Driven West: Andrew
Jackson and the Trail of Tears by A.J. Langguth, 2010, Excerpts
American Civil War
1861: Most full blooded Cherokees
did not own slaves. A secret organization with two thousand Cherokees belonged
to a secret organization who had adopted the name Keetoowah Society. Outsiders
called them “Pins” for the crossed pins they wore on their shirts. The Pins
upheld the traditional Cherokee culture and leaned toward supporting the North.
Cherokees of mixed blood often
sympathized with the Southern rebels. They had their own faction, the Knights
of the Golden Circle, and their leadership fell to Stand Watie, who was
commissioned as a colonel in the Confederacy. On the battlefield, Colonel Stand
Watie burnished his legend. Confederate President Jefferson Davis appointed him
a brigadier general on May 10, 1864. He became the last Confederate general to
surrender on June 23, 1865.
Stand Watie
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