Cherokee Brigadier General Stand Watie

Stand Watie was born in Georgia in the year 1806 or 1807. He had a brother named Buck, who took on the name of Elias Boudinot after a European settler whom he admired.

Stand married several times and had an unknown number of children. Most of them died young due to diseases such as small pox and influenza, introduced to the Native Americans by the white man.

By 1820, almost one third of the Cherokee tribe had relocated west of the Mississippi River. They had registered on the Emigration Rolls of 1817 and moved to try to re-establish their way of life.

About 20% of those remaining attempted to adapt to the white man's lifestyle by seeking higher education and becoming plantation and slave owners. Two of the most prominent slave-owning families in the Cherokee Nation were the Ridges and the Waties. Between their families, they owned almost 1600 slaves. Intermarriage was allowed between slave and indian, and children were born free. Most of the Cherokee believed slavery to be unjust, wrong. This began the internal conflict between the Cherokee people.

The Cherokee established a central government in 1827, electing John Ross (1796-1866) as their principal chief. He spoke out against the removal of the Cherokee from their homeland. Major Ridge, his son John, Elias Boudinot and Stand Watie all believed the relocation to be in the best interest of the people. They supported President Andrew Jackson and made deals on behalf of the Cherokee without the consent of Chief John Ross. They stood to gain a large amount of money for assisting the white government with removing the Cherokee from the land the white people desired.

On December 29, 1835, the Ridges and Waties signed the Treaty of New Echota in Georgia which gave the Cherokee 800,000 acres in Indian Territory (Oklahoma) and approximately $15 million in exchange for the land in Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina.

Chief John Ross and Junaluska opposed this treaty, along with most of the Cherokee people. Junaluska went to President Jackson to plead for the people to be left on their property. Jackson refused to void the treaty.

By mid 1837, about 2,000 Cherokee had voluntarily moved to Indian Territory, including the Ridges and Waties. The rest of the tribe, excluding about 1,000 who fled to the mountains, were forcibily removed from their homes and shipped West in 1838 on the infamous Trail of Tears.

The people that arrived in Indian Territory in 1837 were fortunate, in that they claimed the better property and lands for themselves. The Ridges and Waties had acquired the best properties available. When those who had survived the removal arrived in Indian Territory, the resentment towards those who had betrayed them grew stronger. They blamed the Ridge/Watie faction for the removal of the Cherokee from their homeland.

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