Download The American Indian in the Civil War

Shared Stories of the Civil War
Reader’s Theater Project
The Cherokee Nation in the Civil War
After a protracted court battle in the early 1830s, the Cherokee Nation were eventually
removed from their homelands in Georgia and relocated to Indian Territory, in modern-day
southeastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma.
When the Kansas Territory opened for settlement in 1854, the Cherokee once again faced
displacement. The tribe approached the federal government for assistance. Although the
Cherokee had agreements with the government providing support and protection for their
lands, their requests for help went unanswered.
As the Border War raged between Kansas and Missouri, and tensions mounted between the
North and the South, war seemed inevitable. The Cherokee faced a decision: In the event of
Civil War, would they side with the United States government or the Confederacy?
Please Note: Regional historians have reviewed the source materials used, the script, and the
list of citations for accuracy.
The Cherokee Nation in the Civil War is part of the Shared Stories of the Civil
War Reader’s Theater project, a partnership between the Freedom’s Frontier
National Heritage Area and the Kansas Humanities Council.
FFNHA is a partnership of 41 counties in eastern Kansas and western Missouri
dedicated to connecting the stories of settlement, the Border War and the
The Cherokee Nation in the Civil War
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Enduring Struggle for Freedom in this area. KHC is a non-profit organization
promoting understanding of the history and ideas that shape our lives and
strengthen our sense of community.
For More Information:
Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area
www.freedomsfrontier.org
Kansas Humanities Council
www.kansashumanities.org
Shared Stories of the Civil War Reader’s Theater project
A partnership between Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area and the Kansas Humanities Council Version 3/28/11
The Cherokee Nation in the Civil War
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Introduction
Instructions: The facilitator can either read the entire introduction out loud or summarize
key points.
This introduction is intended to provide context to the reader’s theater script, it is not a
comprehensive look in the role played by all American Indians in the Civil War or the complete
history of the Cherokee Nation.
The early relationship in the United States between the indigenous populations and the
Europeans settlers was, in some ways, a holdover from the established Doctrine of Discovery,
which gave Europeans dominion over the indigenous populations of any lands they conquered.
This perspective was solidified in 1823 with the United States Supreme Court decision in
Johnson v. McIntosh.
Johnson and McIntosh both claimed ownership of the same track of land in Illinois. Johnson
purchased the land from the Piankeshaw Indians, while McIntosh purchased the same land
from the United States government. The Supreme Court found in favor of McIntosh, stating
that only the United States government had the right to purchase and sell the lands occupied
by indigenous people. In writing the opinion, Chief Justice John Marshall described Indians as
occupants of the land, not owners.
Indigenous populations struggled to establish themselves as sovereign nations in the eyes of
the United States government, with freedom to enforce their own laws and to retain their
homelands. The United States government failed to acknowledge their sovereignty and began
forcibly removing indigenous populations from their homelands in the East to land in the West.
The Cherokee Nation was one of many that experienced removal at the hands of the United
States government. After a protracted court battle in the early 1830s, they were eventually
removed from their homelands in Georgia and relocated to Indian Territory, in modern-day
southeastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma.
When the Kansas Territory opened for settlement in 1854,the Cherokee once again faced
displacement. The tribe approached the federal government for assistance. Although the
Shared Stories of the Civil War Reader’s Theater project
A partnership between Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area and the Kansas Humanities Council Version 3/28/11
The Cherokee Nation in the Civil War
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Cherokee had agreements with the government providing support and protection for their
lands, their requests for help went unanswered.
As the Border War raged between Kansas and Missouri, and tensions mounted between the
North and the South, war seemed inevitable. The Cherokee faced a decision: In the event of
Civil War, would they side with the United States government or the Confederacy?
In October 1861, persuaded by promises to protect their lands and preserve their way of life,
the Cherokee Nation signed an agreement with the Confederacy and assembled troops to fight
within Indian Territory against the Union Army.
Stand Watie and John Drew led the Confederate Cherokee troops. After defeat at the Battle of
Pea Ridge in northwest Arkansas in March of 1862, Drew’s forces joined the Union and became
part of the Indian Home Guard in Kansas. Stand Watie and his supporters remained with the
Confederacy.
Six months later, John Drew and his Indian Home Guard met Stand Watie and his Confederate
forces at the First Battle of Newtonia in southwestern Missouri. For the first time in the Civil
War, Cherokee troops faced one another on opposites side of the battlefield.
Group Discussion Questions
Instructions: The facilitator should pose one or more of these questions in advance of the
reading of the script. At the conclusion of the reading, participants will return to the
questions for consideration.
1. Would it have been possible for anyone living in the United States to remain neutral
during the Civil War?
2. The circumstances of the Cherokee Nation were unique compared to other settlers
living along the border. What motivations ultimately persuaded them to get involved?
3. How did the Doctrine of Discovery and the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court impact
the Cherokee? Did they contribute to the irreparable divisions within the tribe?
Shared Stories of the Civil War Reader’s Theater project
A partnership between Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area and the Kansas Humanities Council Version 3/28/11
The Cherokee Nation in the Civil War
Shared Stories of the Civil War Reader’s Theater project
A partnership between Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area and the Kansas Humanities Council Version 3/28/11
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The Cherokee Nation in the Civil War
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Script
Instructions: Each part will be read out loud by an assigned reader. Readers should stand
and speak into a microphone when it’s their turn. The source of the quote should also be
read out loud (this is the information bolded beneath each quote).
NARRATOR:
The United States government used the Doctrine of Discovery as
justification for claiming the homelands of American Indian tribes and
forcing them to relocate to lands in the Trans-Mississippi West. No tribe
was exempt, not even the Cherokee, who had successfully adopted
European ideas and customs, including a written language, a constitution,
formal education, and slavery. Yet, despite the Cherokee’s efforts to
assimilate into the white world, the demand for their lands and riches was
too great.
READER 1:
The Doctrine provided,…, that newly arrived Europeans immediately and
automatically acquired property rights in native lands and gained
governmental, political, and commercial rights over the inhabitants
without the knowledge nor the consent of the indigenous peoples.
Robert J. Miller, Native America, Discovered and Conquered: Thomas
Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, and Manifest Destiny, 2006.i
READER 2:
---they spread before the eyes of the Indians firearms, woolen garments,
kegs of brandy, glass necklaces, bracelets of tinsel, earrings, and lookingglasses. If, when they have beheld all these riches, they still hesitate, it is
insinuated that they have not the means of refusing their required
consent and that the government itself will not long have the power of
protecting them in their rights. What are they to do? Half convinced and
half compelled, they go to inhabit new deserts, where the importunate
whites will not let them remain ten years in tranquility. In this manner do
Shared Stories of the Civil War Reader’s Theater project
A partnership between Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area and the Kansas Humanities Council Version 3/28/11
The Cherokee Nation in the Civil War
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the American obtain, at a very low price, whole provinces, which the
richest sovereigns of Europe could not purchase.
Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1839.ii
NARRATOR:
When the United States government ordered the removal of the
Cherokee from their homelands in Georgia, the tribe challenged the order
through the courts. The lengthy battle that followed divided the
Cherokee Nation into two factions. The Treaty Party wanted to save the
Cherokee and accepted removal to Indian Territory. Chief John Ross led
the majority faction that opposed removal to Indian Territory.
READER 3:
Offering larger and larger inducements to remove with only minimal
results, the federal government despaired of reaching a treaty with the
duly elected representatives of the Cherokee Nation. Unable to convince
the legitimate Cherokee government to give up their land, U.S. officials
sought to recognize a minority faction as the new leadership with the
intent of imposing any treaty they signed on the entire population. The
Treaty Party, as it became known was led by Major Ridge, his son John
Ridge, and nephews, Elias Boudinot,…and Stand Watie.
Duane King, The Cherokee Trail of Tears, 2007.iii
READER 4:
I know I take my life in my hand, as our fathers have done also. We will
make and sign this treaty….We can die, but the great Cherokee Nation
will be saved. They will not be annihilated; they can live.
Elias Bouinot at Treaty of New Echota, 1835. iv
NARRATOR:
Despite the legitimate leadership’s efforts to have the Treaty of New
Echota declared invalid, the deed was done. The Cherokee were removed
Shared Stories of the Civil War Reader’s Theater project
A partnership between Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area and the Kansas Humanities Council Version 3/28/11
The Cherokee Nation in the Civil War
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to Indian Territory. Many in the Cherokee Nation viewed members of the
Treaty Party as traitors.
READER 5:
The removal of the Cherokee Indians from their life long homes in the
year 1838 found me a young man in the prime of life and a private
soldier in the American Army…..I saw the helpless Cherokees arrested and
dragged from their homes, and driven at the bayonet point into the
stockades. And in the chill of a drizzling rain on an October morning I
saw them loaded like cattle or ship into six hundred and forty-five
wagons and started toward the rest. One can never forget the sadness
and solemnity of that morning. Chief John Ross led in prayer and when
the bugle sounded and the wagons started rolling many of the children
rose to their feet and waved their little hands good-by to their mountain
homes, knowing they were leaving them forever.
John G. Burnett, U.S. Cavalry, written in 1890. v
READER 1:
The Cherokees who lost their homes in the east came west in two very
distinct factions. Between 1835 and 1837, members of the Treaty
Party…and other supporters of removal who voluntarily relinquished their
homes and lands in the east [moved to Indian Territory.] The years of
1838-39 saw the forced mass migration of the Cherokees opposed to
removal and the treaty which had caused it. Bitter hatred seethed in the
hearts of families who had lost everything,…
David A. Cornsilk, Cherokee Observer, 1997.vi
READER 2:
In Indian Territory, the Cherokee soon rebuilt a democratic form of
government, churches, schools, newspapers and businesses. They rebuilt a
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The Cherokee Nation in the Civil War
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progressive lifestyle from remnants of the society and the culture they
were forced to leave behind.
History of the Cherokee Nation.
NARRATOR:
vii
The Cherokee living in southern Kansas benefitted from the area’s
excellent farmland.
READER 3:
May 31st. Struck camp and marched seven miles west, which brought us
to … the left bank of Spring river, where emerging from the timber for
the first time we came in full view of an open rolling prairie extending
north, south and west as far as the eye can see. After striking the valley
of this river I noticed several Indian farms, having neatly fenced fields of
oats, wheat and corn. They also plant cabbage, turnips &c. The soil in this
portion of the valley is very fertile. The timber on the banks of Spring
river consists chiefly of oak, cottonwood & ash with a heavy undergrowth
in many places. The grass and general vegetation on the prairie west is
now between 6 and 8 inches long presenting rich verdure, and luxuriance.
Hugh Campbell, Journal Entry, May 31, 1857.viii
NARRATOR:
The opening of Kansas Territory for settlement brought new settlers.
Squatters soon became a problem, and the Cherokee Nation looked to
the federal government to remove them.
READER 4:
In 1859, the Cherokee Nation sent a sharp complaint to the U.S.
government and passed a law authorizing tribal law enforcement officials
to cooperate with U.S. agents in removing the intruders. The U.S.
government responded by ordering the white squatters to leave,…
Gary L. Cheatham ’If the Union Wins, We Won’t Have Anything Left’:
The Rise and Fall of the Southern Cherokees of Kansas, 2007. ix
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The Cherokee Nation in the Civil War
NARRATOR:
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At the start of the Civil War, the Cherokee found themselves divided,
once again, along the same lines that had separated them at the time of
their forced removal from Georgia. When the Confederacy arrived to
woo the Cherokee Nation, the minority proslavery faction, led by Watie,
was interested in joining them. The majority abolitionist faction, led by
Ross, wished to remain neutral.
READER 1:
Although I regret most deeply the excitement which has arisen among
our white brothers, yet by us it can only be regarded as a family
misunderstanding among themselves. And it behooves us to be careful, in
any movement of ours, to refrain from adopting any measures liable to
be misconstrued or misrepresented; and in which (at present, at least) we
have no direct and proper concern. I cannot but confidently believe,
however, that there is wisdom and virtue and moderation enough
among the people of the United States, to bring about a peaceable and
satisfactory adjustment of their differences.
Chief John Ross, 1861. x
NARRATOR:
Brigadier General Ben McCulloch, of the Confederate Army, commanded
the troops in Arkansas and Indian Territory. He sought to bring the
Cherokee Nation into the Confederacy.
READER 3:
I take the first opportunity of assuring you of the friendship of my
government, and the desire that the Cherokees and other tribes in the
Territory unite their fortunes with the Confederacy. I hope that you as
Chief of the Cherokees will meet me with the same feelings of friendship
that actuate me in coming among you, and that I may have your hearty
co-operation in our common cause against a people who are
endeavoring to deprive us of our rights.
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The Cherokee Nation in the Civil War
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Brigadier General Ben McCulloch, 1861. xi
NARRATOR:
Chief Ross resolved to remain neutral.
READER 4:
In regard to the pending conflict between the United States and the
Confederate States, I have already signified my purpose to take no part in
the same course. The determination to adopt that course was the result
of consideration of law and policy and seeing no reason to doubt its
propriety, I shall adhere to it in good faith and hope that the Cherokee
people will not fail to follow my example….We have done nothing to
bring about the conflict in which you are engaged with your own peoples
and I am unwilling that my people shall become its victims.
Chief John Ross, 1861. xii
NARRATOR:
The Confederacy’s pleas were not lost on Stand Watie, leader of the
Cherokee Treaty Party. Like New Echota, the Confederacy appealed to a
minority faction within the Cherokee. Watie began organizing regiments
to fight for the Confederacy. However, Chief Ross remained unconvinced.
Both sides came together in August 1861 to determine the will of the
tribe. They adopted this resolution:
READER 5:
Resolved, that reposing full confidence in the authorities of the Cherokee
Nation, we submit to their wisdom the management of all questions
which affect our interests growing out of the exigencies of the relations
between the United States and the Confederate states of America, and
which may render an alliance on our part with the latter states expedient
and desirable.
Oklahoma Genealogy Website, The Indians in the Civil War of 1861 to
1865. xiii
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The Cherokee Nation in the Civil War
NARRATOR:
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On August 10, 1861, Stand Watie’s regiments fought for the Confederacy
at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek in Missouri. This victory for the Southern
forces, combined with mounting pressure within the tribe to align with
the Confederacy and the Cherokee leadership’s growing concerns over
the future of the United States, convinced Chief Ross to sign a treaty with
the Confederacy.
READER 2:
When circumstances beyond their control compel one people to sever
the ties which have long existed between them and another state or
confederacy, and to contract new alliances and establish new relations for
the security of their rights and liberties, it is fit that they should publicly
declare the reasons by which their action is justified.
Declaration by the People of the Cherokee Nation, 1861. xiv
NARRATOR:
Through this declaration, Chief Ross detailed the Cherokee Nation’s
reasons for joining forces with the Confederacy. Ross viewed the
Confederacy as a drifting log, offering the Cherokee people a chance for
survival.
READER 3:
We are in the situation of a man standing alone upon a low, naked spot
of ground, with the water rising rapidly all around him. He sees the
danger but does not know what to do. If he remains where he is, his only
alternative is to be swept away and perish. The tide carries by him, in its
mad course, a drifting log. It, perchance, comes within reach of him. By
refusing it, he is a doomed man. By seizing hold of it he has a chance for
his life. He can but perish in the effort, and may be able to keep his head
above water until rescued, or drift to where he can help himself.
Chief John Ross, 1861. xv
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The Cherokee Nation in the Civil War
NARRATOR:
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The Cherokee Nation signed their treaty and joined the Confederacy with
beneficial terms.
READER 4:
Under the agreement signed on October 7, 1861, the Confederate States
of America assumed all of the treaty obligations due to the Cherokee
from the government of the United States. The Confederates also
guaranteed the Cherokee protection from invasion, respect for Cherokee
title to their lands, payments of Indian annuities, and the recognition of
the Cherokee right to maintain the institution of slavery.
Laurence Hauptman, Between Two Fires, 1995. xvi
NARRATOR:
Although Chief Ross had signed a treaty with the Confederacy, his
allegiance remained in question and old factions remained within the
Cherokee. Some members sided with Stand Watie, while others aligned
themselves with John Drew, who was related to Chief Ross by marriage.
Watie and Drew fought together at the Battle of Pea Ridge in March
1862.
READER 5:
…Drew’s forces were reluctant warriors….At the three-day battle of Pea
Ridge, the Union forces won a major victory despite Watie’s active
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The Cherokee Nation in the Civil War
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leadership right to the end of the battle. After the defeat, Drew’s Second
Indian Mounted Rifles defected to the Union side while Watie and his
mounted forces made their way back toward the Cherokee Nation. Now
the Cherokee schism was wider – between blue and gray as well as Indian
and Indian.
Laurence M. Hauptman, Between Two Fires, 1995.xvii
READER 1:
In March 1862,…Confederate Indians fought at the Battle of Pea Ridge,
Arkansas, but…were criticized for their disorderly fighting during the
Southern defeat, and some of them were accused of scalping or
otherwise mutilating the enemy dead.
Larry Wood, The Two Civil War Battles of Newtonia, 2010. xviii
NARRATOR:
It quickly became apparent that the Confederacy could not live up to the
promises they made to the Cherokee. The Confederate Cherokee troops
who defended the borders were inadequately supplied. Ross feared
invasion by Union troops was imminent and pleaded with the
Confederate leadership for help.
READER 5:
In June 1862 federal troops,….met little resistance as they moved south
from Kansas toward Cherokee Nation. ….a message from William G.
Coffin, superintendent of Indian affairs, assur[ed] the chief that the United
States government would not overlook its obligations to the loyal Indian
tribes. Doubtless Coffin…did not consider Ross disloyal, but rather as one
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The Cherokee Nation in the Civil War
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forced into an uncomfortable position.
Gary E. Moulton, John Ross Cherokee Chief, 1978. xix
READER 1:
As a consequence of the federal invasion of Indian Territory …, the Union
forces marched on the Cherokee capital of Tahlequah and captured Ross.
The Cherokee’s Principal Chief was soon paroled, spending the remainder
of the war in Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia after a proclamation of
Cherokee loyalty to the Union.
Laurence M. Hauptman, Between Two Fires, 1995.xx
NARRATOR:
After Chief Ross’ departure, many of the Cherokee left Indian Territory to
seek safety and resources elsewhere.
READER 2:
From an unidentified observer: One morning I was at Emporia, Kansas,
and saw slopes down the river and the whole slopes were alive with
Indians.
There were some on ponies and children in blankets, looking like
mummies, and there they were, this great multitude of people getting
into the timber…It was an awful sight. We went out to look at them, and
they had had two weeks of traveling across that country, 200 miles, and
the wolves followed them. Children had died or were frozen to death,
some of them frozen almost in their mothers’ arms, and as these children
died they threw them to the wolves to keep the wolves back.
John Ehle, Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation,
1988. xxi
NARRATOR:
Chief Ross lobbied heavily in Washington, D.C. during his time in exile,
assuring the United States government of the Cherokees Nation’s loyalty.
The struggles between Union and Confederate supporters within the tribe
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The Cherokee Nation in the Civil War
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continued throughout the war. Watie assumed control of the Cherokee
Nation.
READER 2:
The Union Army had been occupying the southwestern Ozarks of
Missouri since the spring of 1862. The 6th Missouri Cavalry had been
present..., and …the 37th Illinois Infantry and 1st Missouri Cavalry moved in
to support the 6th, as rumors of encroaching Confederate troops took
root. The 6th Kansas moved in and would remain stationed at Newtonia
for the duration of the War. Coming in from Kansas, as well, to support
the Union effort, were its first Native American soldiers, in the Indian
Home Guard. They would meet their fellow Indian tribesmen at Newtonia.
Community and Conflict, Battle of Newtonia, 1862. xxii
NARRATOR:
Newtonia, Missouri was strategic point due to its proximity to Kansas,
Indian Territory, and Arkansas. The area was rich in agricultural products,
mills for processing, and lead mines for ammunition. Guerilla warfare was
rampant in Newtonia, as the Southern sympathizers sought to make
things difficult for the Union forces in any way they could.
READER 3:
At seven a.m. on September 30, the fighting began. The Union
outgunned the Confederates 5 to 2, but the bluecoats were unable to
silence the Rebel pieces. The Union Army came in, then the Confederate
forces surged. The Union retreated, and then was met with
reinforcements and returned to fight the Rebels. Just when the
Confederates were lagging, their reinforcements arrived. By dark, the
Rebels were chasing the Yankees out of Newtonia,… The organized Union
retreat, brought on by the perception of being outmanned by the Rebels,
turned into a rout, as the Yankees, dropped their arms and fled. Some
were captured, some were killed, and the Rebels added to their sorry
arms supply with the discard weapons.
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The Cherokee Nation in the Civil War
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Community and Conflict, The First Battle of Newtonia.xxiii
READER 4:
Newtonia is a nice clean little town But it [don’t] take many houses hear
to make a town…our men had a fight with the [Rebels] hear about 10
days ago and had to retreat [there] was [too] many of them… the Rebels
took some of our men [prisoners]
William Murray, October 8, 1862. xxiv
READER 4:
They lost heavily in horses, their own poorly shod ponies; but they
themselves stood fire well. To rally them after defeat proved, however, a
difficult matter. Their disciplining had yet left much to be desired.
Scalping of the dead took place as on the battle-field of Pea Ridge; but,
in other respects, the Indians of both armies acquitted themselves well
and far better than might have been expected.
Annie Heloise Abel, The American Indian as Participant in the Civil
War, 1919. xxv
READER 5:
The dead of the enemy were scalped, I am informed by an officer who
was there, in or after the engagement of September 30, at Newtonia,
notwithstanding my orders prohibiting it, issued long ago.
Brigadier General Albert Pike, 1862. xxvi
NARRATOR:
The First Battle of Newtonia was a Confederate victory, but its significance
lies in the troops who participated in the battle. Not only did Union
Indians and Confederate Indians face one another on the battlefield, but
members of the same tribe found themselves fighting on opposite sides.
Bitterness and rage, lingering from removal, followed the Cherokee on to
the battlefield in Missouri.
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The Cherokee Nation in the Civil War
READER 1:
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Although Watie had no intention of abandoning the struggle, he had
begun to realize that his cause was a markedly different one from that of
the Confederacy. [In November 1863], Watie also realized that the
Confederate cause was lost. Fearing reprisals if he abandoned the South
and wanting to insure the continuing leadership of his family in Cherokee
tribal affairs in any future peace, Watie urged his followers… to press on
‘for the preservation of the Indian country.’
Laurence M. Hauptman, Between Two Fires, 1995. xxvii
NARRATOR:
When the war ended in April 1865, Watie sought assurance from the
United States that he, his family, and his supporters and their property
would be protected from encroachment by whites and from the Indians
who had fought on the Union side. In September 1865, the two Cherokee
factions met with representatives of the United States to write a new
treaty.
READER 2:
At the Fort Smith conference, the Cherokee were treated as one people,
as if they had all supported the Confederacy. Since the Cherokee Nation
had signed a treaty with the Confederacy, [the United States
representatives] insisted that it had forfeited all rights of every kind,
character, and description – annuities, lands, and protection – which had
been promised and guaranteed to them by the United States.
Laurence M. Hauptman, Between Two Fires, 1995.xxviii
NARRATOR:
At the conference, the Cherokee were required to abolish slavery and
cede lands in Kansas to the United States. After the new treaty, Stand
Watie removed himself from leadership in the tribe. Chief John Ross died
in August, 1866, ten days before the treaty was ratified by the United
States Senate.
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The Cherokee Nation in the Civil War
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Instructions: The facilitator will now return to the questions found on page 3 for
consideration by the group.
At the conclusion of the event:
 The local coordinator will indicate whether the scripts need to be returned.
 The page titled Citations is intended to be a take-home handout for participants.
The words spoken by Readers in this script are the exact words of historical participants in
Kansas and Missouri, 1861-1865, taken from first-hand accounts. For ease of reading, spelling
and punctuation have been modernized in the script passages. You can read these accounts
as they were recorded, and more, in the following sources:
Footnotes
i
Robert J. Miller. Native America, discovered and conquered: Thomas Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, and Manifest
Destiny. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2006. pg. 1
ii
Alexis de Tocqueville. Democracy in America Volume I. New York: George Adlard, 1839. p. 339.
iii
Duane King. The Cherokee Trail of Tears. Portland, Oregon: Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company, 2007. pg. 29.
iv
Elias Boudinot at Treaty of New Echota on December 22, 1835. John Ehle. Trail of Tears The Rise and Fall of the
Cherokee Nation. New York: Anchor Books: 1988, pg.294.
v
John G. Burnett written in 1890. Ibid., pg. 393.
David A. Cornsilk. Footsteps – Historical Perspective:History of the Keetoowah Cherokees. The Cherokee Observer.
1997., pg. 3 (www. cherokeeobserver.org/Keetoowah/octissue97.html)
vi
“A Brief History of the Cherokee Nation” Official Site of the Cherokee Nation
http://www,cherokee.org/Culture/57/Page/default.aspx
vii
Campbell’s group were near Baxter Springs on May 31, 1857.
“The Southern Kansas Boundary Survey From the Journal of Hugh Campbell, Astronomical Computer.” Edited by
Martha B. Caldwell. Kansas Historical Quarterly. November 1937 (vol. 6, no. 4) p. 347
http:///www.kshs.org/p/kansas-historical-quarterly-the-southern-kansas-boundary-survey/12727
viii
Gary L. Cheatham. “If the Union Wins, We Won’t Have Anything Left”: The Rise and Fall of the Southern
Cherokees of Kansas. P.165.
ix
x
Chief John Ross (Cherokee) to Governor Harris (Chickasaw) “Indians in the Civil War of 1861 to 1865” Oklahoma
Genealogy Website.(URL: http://www.oklahomagenealogy.com/indianscivilwar.htm)
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xi
Brigadier General Ben McCulloch to John Ross, June 12, 1861.Henry J. Lemley. Historic Letters of General Ben
McCulloch and Chief John Ross in the Civil War. The Chronicles of Oklahoma.
(digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v040/v040p286.pdf.) pg. 286.
xii
Chief John Ross to Brigadier General Ben McCulloch, June 17, 1861. Henry J. Lemley. Historic Letters of General
Ben McCulloch and Chief John Ross in the Civil War. The Chronicles of Oklahoma.
(digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v040/v040p286.pdf. p. 287.
Oklahoma Genealogy Website:“Indians in the Civil War 1861 to 1865”
xiii
“Declaration by the People of the Cherokee Nation of the Causes Which Have Impelled Them To Unite Their
Fortunes With Those of the Confederate States of America” Adopted by The Cherokee National Committee, October
28, 1861.
xiv
xv
Chief John Ross, August 21, 1861. Gary E. Moulton. John Ross Cherokee Chief. Athens, Georgia: The University of
Georgia Press, 1978. pp. 172-173.
xvi
Laurence M. Hauptman. Between Two Fires American Indians in the Civil War. New York: The Free Press, 1995.
pg. 48.
xvii
Ibid.
xviii
Larry Wood. The Two Civil War Battles of Newtonia. Charleston: The History Press, 2010. p. 38
xix
Gary E. Moulton. p. 174.
xx
Hauptman.p. 49.
xxi
Ehle. p. 388
xxii
Community and Conflict Website. Battle of Newtonia 1862. (www.ozarkscivilwar.org/archives/336) p.2
xxiii
Ibid. p. 3
xxiv
William Murray letter to Charles Murray and his mother, October 8, 1862. Missouri Digital Heritage.
(cdm.sos.mo.gov/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/mack&CISOPTR=388&REC=9)
xxv
Annie Heloise Abel. The American Indian as Participant in the Civil War.1919
The Project Gutenberg eBook #12541, released June 6, 2004, p. 194.
xxvi
Report of Albert Pike, Brigadier-General, Commanding Department of Indian Territory October 24, 1862. P. 894D
xxvii
Hauptman. p. 52
xxviii
Ibid. p. 59
Shared Stories of the Civil War Reader’s Theater project
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