THE CIVIL WAR: THE TRUE STORY BOOK 1

Stand Watie

Stand Watie, also known as Standhope Uwatie, Tawkertawker, and Isaac S. Watie was a leader of the Cherokee Nation. The nation allied with the Confederacy, and he was the only Native American to attain a general's rank in the Civil War, Confederacy or Union. He commanded the Confederate Indian cavalry of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi, made up mostly of Cherokee, Muskogee and Seminole. He was the last Confederate general in the field to cease hostilities at war's end.

Before removal of the Cherokee to Indian Territory in the late 1830s, Watie and his older brother Elias Boudinot were among Cherokee leaders who signed the Treaty of New Echota in 1835. The majority of the tribe opposed their action. In 1839, the brothers were attacked in an assassination attempt, as were other relatives active in the Treaty Party. All but Stand Watie were killed. Watie in 1842 killed one of his uncle's attackers, and in 1845 his brother Thomas Watie was killed in retaliation, in a continuing cycle of violence that reached Indian Territory. Watie was acquitted by the Cherokee at trial in the 1850s on the grounds of self-defense.

During the Civil War and soon after, Watie served as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation (1862–1866). Watie led the Southern Cherokee delegation to Washington, D.C. after the war to sue for peace, hoping to have tribal divisions recognized. The US government negotiated only with the leaders who had sided with the Union. It recognized former chief John Ross as principal chief in 1866, under a new treaty. Watie stayed out of politics for his last years, and tried to rebuild his plantation.

Watie was born in Oothcaloga, Cherokee Nation (now Calhoun, Georgia) on 12 December 1806, the son of Uwatie (Cherokee for "the ancient one", sometimes spelled Oowatie), a full-blood Cherokee, and Susanna Reese, daughter of a white father and Cherokee mother. He was named Degataga. According to one biography, this name means "standing firm" when translated to English. He loosely translated his name as simply "Stand" and combined it with his father's name to get Stand Watie.[2] Watie's brothers were Gallagina, nicknamed "Buck" (who later took the name Elias Boudinot); and Thomas Watie. They were close to their paternal uncle Major Ridge, and his son John Ridge, both later leaders in the tribe. By 1827, their father David Uwatie had become a wealthy planter, who held African-American slaves as laborers. After Uwatie converted to Christianity with the Moravians, he took the name of David Uwatie; he and Susanna renamed Degataga as Isaac. In his life, Degataga preferred to use a form of the English translation of his Cherokee name, "Stand Firm." Later, the family dropped the "U" from the spelling of their surname, using "Watie." Along with his two brothers and sisters, Stand Watie learned to read and write English at the Moravian mission school in Spring Place, Cherokee Nation (now Georgia).

Stand Watie occasionally helped write articles for the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper, for which his older brother Elias served as editor from 1828–1832. The first Native American newspaper, the Phoenix published articles in both Cherokee and English. Watie became involved in the dispute over Georgia's repressive anti-Indian laws. After gold was discovered on Cherokee lands in northern Georgia, thousands of white settlers encroached on Indian lands. There was continuing conflict, and Congress passed the 1830 Indian Removal Act, to relocate all Indians from the Southeast to lands west of the Mississippi River. In 1832, Georgia confiscated most of the Cherokee land, despite federal laws to protect Native Americans from state actions. The state sent militia to destroy the offices and press of the Cherokee Phoenix, which had published articles against Indian Removal.
Believing that removal was inevitable, the Watie brothers favored securing Cherokee rights by treaty before relocating to Indian Territory. They were among the Treaty Party leaders who signed the 1835 Treaty of New Echota. The majority of the Cherokee opposed removal, and the Tribal Council and Chief John Ross, of the National Party, refused to ratify the treaty.

One source states that Stand Watie married four women: Eleanor Looney, Elizabeth Fields, Isabella Hicks, and Sarah Caroline Bell. His child with Elizabeth Fields was stillborn in 1836. Watie and Sarah Bell married in 1842. They had three sons and two daughters, but there were no grandchildren.