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Most Native Americans had little love for the United States. Many tribes were in Oklahoma, which was called at the time the "Indian Territories". Most of these sided with the Confederacy, and some organized units of Native Americans fought on the Confederate side. There was actually a Civil War within the Civil War, between the Cherokees over which side to cast in with. Stand Waite of the Cherokee Nation was a Brigadier General in the Confederate service and commanded a brigade of Cherokees serving the south.

East of the Mississippi the only organized units of Native Americans to take part were several companies fighting for the Confederacy as part of "Thomas' Legion of Indians and Highlanders". William H. Thomas was the "White Chief of the Cherokees". He was a lawyer and it was through his intercession that the "Eastern Band" of Cherokees had been permitted to remain in western North Carolina at the time of the Removal in the 1830s. Thomas was a kinsman by marriage of Jefferson Davis (by Davis' first wife) and obtained permission from Davis to raise a Legion in which his beloved Cherokees could serve, when the Confederacy initiated a draft law. Thomas knew the Cherokees would have to serve, with this new law, and this was his method of trying to control what happened to them. A "Legion" was an idea ahead of its time, supposed to contain infantry, cavalry and artillery - an early concept of combined arms. There were maybe a dozen or so all together formed for the Confederacy, and Thomas' was the last one. They did not fit in well with other units when they were joined with a larger army. In many histories the Legion is the 69th NC and the 80th NC, but they never had these titles during the war - they were "The Legion" and "Walker's Battalion" of the Legion. All together there were about twenty companies and four of these were completely Cherokees. The Legion saw service in east Tennessee and western North Carolina.

In the spring of 1862 the Legion was in east Tennessee, a region infested with "Tories" (Unionists). They were chasing some on a mountain and a small skirmish was fought. The Indians charged and in leading this charge a beloved Cherokee lieutenant was killed. If memory serves he was Astooga Stoga. It was through his efforts that the Bible had been translated into Cherokee. Writing long after the war the historian of the Legion said that "before they could be restrained" the Cherokees scalped several of the wounded Unionists, "for which ample apology was made at the time". Thomas' Legion was one of the last units in the east to lay down its arms, but never surrendered. After putting quite a scare into Union troops in Waynesville NC over the night of May 9-10, 1865, the Legion simply went home.

No doubt there were a great many other individual Native Americans who fought on both sides as members of regular units.

The US Army was withdrawn from the forts of the Great Plains when the war began and moved to the east. The Sioux took advantage of this to stage a campaign during the Army's absence, loosely depicted in the movie "Dances With Wolves".

One of U. S. Grant's aides was a full blooded Seneca, Colonel Eli Parker. He was present at Appomattox when Lee surrendered. After signing the surrender documents Lee was leaving the room when he noticed Parker. Lee stopped and shook his hand, saying "I am glad to see the original Americans represented here."

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9y ago

Some Native Americans helped the colonists during the revolution. This was because they resented British rule and the way they'd been treated.

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Q: What did the Native Americans did during the Civil War?
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