During the course of the American Civil War Cherokee people fought for both the Union and the Confederacy. Alignment was hotly contested within the Cherokee Nation: factions such as The Gold Cloak Society (comprised mainly of mixed slave owners) supported the confederacy, while members of the Keetoowah Society organized in opposition to that support. At the war's outbreak The Cherokee Nation's Principal Chief John Ross insisted upon the nation's neutrality. However, under pressure, The Cherokee Nation would briefly ally with the confederacy.
Cherokees were active in the Trans-Mississippi and Western Theaters. In the east, Confederate Cherokees led by William Holland Thomas hindered Union forces trying to use the Appalachian mountain passes of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. Out west, Confederate Cherokee Stand Watie led primarily Native Confederate forces in the Indian Territory, in what is now the state of Oklahoma.[1]
- ^ "Watie, Stand (1806–1871)" Archived August 5, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of History and Culture; retrieved 31 Aug 2011