General Stand Watie's Confederate Indians

Stand Watie was the only Native American to attain the rank of general in the Confederate States Army.

And two months after Appomattox his unit was the last fighting force to cease hostilities and bring that vicious conflict to a close.

Frank Cunningham’s brilliant history documents the conflicts that raged between these Confederate Native Americans and their Union enemies in Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Kansas.

Lacking supplies and equipment forced Stand Watie and his men to be resourceful and develop strategies that Federal forces feared as they raided supply lines and implemented scorched earth tactics.

Cunningham records many of the major engagements that Stand Watie and his men were involved in, including the battles of Chustenahlah, Pea Ridge, Cabin Creek and Prairie Grove.

This book explains why Stand Watie and the Cherokees chose fight for the same South that had expelled them from their ancestral homelands rather than the Federal government and explores a much understudied aspect of the Civil War.

“General Stand Watie’s Confederate Indians fills an important void in Civil War history.” Edwin L. Kennedy Jr., Military Review

“While the emphasis is on the military contribution of the Confederate Indians, the book includes information on the long-standing conflict within the Cherokee Nation between “full-bloods” and “mixed-bloods,” as personified by Chief John Ross and Stand Watie respectively.” Journal of American History

“Too little has been written about the war West of the Mississippi and Dr. Cunningham fills a phase of this need most excellently. A magnificent book.” Seale Johnson

“Dr. Cunningham has made a masterful contribution toward the understanding of the culture of the South. It is MUST reading — a classic of Civil War literature.” Dr. Jesse Walter Dees, Jr.

“The story of bold Stand Watie is one of the most intriguing in American history and Frank Cunningham has done it brilliantly.” Pat Barham

Dr. Frank Cunningham was a Fellow of Andhra Research University and Sequoia Research Institute, and was Director of the Sequoia University Press. He was a Knight Commander of the Order of the Crown of Thorns, being appointed in 1958, and in 1956 had received the Freedom Award of the Order of Antioch. His book General Stand Watie’s Confederate Indians was first published in 1959 and he passed away in 1972.