Stand Watie

Stand Watie , 1806-71, Native American leader and Confederate general, b. near Rome, Ga., as Degataga Oowatie. Of mixed white and Cherokee descent, he favored moving in the face of white encroachment on Cherokee lands, and signed the Treaty of New Echota (1835), which called for exchanging Cherokee land in Georgia and Alabama for acreage in the Indian Territory (Oklahoma). The move was opposed, however, by the majority of Cherokees, led by John Ross , and after the forced removal of the tribe in 1838 a prolonged feud between the factions erupted. Watie supported the South in the Civil War, became (1861) a Confederate colonel, and raised a Cherokee regiment. His forces operated mainly in the Indian Territory, securing it for the South and harassing Union forces. A brigadier general from mid-1864, he was the last Confederate general to surrender (June 23, 1865).

Watie, Stand ˈwäṯē (1806–1871) Confederate army officer and Indian leader. Born near present-day Rome, Georgia, Stand Watie became a leader in the Cherokee Indian tribe. He was a signer of the Treaty of New Echota in 1835 that committed them to move to Indian Territory (now part of Oklahoma), and he narrowly escaped assassination by those who disagreed. In August 1861 Chief John Ross reluctantly allied his Cherokees with the Confederacy, and Watie was commissioned a colonel and given command of the regiment of Mounted Rifles raised among the tribe. They fought in battles in Arkansas and Missouri, as well as in Indian Territory, before the majority of the Cherokees repudiated their Confederate alliance in 1863. Watie stayed in Southern service, however, and the next year was promoted to brigadier general in charge of a brigade of Cherokee, Seminole, and Osage Indians. He surrendered in June 1865 and later died in Indian Territory.