Indian Territory was a backwater area of a backwater region, a district within the Trans-Mississippi West. During the Civil War, there were no great battles there, or great leaders of note. In fact, most commanders who served in the upper echelons of the Union and Confederate armies were serving in these backwaters after failing in military operations in theaters farther east. But nowhere in the other regions of the Civil War was the animosity and hatred so intense and brutal as it was in Indian Territory. Most of the Five Civilized Tribes had been in Indian Territory for fewer than 25 years.

Although at first all five nations lined up with the Confederacy, it was by no means unanimous. They ended up divided over secession along virtually the same lines that separated the pro-treaty Indians and those who had resisted removal from their native lands in the East. And since they had adopted Southern culture before removal, many prosperous tribal members owned slaves. Members of each tribe served in different armies and fought one another.

By the end of the war, the territory itself was virtually devoid of people—white and red. The Civil War in Indian Territory also was the first time that black soldiers were organized to fight for the Union. The soldiers of the 1st Kansas Infantry (Colored) became a steady, stabilizing force for the Federals operating within the territory, in direct contrast to the Indian troops who were difficult to organize and discipline.

The Trail of Tears

To fully understand the intensity of the effects of the Civil War in Indian Territory, one must examine the establishment of the territory and the composition of its inhabitants. The territory was established in what is now Oklahoma in the early 1830s as a permanent home for the “Five Civilized Tribes.” They were being relocated from their traditional homelands in the eastern United States to make way for white settlement. The five tribes—Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole—were considered “civilized” because they began to exhibit the traits and attitudes of whites. The Indian Nations had established national boundaries and constitutions, which included public schools and elected officials. The Nations also had representatives in the U. S. Congress. They eagerly embraced the white man’s Christian religion and established farms and plantations, many of which were worked by black slaves, modeled from the great Southern plantations.

It has been said that the Civil War in Indian Territory began in Alabama on the banks of the Tallapoosa River. At the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, General Andrew Jackson defeated the “Red Stick” Creek Indians in 1814. This Creek War was fought between the Lower, or Mixed-Blood Creeks, and the Full-Blood members, or Upper Creeks, who identified themselves as Red Sticks. This group wanted to maintain the traditional Creek way of life while the Mixed-Bloods wished to move closer to the culture of the whites. The internal conflict was imbedded into the larger War of 1812 in which each group nominally aligned itself with one of the sides of combatants. The Lower Creeks had supported Jackson in his attack on the Red Sticks at Horseshoe Bend, an action which created a permanent rift between the two groups. This rift would turn bloody during the Civil War.

The Cherokee Nation also supported Andrew Jackson during the Horseshoe Bend campaign, eagerly attacking the Red Stick Creeks from across the Tallapoosa River. But Jackson turned against the Cherokees when he forced them to move west in what became known as the “Trail of Tears.” The Cherokees also were divided by Full and Mixed-Blood members. The minority Mixed-Blood members supported the movement west and defiantly signed the Treaty of New Echota with the United States government. Not surprisingly, they became known as the Treaty Party. The Full-Bloods resisted the treaty but were forced west by the U. S. Army. They became the Nationalist Party for the Cherokee Nation. Like the Creeks, the two sides would be pitted against each other in the future white man’s war.

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