Stand Watie

Stand Watie
Stand Watie as leader of the Treaty Party of the Cherokee Nation, 1862
Native name	Degataga
Birth name	Taw-ker-Taw-ker, De-gata-ga
Born	(1806-12-12)December 12, 1806 Calhoun, Georgia
Died	September 9, 1871(1871-09-09) (aged 64) Delaware County, Oklahoma
Buried at	Delaware County, Oklahoma
Allegiance	Confederate States of America
Service/branch	Confederate States Army Georgia Militia
Years of service	1861–1865 (CSA)
Rank	Brigadier General (CSA)
Commands held	1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles
Battles/wars	American Civil War Battle of Wilson's Creek Battle of Pea Ridge Battle of Prairie Grove Battle of Cabin Creek
Relations	Protestant Christianity
Other work	Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation (1862–1866)

 Confederate States Army

American Civil War

Stand Watie (Cherokee: ᏕᎦᏔᎦ, translit. Degataga, lit. 'Stand firm') (December 12, 1806 – September 9, 1871) — also known as Standhope Uwatie, Tawkertawker, and Isaac S. Watie — was a leader of the Cherokee Nation, and not only a brigadier general of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War, but the only Native American general of the Confederate Army. He commanded the Confederate Indian cavalry of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi, made up mostly of Cherokee, Muskogee and Seminole, and was the final Confederate general in the field to cease hostilities at war's end.

Prior to removal of the Cherokee to Indian Territory in the late 1830s, Watie and his older brother Elias Boudinot were among leaders who signed the Treaty of New Echota in 1835. The majority of the tribe opposed their action. In 1839 the brothers were attacked in an assassination attempt, as were other relatives active in the Treaty Party. All but Stand Watie were killed. Watie in 1842 killed one of his uncle's attackers, and in 1845 his brother Thomas Watie was killed in retaliation, in the continuing cycle of violence. Watie was acquitted at trial in the 1850s on the grounds of self-defense.