Indian Territory Confederate Units

1861 - 1865

"The only allies of the Confederacy, the five Indian Nations of
the Creek, Cherokees, Seminoles, Choctaws and Chickasaws
in the War Between The States, suffered a larger percent of
losses than did any of the other states"

Confederate Memorial Hall
Oklahoma Historical Society
Dedicated to "The Forgotten Heroes 1861-1865"

The Indian Division
Army of the Trans-Mississippi
Brig. Gen. Douglas H. Cooper, Commanding

In 1861 the area of present-day Oklahoma was known as "Indian Territory." About 60,000 Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole   Indians resided in the Territory with some 1,500 white men married to Indian women, and some 10,000 Negro slaves. About 2,500 Osage, Caddo, Wichita, Shawnee, and Delaware were part of the I.T. population. Approximately 3,000 Comanche, Kiowa, Cheyenne, and Kiowa-Arapaho were     found in the western part of Oklahoma, the Texas panhandle, southeast Colorado, and southwest Kansas. Of these people, approximately 3,500        fought in the Union army while about 15,000 served the Confederacy. Indian Territory gave a greater percentage of her population to the cause than        any state except Virginia. Given the task of keeping invading Federal armies out of Texas, Oklahoma suffered more destruction and loss of civilian life      than any state of the Confederacy. But the Indians held; the Federals were never able to reach the Red River.

The fifteen thousand Confederate troops of Indian Territory, of whom no more than seven to eight thousand men were in the field at one given time        were, by the end of the war, organized into a division of two brigades. Brig. Gen. Douglas H. Cooper commanded the division. Col. Tandy Walker commanded the second, or Choctaw Brigade, composed of Choctaw and Chickasaw units. Brig. Gen. Stand Watie, a Cherokee, commanded all the Indian units not in the Choctaw Brigade.

The Confederate congress abandoned Richmond in the spring of 1865 without acting on Cooper's promotion to major general and Tandy Walker's promotion to brigadier general.

Unlike the rest of the Confederacy, Indian Territory troops grew more and more successful after July 1863. The great majority of the Division, still in        the field and undefeated in June of 1865, was finally surrendered at Doaksville, Choctaw Nation, on June 23, 1865, by Stand Watie, the last       Confederate general in the field to surrender. General Cooper only surrendered his person in May 1865.

Winchester Colbert, governor of the Chickasaws, in surrendering his troops, became the last civil authority of the Confederacy to surrender on                July 16, 1865, at Tishomingo, I.T.

Maj. George Washington, hereditary chief of the White Band Caddos, was the last military officer to surrender, doing so immediately after Gov.        Colbert at Tishomingo in July 1865. With the Caddo surrender, the last of the Indian Division, Army of the Trans-Mississippi, Confederate States        Army passed into legend.

The red warriors of the Confederacy had performed their mission; except as prisoners of war, no Yankee ever crossed the Red River. Cooper's       soldiers has kept the faith.

 

Cherokee Nation
First Cherokee Mounted Rifles
First Regiment of Cherokee Mounted Volunteers
Second Regiment of Cherokee Mounted Volunteers
Cherokee Regiment (Special Services), CSA
Third Cherokee Regiment of Volunteer Cavalry
First Cherokee Battalion of Partisan Rangers
First Squadron of Cherokee Mounted Volunteers
Cherokee Special Services Battalion
Scales' Battalion of Cherokee Cavalry
Meyer's Battalion of Cherokee Cavahy
Cherokee Battalion of Infantry
Second Cherokee Artillery

Creek Nation
First Regiment Creek Mounted Volunteers
Second Regiment Creek Mounted Volunteers
First Battalion Creek Confederate Cavalry

Seminole Nation
First Battalion Seminole Mounted Volunteers
First Regiment Seminole Mounted Volunteers

Chickasaw Nation
First Regiment of Chickasaw Infantry
First Regiment of Chickasaw Cavalry
First Battalion of Chickasaw Cavalry
Shecoe's Chickasaw Battalion of Mounted Volunteers

Choctaw Nation
First Regiment Choctaw & Chickasaw Mounted Rifles
First Regiment of Choctaw Mounted Rifles
Deneale's Regiment of Choctaw Warriors
Second Regiment of Choctaw Cavalry
Third Regiment of Choctaw Cavalry
Folsom's Battalion of Choctaw Mounted Rifles
Capt. John Wilkin's Company of Choctaw Infantry

Northwest Frontier Command of Indian Territory
Col. Roswell W. Lee, Commanding
First Osage Battalion
Major George Washington's Frontier Battalion
Major James W. Cooper's Battalion