Cherokee in the American Civil War

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.

The Cherokee blamed the federal government and former United States President Andrew Jackson for the Trail of Tears.

[3] The Cherokee aligned with the Confederacy in part due to their existing cultural, trading, and legal affinities with those states that had seceded.

For the duration of the war, a series of small battles and constant guerrilla warfare were waged by Cherokee in the Indian Territory.

Stand Watie officially became the last Confederate general to end fighting on June 25, 1865, at Fort Towson, in the southeast portion of the Indian Territory.

In early 1861, the Confederate States of America emerged, prompting a request for the establishment of a Bureau of Indian Affairs, with Albert Pike appointed as Commissioner for tribes west of Arkansas and south of Kansas.

Confederate President Jefferson Davis referred to a now-lost Act for the protection of certain tribes, outlining future policy.

[7] Pike's negotiations led to the Treaty with the Creek Nation in July 1861, followed by agreements with eight more tribes, concluding with the Cherokee in October of that year.

[11] While trying to stop a Union advance through Baptist Gap, a popular leader among the Cherokee, Astoogahtogeh, was killed leading a charge.

[12] In comparison to the other signatories, the Cherokee were especially keen in remaining neutral, but this opposition gradually collapsed with Confederate battlefield success: the ninth and final "treaty of friendship and alliance" was signed on October 7, 1861, in Tahlequah.

Financial concerns were crucial for many of these tribes, as abrogating federal treaties would result in the loss of an income stream, much alone the forfeiture of principal amounts obtained via past talks.