Question

Why did stand watie choose to join the confederacy!

Answer 1

Stand Watie was a leader of the Cherokee Nation. He was also a Brigadier General of the Army of the Confederate States during the Civil War. Watie came from a distinguished family in the State of Georgia and played an important role. especially in the negotiations with the Five Civilized Tribes and the Government of the Confederation. Difficult conversations due to the initial contempt of southerners to these native tribes of America. Despite this, Watie felt that the real fault lay with the federal government, so he sided with the Confederate States, for whom he set up a regiment of 300 Cherokee. In 1864, Watie was appointed Brigadier General due to the excellent performance of the Cherokee.

Answer 2

Stand Watie was a leader of the Cherokee Nation (near present-day Rome, Georgia), and the only Native American to reach a general's rank in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.  

In 1829, the gold rush led Anglo settlers to pressure the Cherokees to relocate to reservations further west, aided by Congress’ passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830. Stand Watie, who served as a clerk for the Cherokee Supreme Court, was among the tribe members who supported removal to the western Cherokee Nation, believing it was the only way to preserve the tribe’s autonomy.  

In 1835, such Cherokee Supreme Court signed the Treaty of New Echota, ceding their homelands in Georgia in exchange for land on Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma. However, Under Cherokee law, anyone who separated tribal lands was subject to the death penalty, and in 1839, almost all the signers of the New Echota treaty were executed.  

Watie, managed to escape this fate, becoming a prominent figure in Cherokee politics and a lifelong enemy of Principal Cherokee Chief John Ross. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Watie joined the Confederacy because he considered the federal government as the Cherokees’ principal enemy and not the South