General Stand Watie's Confederate Indians [Paperback]

Frank Cunningham (Author), Brad Agnew (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 1998

This is the story of Stand Watie, the only Indian to attain the rank of general in the Confederate Army. An aristocratic, prosperous slaveholding planter and leader of the Cherokee mixed bloods, Watie was recruited in Indian Territory by Albert Pike to fight the Union forces on the western front. He organized the First Cherokee Rifles on July 29, 1861, and was commissioned a colonel. In 1864, after battling at Wilson’s Creek and Pea Ridge, he became brigadier general. Watie was the last Confederate general to lay down his arms in surrender, two months after Appomattox. In his foreword, Brad Agnew discusses Watie’s role in the Civil War and his reception by later historians.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Frank Cunningham earned doctorates in Letters, Education, and Philosophy and received honorary doctorates in Humanities, Journalism, Law, and Literature for his achievements as a writer and journalist. Among his books are Big Dan: The Story of a Colorful Railroader and Sky Master: The Story of Donald Douglas.

Brad Agnew, Professor of History at Northeastern State University, Tahlequah, Oklahoma, is the author of Fort Gibson: Terminal on the Trail of Tears (University of Oklahoma Press).

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press (September 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806130350
• ISBN-13: 978-0806130354
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #101,021 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #69 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > United States > Civil War > Military Leaders

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars General Stand Watie book review, June 2, 2011

By 

Trout - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: General Stand Watie's Confederate Indians (Paperback)

If you are not familiar with the american Indian (Particularly Cherokee) role in the war between the states, then this is a good place to begin learning.

9 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History has told you a lot of lies......., August 15, 2007

By 

Robert C. Hufford (Hopewell, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: General Stand Watie's Confederate Indians (Paperback)

....one of the worst of which is that the Confederacy was a white, Anglo-Saxon monolith. The truth is that the Confederacy pioneered the idea of giving blacks and women positions of authority [the Matron Law], placed Jews in positions of power, and put General's stars on a Mexican. And, we had the first American Indian General; this wonderful book is his story.

Stand Watie was born in Georgia in 1806, and went west on the Trail of Tears. In Oklahoma, he became a rich, powerful, slave-owning rancher. [Yes, Indians owned slaves; so did Jews, Mexicans, and, surprise, Blacks]. He also gained both friends and enemies; as one of the two rival Principal Chiefs of the Cherokee Nations, he headed the Mixed Blood faction, which some thought got along a little too well with the government. [The other Chief, John Ross, was also a rich slave-owning rancher, living in a mansion, married to a white woman; he had less Indian blood than Watie]. Sort of like the Pure Bloods and the Mud-Bloods in the Harry Potter stories, only this wasn't funny........

When the Civil War came, both sides wanted the Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes in present day Oklahoma; enter another of the few Civil War characters who provide a measure of comic relief, Brigadier General Albert Pike, sent by the Confederacy to recruit the Indians; he did a pretty good job, too, capitalizing on the very real beef that the Indians had with the US. Pike's Civil War career is a minor footnote to a long, productive life. Today, he is best known as the philosopher of Scottish Rite Masonry. Pike resigned in late 1862 [Maybe---another topic], and was replaced by the more conventional, but less colorful, Douglas Cooper. Cooper said that Pike was either disloyal to the Confederacy, or was insane; Masons know which was the case.....

Oklahoma saw action all thru the war; the battles aren't as well known as the eastern ones, but the troops gave just as much, and the dead were just as dead. Stand Watie was a hero of Wilson's Creek, and proved to be an effective leader the whole way. Indeed, this was a theatre of operations where the Confederacy remained viable right to the end. Stand Watie was rewarded with General's stars in 1864, and was the very last Confederate General to stack arms.

This book is a true classic, a well written account of a part of the Civil War that most people don't even know existed.. Many thanks to Mr. Cunningham, and many thanks to the University of Oklahoma Press for making it available.

7 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Confederates of Color, September 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: General Stand Watie's Confederate Indians (Paperback)

Excellent overview of Native American Confederates. A little looked at fact of the Civil War. Does justice to all men, women of all color, nationalities whom fought for what they beleived in.