Confederate Allies

By Jeff Paulk, 11 May, 2026

This may not be as commonly known outside of Oklahoma as it is here in the state, but during the War of Northern Aggression all of the Five Civilized Tribes allied themselves with the Confederacy, and had the Confederacy won it would have honored the status of the tribal lands of the American Indians within the boundaries of the Confederacy and not stolen it as the U.S. did.

Why would the Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Seminoles and Creeks align themselves with the Confederacy? Academia and Hollyweird have indoctrinated generations of Americans and propagandized the reasons for the War. As stated many times before, the truth has not been taught, and is still not taught today. Oh, there are a very few brave and honorable teachers who actually do teach the truth, and take a lot of heat for doing so. I pray that the seeds they are planting will take root, grow, and bear much fruit.

Many of us are familiar with the bravery of the Cherokee warriors under the command of Brigadier General Stand Watie. At first, the Cherokees were not very anxious to break their relation with the U.S. and desired to remain neutral in regard to the conflict. While they had much contact and a common economy with the Confederacy, they had treaties with the U.S. government. But once they saw how the North was conducting the War against the South and suppressing Northern opposition, and saw the violations against the U.S. Constitution by the Lincoln regime, they changed their minds and sided with the Confederacy.

By a General Convention on August 21, 1861, the Cherokee Nation, at Tahlequah, Oklahoma, declared its support of the Confederate States against the Union and signed a treaty on October 7^th. At that time, John Ross was the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. However, during the course of the War, when he and others were captured by Union forces, the captured Cherokees changed sides and fought with the Union. Stand Watie was the recognized Chief of those who were loyal to the Confederacy.

The Cherokees were perhaps the most educated and literate of the Five Civilized Tribes. They held much respect for the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and on October 28, 1861, they issued their own declaration, which closely resembled the 1776 Declaration of Independence, and it began with these words:

“When circumstances beyond their control compel one people to sever the ties which have long existed between them and another state or confederacy, and to contract new alliances and establish new relations for the security of their rights and liberties, it is fit that they should publicly declare the reasons by which their action is justified.”

They followed this by stating their faithfulness to the treaties with the U.S. and their desire to remain neutral in the conflict, but seeing the aggressive actions of the Union against the Confederacy, they not only felt this was wrong, but feared they would not be exempt from such action, seeing the savage manner in which the U.S. was treating its own people. The Cherokee Declaration defended the Confederacy in the following paragraph:

“Disclaiming any intention to invade the Northern States, they sought only to repel the invaders from their own soil and to secure the right of governing themselves. They claimed only the privilege asserted in the Declaration of American Independence, and on which the right of Northern States themselves to self-government is formed, and altering their form of government when it became no longer tolerable and establishing new forms for the security of their liberties.”

The following paragraph summarizes the feelings of the Cherokee people in regard to the Union:

“Whatever causes the Cherokee people may have had in the past to complain of some of the southern states, they cannot but feel that their interests and destiny are inseparably connected to those of the south. The war now waging is a war of Northern cupidity and fanaticism against the institution of African servitude; against the commercial freedom of the south, and against the political freedom of the states, and its objects are to annihilate the sovereignty of those states and utterly change the nature of the general government.”

The Cherokees had honored their treaties with the U.S., but now feared that their very existence was being threatened as they had witnessed abuses by the U.S. of Indian tribes in Oregon, Nebraska, and Kansas. They considered themselves already under attack from the U.S. by the actions taken against these other tribes, as well as the invasion of the Confederacy.

The concluding paragraph of the Cherokee Declaration states their loyalty and devotion to the Confederate States of America:

“Obeying the dictates of prudence and providing for the general safety and welfare, confident of the rectitude of their intentions and true to their obligations to duty and honor, they accept the issue thus forced upon them, unite their fortunes now and forever with the Confederate States, and take up arms for the common cause, and with entire confidence of the justice of that cause and with a firm reliance upon Divine Providence, will resolutely abide the consequences.”

The Cherokees did honor their commitment to the Confederacy. It is erroneously recorded and reported that Brigadier General Stand Watie surrendered, and was the last Confederate officer to do so. He did not surrender. He agreed to an armistice, a cessation of hostilities. The Cherokee Nation, due to its allegiance to the Confederacy, was the most negatively affected of the American Indian Tribes. Despite the Federal government’s promise to pardon all Cherokees involved with the Confederacy, the entire Nation was considered disloyal, and those rights were revoked. Imagine that. The U.S. government lied to them, yet we are supposed to believe everything we are told by the government. With a track record like it has, only idiots would do that.

(References for this article were taken from Why the Cherokee Nation Allied Themselves With the Confederate States of America in 1861 - Lew Rockwell.com | January 7, 2004 | Leonard M. Scruggs).