Choctaw in the American Civil War

rdf:langString Choctaw in the American Civil War

rdf:langString "The Choctaws alone, of all the Indian nations, have remained perfectly united in their loyalty to this Government. It was said to me by more than one influential and reliable Choctaw during my sojourn in their country that not only had no member of that nation ever gone over to the enemy, but that no Indian had ever done so in whose veins coursed Choctaw blood."

rdf:langString "FAMOUS INDIAN SCOUT ... Jack Amos of the Choctaw Tribe is Here. One of the Heroic Red Men of the Stormy Period. First With Pearce, and Later With Spann's Battalion. Mississippi Is Planning to Honor the Indian ... He is of the Choctaw tribe, and belonged to a heroic band of red men who gave splendid aid to the Confederacy, and who suffered much as a result of their loyalty to the Southern cause. Amos is now a citizen of Mississippi, and has resided in that State since the war. He is an attractive figure among the reunion visitors, and, while well advanced in years, is entering into the spirit of the occasion with a fine enthusiasm. He is a full-blooded Choctaw Indian, and is a native of Mississippi. Amos is now seventy-three years old. He talks well of himself and of the part he and other Indians played in the war."

rdf:langString "Tushkahoma, a Choctaw chief, is about starting for Virginia with a regiment of his people, well armed and equipped for the Confederate service. This is only one of several Choctaw regiments in the army. The Choctaws are all true and earnest in the Southern cause."

rdf:langString "In 1861 a great many Choctaws volunteered for the confederate service, and served with great honor to themselves in the different commands … which operated in the southwest. They made brave soldiers and good fighters. Several of these old braves are still alive, among them being Jack Amos, the confederate scout, who now is tottering on the brink of the grave, but living in the hope that he will live and have the strength to attend the reunion in the spring at New Orleans, and for the last time to see the “Stars and Bars” float in the air in front of the survivors of his old regiment."

rdf:langString The Choctaw in the American Civil War participated in two major arenas—the Trans-Mississippi and Western Theaters. The Trans-Mississippi had the Choctaw Nation. The Western had the Mississippi Choctaw. The Choctaw Nation had been mostly removed west prior to the War, but the Mississippi Choctaw had remained in the east. Both the Choctaw Nation and the Mississippi Choctaw would ultimately side with the Confederate States of America. After thirty years of development, the Choctaw Nation had begun to flourish in their new western environment. Their economic system was identical as the American South and based upon slave labor. Their upper class was engaged in the cotton trade with networks reaching as far as New Orleans. Confederate envoy Albert Pike successfully persuaded much of "Indian Country" to side with the newly formed Confederate states. He conducted treaties for the Confederacy and later commanded a combined force of Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole troops. The Mississippi Choctaw led a tougher existence. Through treaty provisions, they elected to stay in Mississippi while the majority of the Indians moved west. By the time of the American Civil War, the Mississippi Choctaw were destitute and lived a sharecropper's existence. The most lucky of them had a patron who were sympathetic to their needs. Mississippi Choctaws were continually petitioning their grievances to U.S. authorities which were mostly ignored. Mississippian John W. Pierce and Alabamian Samuel G. Spann organized the Mississippi Choctaw. They were both wealthy white planters and had experience with the Indians from Mississippi.