Indian Territory Confederate Heroes

Brigadier General Stand Watie

Stand Watie, a three-quarter Cherokee Indian, was born December 12, 1806, near the site of the present day city of Rome, Georgia. He learned to    speak English at a mission school, and became a planter and assisted in the publication of the Cherokee newspaper, the "Phoenix."

In 1835 he and others signed the treaty by which the remaining Cherokees in Georgia agreed to their removal to what is now Oklahoma. This act split      the Indians into factions and made Watie the leader of the minority or "treaty" party.

At the beginning of the War Between the States the Cherokees attempted, unsuccessfully, to remain neutral, but ultimately divided along the same lines as before. The majority declared for the Union and the minority group, under Watie, pledged allegiance to the Confederacy. Watie raised a company         early in 1861; he later in the year was appointed colonel of the 1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles, and brigadier general to rank from May 6, 1864. The    Indians were engaged in the battles of Wilson's Creek and Elkhorn Tavern, and were principally used in raids and as skirmishers in the Territory and     along its borders. They were found to be excellent soldiers in the sudden offensive action. Gen. Watie fought bravely to the end, the last general of the Confederacy to "strike the colors" on June 23, 1865, at Doaksville in Choctaw County, Oklahoma.

After the war he resumed the life of a planter and also engaged in various business enterprises. He died at his home on Honey Creek, in what is now Delaware County, Oklahoma on September 9, 1871 and is buried in Old Polson Cemetery near Grove, Oklahoma.

Saladin Ridge Watie

Saladin Ridge Watie, son of Stand Watie, enlisted in the Confederate service at the age of fifteen and rose to the rank of captain in his father's    Confederate Indian Brigade. He was cited for exceptional bravery by General Douglas H. Cooper at the 1864 attack on Union forces at Fort Smith, Arkansas. He served on the Southern Cherokee Delegation to Washington in 1866. Saladin died of a sudden illness at Weber's Falls in 1868. He was    only 21 years old.

Brigadier General Douglas Hancock Cooper

Douglas Hancock Cooper, a native of Mississippi, was born on November 1, 1815, probably in Amite County, where his father, a physician and       Baptist preacher, was discharging his ecclesiastical duties at the time.

After attending the University of Virginia from 1832 to 1834, the son returned to Mississippi and engaged in planting in Wilkinson County. During the Mexican War he served as captain of the 1st Mississippi Rifles, and in 1853 was appointed by President Franklin Pierce U.S. agent to the Choctaw   Nation in Indian Territory

In 1861 he was deputed by the Confederate government to secure the allegiance of the Indians, and was commissioned colonel of the 1st Choctaw         and Chickasaw Mounted Rifles. He commanded the Indians at Elkhorn and at Newtonia, Missouri, and was subsequently promoted brigadier general       to rank from May 2, 1863. He also was in command of Confederate forces in the largest battle fought in Indian Territory: Honey Springs, July 17,       1863. His last important military service was rendered as commander of the Indian brigade in General Sterling Price's second invasion of Missouri.

After the war General Cooper prosecuted the claims of the Choctaws and Chickasaws against the Federal government, claims arising out of nonperformance by the government in connection with the removal of the tribes from their original lands. He died at Old Fort Washita in the         Chickasaw Nation (present day Bryan County) April 29, 1879 and is buried in the Fort cemetery in an unmarked grave.

John Drew

John Drew was appointed by Chief John Ross as a colonel of the First Cherokeee Mounted Rifles, a regiment of Cherokees raised for the        Confederacy during the War Between the States. Over the early years of the war, the majority of his regiment deserted. Drew was a veteran of the     Creek War, 1813-1814, and led a party of Cherokees over the Trail of Tears in 1839.

Brigadier General Frank Crawford Armstrong

 Frank Crawford Armstrong was born on November 22, 1835 at Choctaw Agency, Indian Territory (now the virtually abandoned village of         Scullyville) where his father, an officer in the U.S. Army, was stationed at the time. The latter died when Armstrong was a boy. His mother took as her second husband, General Persifor Frazer Smith, U.S.A., one of the heroes of the Mexican War, whom young Armstrong accompanied on a military expedition into New Mexico in 1854.

After graduation from Holy Cross Academy in Massachusetts, he was commissioned directly into the regular army the following year. He took part in       the battle of First Manassas on the Union side, but resigned on August 13, 1861. His first Confederate service was on the staffs of Generals Mcintosh     and Ben McCulloch; and he was a few feet away when the latter met his death at Pea Ridge (Elkhorn Tavern).

Subsequently elected colonel of the 3rd Louisiana Infantry, he was soon after given command of the cavalry in the forces under General Sterling Price. During the balance of the war Armstrong operated under the command of such leaders as Forrest, Wheeler, Stephen D. Lee, and Chalmers. His last    battle was that of Selma, Alabama, when the remnant of Forrest's corps surrendered. He had meantime been promoted brigadier general to rank from January 20, 1863.

At the close of hostilities he entered the Overland Mail Service in Texas, was United States Indian Inspector from 1885 to 1889, and Assistant Commissioner of Indian Affairs from 1893 to 1895.

General Armstrong died at Bar Harbor, Maine, September 8, 1909, and is buried in Rock Creek Cemetery, Georgetown, District of Columbia.

Samuel Bell Maxey

Samuel Bell Maxey was born in Kentucky in 1825, graduated from the U.S. Military Academy, fifty-fifth in 1846.

The class of 1846 included George B. McClellan, Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson, George E. Pickett and many other future Generals of the War for Southern Independence.

Maxey served as a brevet 2nd lieutenant of the U.S. 7th Infantry in 1846 and the 8th Infantry In February 1847 and transferred back to the 7th         Infantry in July 1847. In August 1847 he was brevet to 1st lieutenant for gallant conduct during the battles of Conteras and Churubusco during the    Mexican War.

He resigned his commission in 1849 to study law and migrated to Paris, Texas, with his father in 1857 and was elected to the Texas senate in 1861.

Upon Texas secession from the Union, Maxey resigned his Texas senate seat and organized the "Lamar Rifles" which soon became part of the 9th       Texas Infantry. That regiment, with Maxey in Command, joined General Albert Sidney Johnston's forces in Kentucky.

Maxey, promoted to Brigadier General in 1862, served in east Tennessee at Port Hudson and during the Vicksburg Campaign.

In December 1863 Maxey was made Confederate Commander in Indian Territory and appointed superintendent of Indian Affairs for the                       pro-Confederate nations.

Maxey was promoted to Major General by General Kirby Smith in 1864, but was never confirmed to that rank by Confederate President,              Jefferson Davis.

He last commanded a division of dismounted cavalry in 1865.

After the war, Maxey resumed his law practice and became a U.S. Senator from Texas in 1875 and served for twelve years.

Samuel Bell Maxey died at Eureka Springs, Arkansas in 1895.
-Samuel Bell Maxey bio submitted by Don Ballard - January 27th 2000

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