later, this agreement was to cost them very dearly. Americans are usually surprised to learn that the Civil War was bitterly contested betweenthe Native Americans in Oklahoma. For the Cherokee, it was very much a war of brotheragainst brother. 3,000 Cherokee (usually New Settlers) enlisted in the Confederate armywhile 1,000(Old Settlers) fought for the Union. In the east 400 North Carolina Cherokee,virtually every able bodied man, served the South. Cherokee Civil War Units included:First Cherokee Mounted Rifles (First Arkansas Cherokee); First Cherokee MountedVolunteer (Watie's Regiment, Cherokee Mounted Volunteers); Second Regiment,Cherokee Mounted Rifles, Arkansas; First Regiment, Cherokee Mounted Riflemen; FirstSquadron, Cherokee Mounted Volunteers (Holt's Squadron); Second Cherokee MountedVolunteers (Second Regiment,Cherokee Mounted Rifles or Riflemen); and CherokeeRegiment(Special Service). Cherokee units fought at Wilson Creek (1861) and Pea Ridge (1862). There were fewlarge battles in Oklahoma, but these were brutal. In November 1861, a combined force of1,400 Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Texas cavalry commanded by ColonelDouglas Cooper attacked a refugee column of 4,000 pro-Union Creek trying to reachsafety in Kansas. Over 700 refugees were killed during the three day battle before reasontook hold. After two assaults against the Creek, the Cherokee refused to participate in athird and withdrew. Meanwhile the Cherokee allegiance to the Confederacy faltered.Following the Confederate defeat at Pea Ridge, John Ross switched sides to the Union.Actually Ross allowed himself to be captured in 1862 and spent the rest of the war inPhiladelphia. John Drew's Mounted Rifle regiment also deserted and was reorganized as aregiment in the Union army, but other Cherokee units under Stand Watie remained loyalto the Confederacy. The fighting in Oklahoma degenerated into the same vicious guerilla warfare that prevailedamong the white settlers o...
