--click on the thumbnail to view the larger image --

David Vann was a member of the Ross Party and Treasurer of the Cherokee Nation in the 1840's.

Rose Cottage was Chief John Ross's plantation home at Park Hill (near Tahlequah, OK). In 1862, after Ross's "capture" by Union troops and the desertion of Drew's regiment to the Union side, Stand Watie ordered the house burned.

Stand Watie, leader of the Southern Cherokees, was a Treaty Party leader and signer of the Treaty of New Echota. Named Ta-ker-taw-ker, "to stand firm", at birth and formally Degadoga, "he stands on two feet", he was baptized as Isaac. He later combined the English version of his name with his father's name, Oo-wa-tie, resulting in Stand Watie. His brother was Buck Oowatie who took the name Elias Boudinot in honor of a wealthy benefactor. He was the nephew of Major Ridge. Of the four main leaders of the Treaty Party (the others being Major Ridge, John Ridge, and Elias Boudinot), he was the only one to escape assasination in 1839. Siding with the Confederacy in the American Civil War, he rose to the rank of Brigider General -- the only Native American general in the Civil War. His predominately mixed-blood troops participated in the battles of Wilson's Creek MO and Pea Ridge AR and battles in the Cherokee Nation at Cabin Creek and Honey Springs. After Chief John Ross's "capture", he was elected principal chief in August of 1862. He holds the distinction of being the last Confederate general to surrender -- June 23, 1865 -- two months after Lee's surrender in Virginia.

Saladin Ridge Watie, son of Stand Watie, enlisted in the Confederate service at fifteen and rose to the rank of captain in his father's Confederate Indian brigade. He was cited for exceptional bravery by Gen. D.H. Cooper at the 1864 attack on Union forces at Fort Smith AR. He served on the Southern Cherokee delegation to Washington in 1866. Saladin died of a sudden illness at Webber's Falls in 1868 -- only 21 years old.

John Drew was appointed by Chief John Ross as colonel of the 1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles -- a regiment of Cherokees raised for the Confederacy in the American Civil War. Over the early years of the war, the majority of his regiment deserted to the Union side. Drew was a veteran of the Creek War 1813-1814 and had led a party of Cherokees over the Trail of Tears in 1839.

The Southern Cherokee delegation to Washington in 1866 was sent to negotiate a new treaty with the United States at the end of the American Civil War. L to R: John Rollin Ridge (son of John Ridge), Saladin Watie (son of Stand Watie), Richard Fields, Elias C. Boudinot (son of Elias Boudinot, i.e. Buck Oowatie), and William Penn Adair. Delegates not pictured were Stand Watie and Joseph A. Scales.


Copyright © Ken Martin, 1996