Role of Native Americans in the Civil War. What was the position of the Native American peoples in t

I am not an American citizen and I have an issue for forum´s discussion: What was the position of the Native American peoples in the Civil War? Which native peoples supported the Union and which ones were in favor of the Confederates? Or did they all become neutral (did not interfered)?

 

The role of a civilized soldier is to work , be compliant and get paid . The U.S. Army , with
soldiers experienced in the Civil War , went hence to professionally subdue and conquer the
Western Tribes .

 

Indians on the confederate side?
Better knock those statues down.

 

The Sand Creek Massacre took place around that time. Though not directly related to the Civil War, you can see what sort of situation Native Americans were in during that time. They were being slaughtered. As colonialism persisted, I think they sort of figured that they had no choice but to integrate. Of course there are many tribes and many dramatically different perspectives on integration and assimilation. You can bet they didn't like it much, but that some of the settlers could offer technology that Native Americans didn't have. Don't get me wrong... while I think there was a give and take in terms of technology, the Native Americans certainly got the short end of the stick. I find it highly ironic that they would have to fight in our wars.

Here is a link about the Sand Creek massacre. Sand Creek massacre - Nov 29, 1864 - HISTORY.com

 

Thanks for all the answers. I'm not an expert on the subject, but I read something about some Native American people having black slaves, so I do not think it's impossible that some of them had been on the side of the Confederates.

 

If that is true then that won't really gel with the users here so I doubt you'll hear much about it.. Only white people own slaves. It would be too much new information to process.

 

Jamestown was settled in 1607, There is 2 1/2 centuries of history of the native americans dealing with Europeans before the civil war

Thats a long long time

 

Is it true?
Black Slaves, Indian Masters: Slavery, Emancipation, and Citizenship in the Native American South, by Barbara Krauthamer (2013) - Not Even Past

 

I probably shouldn't mention it , but us Chickasaws were on the Confederate side too, and owned slaves. Our first slaves were Choctaws, who are the closest to us linguistically and culturally. In the 1830s, the enslavement of Blacks was established in the Indian Territory, that would become Oklahoma. The Chickasaw were the first of the five civilized tribes (others being Choctaw, Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole) to form an alliance with the Confederacy. The term "civilized" indicated our willingness to adopt white ways, and unfortunately slavery of Africans was one of those we adopted. After the war, of course, the slaves were emancipated, but unlike the other civilized tribes, the Chickasaw refused to adopt the freedmen into the tribe and were punished by the U.S. government by losing half of our tribal land. Chickasaw Freedmen The Choctaw-Chickasaw Freedmen Association of Oklahoma purports to represent the freedmen's interests.

 

Some did, most didn't.
​

Thanks for the info. Although there were still rebellions among some of these tribes as well against both the colonial armies of the Confederacy and the Union. The book Dixie be Damned covers some of these instances very well. There's also the fact that the Seminoles are famous for The First Underground Railroad.

 

It was the Union side that forced them to move to Oklahoma with the Trail of Tears. So they had issues with the Union side.

 

both sides used them for target practice, but they had pride and often fought for whoever was claiming their land and homes, as illogical as that might seam to someone like me,
but it was that only show in town so they were up for it, i guess. really don't know why any tribe would fight for any side but their own, but then there's a lot of things i don't understand about that vanity in courage business.

 

The infamous "Trail of Tears" is why few Natives fought for the whites, because they didn't pay enough.

 

something it seems i can never repeat enough, there is/was NO single, monolithic indiginous culture. there were (and for the most part still are) well over seven hundred indipendent indiginous cultures in just the region of "lower 48" u.s. states. so there is no one single answer to this. there are of course generalizations, and that is as much as most of us are speaking about, and as much as most people know or have any idea.

 

You could also argue, the war between north and south was proof there was no single American culture. Back then, the states were more independent, and the cause of the war can be ascribed to money, rather than, slavery or politics. The south was largely composed of different ethnic groups than the north, which was importing new ethnic groups every year. Nor did the south welcome what new ethnic groups it received with open arms.

 

I recommend a book written by W. Craig Gaines called " The Confederate Cherokees." It is about the history of John Drew's Mounted Rifles. It includes diplomatic discussions in Oklahoma, between the USA and the CSA. The Cherokees in their infinite wisdom brought up every offence initiated by government departments in their almost humorous fashion. One complaint, for example that the trail of tears did not consider tat the Choctaw and Cherokees were traditional enemy's. The decision makers put these two tribes together in their new homeland. Another issue was that the CSA wanted to use Cherokee's as light cavalry slowing down enemy advances. Cherokees wren forest Indians and most of them had never ridden a horse. They also had problems with wearing uniforms. They liked the rifles that they were issued, and proudly wore the slouch hats and tunic and the but wanted to wear their traditional leggings and loin cloth. I strongly recommend this readable book

 

The bad thing for the Native Americans was joining either side. They were promised land and so on. Which after the war the scouts and other soldiers of Native Americans which help in war , was treated just as bad if not worst. For fighting on one side or the other side. In the end of the war they were outcast's to both sides , the North and the South.

 

The point that I was trying to make was that Native Americans preferred to fight on their own terms, rather than take orders for the benefit of the cause or the group. The Cherokee Company in the John Drews Mounted Rifled was disbanded after one engagement and returned to Oklahoma.