Stand Watie

Stand Watie (12 December 1806-9 September 1871) (also known as Degataga "standing together as one," or "stand firm" and Isaac S. Watie) was a leader of the Cherokee Nation and a brigadier general of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He commanded Cherokee, Creek and Seminole Indian cavalry under the CSA.

Leadership of the Southern Cherokee

In 1862, during the war, Watie was elected principal chief of the Confederate or Southern Cherokee. As a tribal leader after the war, he was involved in negotiations for the 1866 Cherokee Reconstruction Treaty and initiated efforts to rebuild tribal assets. Watie and his nephew Elias C. Boudinot were arrested for evading taxes on income from a tobacco factory, and were plantiffs in theCherokee Tobacco Case of 1870, which negated the 1866 treaty provision establishing tribal tax exempt status. As a result of this case, Congress officially impeded further treaties with Indian tribes, delegating Indian policy to acts of Congress or executive order.

Related Topics:
1866 Cherokee Reconstruction Treaty - Elias C. Boudinot - Cherokee Tobacco Case of 1870

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Watie married four times, the first three before tribal relocation to the west. His fourth marriage in 1843, to Sarah Caroline Bell, produced five children. He is buried in Polson Cemetery in Oklahoma, near southwest Missouri.

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