of the country, neighbor was pitted against neighbor,
with members of the same tribes often fighting against each other. Cottrell describes in detail the guerrilla warfare, the
surprise attacks, the all-out battles that spilled blood on the now peaceful state of Oklahoma. In addition, he introduces the reader
to the interesting and often colorful leaders of the military North and South, including the only American Indian to attain
a general's rank in the war, Gen. Stand Watie (member of the Cherokee Nation). With outstanding illustrations by Andy Thomas,
this story is a tribute to those who fought and a revealing portrait of the important role they played in this era of our
country's history. Continued below...
Meet
The Author: A resident of Carthage, Missouri, Steve
Cottrell is a descendant of a Sixth Kansas Cavalry member who served in the Indian
Territory during the Civil War. A graduate of Missouri Southern State College in Joplin, Cottrell has participated
in several battle reenactments including the Academy Award winning motion picture, "Glory". Active in Civil War battlefield
preservation and historical monument projects and contributor of a number of Civil War relics to regional museums, Cottrell
recently co-authored Civil War in the Ozarks, also by Pelican. It is now in its second printing.
Recommended
Reading: The
Blue, the Gray, and the Red: Indian Campaigns of the Civil War (Hardcover: 288 pages). Description: Inexperienced Union and Confederate soldiers in the West waged numerous bloody campaigns
against the Indians during the Civil War. Fighting with a distinct geographical advantage, many tribes terrorized the territory
from the Plains to the Pacific, as American pioneers moved west in greater numbers. These noteworthy--and notorious--Indian
campaigns featured a fascinating cast of colorful characters, and were set against the wild, desolate, and untamed territories
of the western United States. This is
the first book to explore Indian conflicts that took place during the Civil War and documents both Union
and Confederate encounters with hostile Indians blocking western expansion. Continued below...
From
Publishers Weekly: Beginning with the flight
of the Creeks into Union territory pursued by Confederate forces (including many of Stand Watie's Cherokees), this popular
history recounts grim, bloody, lesser-known events of the Civil War. Hatch (Clashes
of the Cavalry) also describes the most incredible incidents.... Kit Carson, who fought Apaches and
Navajos under the iron-fisted Colonel Carleton, arranged the Long Walk of the Navajos that made him infamous in Navajo history
to this day. The North's "Captain" Woolsey, a volunteer soldier, became a brutal raider of the Apaches. General Sibley, a
northerner and first Governor of Minnesota, oversaw the response to the Sioux Uprising of 1862 that
left several hundred dead. The slaughter of Black Kettle's Cheyennes at Sand Creek in
1864 by Colorado volunteers under Colonel Chivington,
a militant abolitionist whose views on Indians were a great deal less charitable, “forms a devastating chapter.”
Hatch, a veteran of several books on the Indian Wars that focus on George Armstrong Custer, has added to this clear and even-handed
account a scholarly apparatus that adds considerably to its value.
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