Choctaw Confederates: The American Civil War in Indian Country

FAIN: FEL-257203-18

Fay A. Yarbrough
Rice University (Houston, TX 77005-1827)

A book-length study of the alliance between the Choctaw Nation and the Confederate States of America during the Civil War.

The Choctaw Nation officially sided with the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Choctaw legal authorities deemed any criticism of the Confederacy or of the Confederate army to be a form of treason against the Choctaw Nation and punishable by death. Lawmakers raised an infantry force and a cavalry to fight with the Confederate forces. What accounts for this level of commitment to the Confederate cause among the Choctaws? I argue that Confederate ideology appealed to Choctaw authorities in part because the Choctaws were slaveholders who wanted to protect their right to own human property. European traders and settlers introduced the Choctaws to African slaves as early as the 1720s. By 1860, black slaves comprised 14% of the population in the Choctaw Nation. Moreover, Choctaw political thinkers drew a connection between states' rights and the sovereign rights of native nations to remain independent of U. S. authority. Thus, many Choctaws were committed Confederates.

Associated Products

Choctaw Confederates: Native Soldiers in the American Civil War (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Choctaw Confederates: Native Soldiers in the American Civil War
Author: Fay A. Yarbrough
Abstract: The “Complied Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations Raised Directly by the Confederate Government” for the 1st Choctaw and Chickasaw Mounted Rifles provide a window into the experiences of Civil War soldiers in Indian Territory. These troops often did not leave other kinds of records such as journals or diaries, and letters home were rare indeed. Service records include important information about when and where soldiers mustered for battle and for how long they enlisted. The accompanying records in the service jackets, while uneven and unpredictable, offer further glimpses of daily life for the troops. The importance of horses, for instance, becomes apparent. The records tracked the movement of federal prisoners of war from camp to camp and showed that some soldiers chose to swear the Oath of Loyalty and even joined federal units. Other prisoners of war were exchanged. The records also included more mundane, though consequential, information such as petitions for promotion, letters of resignation, and certificates of disability. The records offer the opportunity to add meat to barebones data about troop movements and battle losses. A picture emerges of enthusiastic Choctaw enlistees at the beginning of the war, whose support of the war waned as they were plagued by poor provisions and desertion as the war progressed. Thus, Choctaw Confederates were not so different from Southern Confederates in many respects.
Date: 03/22/2019
Primary URL: https://training.ua.edu/racegenderwar_symposium/http://
Primary URL Description: Please join us for a one-day symposium on the overlapping history of American military service, race, and gender. Fighting wars and fielding a military have long implicated the broader social contours of the United States. Our panelists will consider that record from the 1860s through the mid twentieth century, exploring the ways various groups have used military service to cultivate patriotic credibility, citizenship rights, or personal virtue in an environment of ongoing social and political marginalization.

Choctaw Confederates: The American Civil War in Indian Territory (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Choctaw Confederates: The American Civil War in Indian Territory
Abstract: The American Civil War evokes images of white men, though we now sometimes acknowledge the participation of black soldiers, clashing in blue and gray uniforms on familiar battlegrounds: Antietam, Gettysburg, and Chickamauga. But there were other battlefields out west such as Honey Springs and Locust Grove and other people for whom this moment was a watershed. The Civil War was not just a rupture between Northern and Southern states and Americans over the issue of slavery; other groups were drawn into the dispute. Several American Indian nations, including the Choctaw Nation, officially sided with the Confederacy during the Civil War. My talk will approach a familiar topic, the American Civil War, from a less familiar vantage point by focusing on the Choctaw Nation and the experience of Choctaw soldiers fighting for the Confederacy in particular.
Author: Fay A. Yarbrough
Date: 04/02/2019
Location: Pueblo, Colorado (Colorado State University, Pueblo)
Primary URL: https://www.facebook.com/189318301605814/posts/this-evening-csu-pueblo-faculty-staff-and-students-along-with-community-members-/461807197690255/
Primary URL Description: University facebook post about my visit to CSU-Pueblo.

Choctaw Confederates: the American Civil War in Indian Country (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Choctaw Confederates: the American Civil War in Indian Country
Abstract: The American Civil War evokes images of white men, though we now sometimes acknowledge the participation of black soldiers, clashing in blue and gray uniforms on familiar battlegrounds: Antietam, Gettysburg, and Chickamauga. But there were other battlefields out west such as Honey Springs and Locust Grove and other people for whom this moment was a watershed. The Civil War was not just a rupture between Northern and Southern states and Americans over the issue of slavery; other groups were drawn into the dispute. Several American Indian nations, including the Choctaw Nation, officially sided with the Confederacy during the Civil War. My talk will approach a familiar topic, the American Civil War, from a less familiar vantage point by focusing on the Choctaw Nation and the experience of Choctaw soldiers fighting for the Confederacy in particular.
Author: Fay A. Yarbrough
Date: 04/25/2019
Location: Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas
Primary URL: https://www.txstate.edu/cssw/news-events/events/chocktaw-confederates.html
Primary URL Description: Announcement from the Center for the Study of the Southwest at Texas State University

Choctaw Confederates: The American Civil War in Indian Country (Book)
Title: Choctaw Confederates: The American Civil War in Indian Country
Author: Fay A. Yarbrough
Year: 2021
Primary URL: https://uncpress.org/book/9781469665115/choctaw-confederates/
Primary URL Description: Publisher website
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9781469665115

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