The Role Of Native Americans In The Civil War

Even if the Civil War is most commonly remembered as a war to end slavery in the South, many other ethnicities were afflicted by the Civil War and more specifically Native Americans. Native Americans played a very important role in the Civil War and could be found fighting with both the Union and Confederate armies. In fact, two of the most famous Native Americans that were fighting in the Civil war were Stand Watie and Ely S. Parker, and there stories are highlighting the problems and triumphs that Native Americans had to deal with during the Civil War. First, we will discover who were Stand Watie and Ely S. Parker, and with whom they fought during the Civil War. In addition, it will be discussed the way these two men experienced the war.
In most cases, the side a Native American tribe chose to take during the Civil War, mostly depended on opinions. As for an example, in the state under the influence of the Union, Native Americans had greater opportunities to decide whether to get involved in the conflict or to stay out of it but, as it will be explained later on, Native Americans in the Union states were better off fighting in the conflict. Indeed, for Native Americans, participating in the conflict meant the potential to earn respect and to help them preserve their culture inside a constantly growing country. However, as it will be explained afterwards, the situation was a little more complicated in the Southern states. Indeed, in the Confederate states, earning respect was an attractive benefit and could be considered as a great source of motivation, however, since many tribes in the South were slave owners. In fact, the Choctaw for example had about six thousands slaves when the Civil War started and, because the Confederation loss of the war would mean the end of slavery, Native American tribes such as the Choctaw the Chickasaw and the Cherokee through Stand Watie defiance of the neutrality that was at first proclaimed by the Cherokee’s, sided with the Confederate Army during the Civil War. In addition, another very important factor of decision in whether a tribe was going to side with the Confederacy or not, particularly for the Chickasaw, was the growing hatred toward the Federal government that had forced the tribes off their ancestral lands to another land that belonged to another tribe and then the Federal government did not protect them from that other tribe. Moreover, part of the Confederate propaganda included some suggestions of an Indian state within the Confederate states and also