Oklahoma in the Civil War

United States U.S. Civil War  Oklahoma  Oklahoma Military  Oklahoma in the Civil War



Introduction
During the Civil War, most of the area of present-day Oklahoma, was called the Indian Territory. The Five Civilized Tribes decided to support the Confederacy, and about 3500 Indians served in Confederate units. Two major Oklahoma units were the Confederate Indian Brigade and the Union Indian Home Guard.

Many Indians also served in regiments in the Confederate Regular Troops and in other state regiments.

First Indian Cavalry Brigade (Confederate)
Created early 1864 when Major General Samuel B. Maxey reorganized Confederate troops in Indian Territory. Colonel Stand Watie was its commander.


 * Cherokee Battalion (Oklahoma) (Confederate) Created probably in early 1864. Major Joseph A. Scales, commanding.


 * Creek Squadron (Oklahoma) (Confederate) Created probably in early 1864. Captain R. Kenard, commanding.


 * First Cherokee Regiment (Oklahoma) (Confederate) Created probably in early1864. Colonel Robert C. Parks, commanding.


 * First Creek Regiment (Oklahoma) (Confederate) Created probably in early 1864. Colonel Daniel N. McIntosh, commanding.


 * First Osage Battalion (Oklahoma) (Confederate) Created probably in early 1864. Major Broke Arm, commanding.


 * First Seminole Battalion (Oklahoma) (Confederate) Created probably in early 1864. Lieutenant Colonel John Jumper, commanding.


 * Second Cherokee Regiment (Oklahoma) (Confederate) Created probably in early 1864. Colonel William P. Adair, commanding.


 * Second Creek Regiment (Oklahoma) (Confederate) Created probably in early 1864. Colonel Chilly McIntosh, commanding.

Second Indian Cavalry Brigade (Confederate)
Created early 1864 when Major General Samuel B. Maxey reorganized Confederate troops in Indian Territory. Colonel Tandy Walker was its commander. It was mostly composed of veteran soldiers from various Choctaw and Chickasaw units.


 * First Chickasaw Battalion (Oklahoma) (Confederate) Created probably in early 1864. Lieutenant Colonel Lemuel N. Reynolds, commanding.


 * First Choctaw Battalion (Oklahoma) (Confederate) Created probably in early 1864. Lieutenant Colonel Jackson McCurtain, commanding.


 * First Choctaw and Chickasaw Battalion (Oklahoma) (Confederate) Created probably in early 1864. Lieutenant Colonel James Riley, commanding.


 * Second Choctaw Regiment (Oklahoma) (Confederate) Created probably in early 1864. Colonel Simpson N. Folsom, commanding.


 * George Washington's Reserve Squadron (Oklahoma) (Confederate) Created probably in early 1864. Captain George Washington, commanding.

Indian Home Guard (Union)

 * 1st Regiment, Indian Home Guard (Oklahoma) (Union) Organized at Le Roy, Kansas, May 22, 1862.


 * 2nd Regiment, Indian Home Guard (Oklahoma) (Union) Organized on Big Creek and at Five-Mile Creek, Kansas, June 22 to July 18, 1862. Commanded by Colonel John Ritchie Consisted of one company each of Delaware, Kickapoo, Quapaw, Seneca, and Shawnee, two companies of Osage, and two of Cherokee.


 * 3rd Regiment, Indian Home Guard (Oklahoma) (Union) Organized at Tahlequah and Park Hill in July 1862 with Colonel William A. Phillips as commander.


 * 4th Regiment, Indian Home Guard (Oklahoma) (Union) Organization commenced but not completed. Men transferred to other organizations.

Pension Records

 * Civil War Pension Index Cards - An of veterans who served in the US Army between 1861-1917 is available on FamilySearch. Each card gives the soldier’s name, application and certificate numbers, state of enlistment, and might include rank and death information. The majority of the records are of Civil War veterans, but the collection also includes records for veterans of the Spanish-American War, the Philippine Insurrection, the Indian Wars, and World War I. For more information see Union Pension Records.

Internet Sites

 * The Civil War Archive, United States Volunteers - Indian Troops, (accessed 5 August 2011) gives short histories of the Indian Home Guard units.

Books

 * Britton, Wiley. The Union Indian Brigade in the Civil War. (Kansas City: Franklin Hudson Publishing Co., 1922). Internet Archive.  . Other libraries (WorldCat).


 * Warde, Mary Jane. 'Now the Wolf Has Come': The Civilian Civil War in the Indian Territory. The Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol 71 (Spring 1993).

Service Records Index

 * Chase, Marybelle W., transcriber, Index to Civil War service records - Watie's Cherokee Regiments, (Tulsa, Oklahoma : M.W. Chase, 1989), 32 pages. Includes the following: First Cherokee Mounted Volunteers (Watie's Regiment, Cherokee Mounted Volunteers; 2d Regiment, Cherokee Mounted Rifles, Arkansas; 1st Regiment, Cherokee Mounted Rifles or Riflemen); 1st Cherokee Squadron Mounted Volunteers (Holt's Squadron Cherokee Mounted Volunteers); Second Cherokee Mounted Volunteers (2d Regiment, Cherokee Mounted Rifles or Riflemen). . Other libraries (WorldCat).

Pension Records

 * An index to Oklahoma Confederate pension records is available from the Oklahoma Department of Libraries. Records are available at the Oklahoma State Archives and the Oklahoma Historical Society.

Internet Sites

 * Rodman, Leslie J., The Five Civilized Tribes and the American Civil War: A Bibliographic Essay, on 10 pages, lists many books that give information on this subject.
 * Native Americans in the Civil War gives information about Native American units in other areas of the Confederacy.
 * Wikipedia contributers, Indian Home Guard (American Civil War), (accessed 28 April 2011).

Books and Microfilms

 * Abel, Annie Heloise, The American Indian as Participant in the Civil War, (Cleveland, Ohio: Arthur H. Clark, 1919). Gutenberg Online Reader.
 * Abel, Annie Heloise, The American Indian as Slaveholder and Secessionist, Reprint. Originally published: Cleveland: Arthur H. Clarke Co., 1915. (Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, c1992). Internet Archive.
 * Fisher, LeRoy H., ed. The Civil War Era in Indian Territory, (Los Angeles: Lorrin L. Morrison, 1974). Libraries with book (WorldCat)
 * Oklahoma Historical Society. Indian Archives Division. Civil War Records, 1862-1888, (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma : Oklahoma Historical Society, Indian Archives Division, 1976- ), one microfilm,
 * Taylor, Ethel Crisp, Indian Territory, 1861-1865: the Forts, the Battles, the Soldiers, (Westminster, Maryland : Heritage Books, c2010), 610 pages., Libraries with book (WorldCat).