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December 9, 1861: Battle of Bird
Creek, Confederates routed small
troop of Union Creeks.
Disillusioned at killing other
Indians, Cherokees desert in
numbers.
March 6-8, 1862: Battle of Pea
Ridge in Northwest Arkansas.
14,000 Confederate troops led by
General Earl Van Doren defeated
by Union divisions commanded by
General Samuel Curtis. Route of
the Southern troops opened way
to invasion of Indian Territory
by the North. Soon after, the
South diverted most of its
forces and equipment back to the
East of the Mississippi River as
war escalated leaving Indian
troops to defend the Territory.
Union troops at Fort Scott,
Kansas ordered to prepare to
barricade the Cherokee Nation.
June 26, 1862: Colonel J. J.
Clarkson promoted to command
over all Confederate troops in
the Cherokee Nation.
July 3, 1862: Union forces, in a
surprise attack captured Colonel
Clarkson and many of his men.
July 3-7, 1862: Nearly all of
Colonel John Drew’s Cherokee
Mounted Rifles regiment
surrendered and joined the Union
side at Cabin Creek. The second
and third Indian Home Guards
were organized from the ranks
July 5.
July 15, 1862: Chief Ross and
200 loyal "Pins" soldiers and
former Confederate soldiers
guarding his home at Park Hill
arrested by Captain Harris S.
Greeno of the Sixth Kansas
Calvary. Nearly 1,500 men
eventually joined the Union
side.
Major William T. Campbell
occupied Fort Gibson and
re-established a Union command
post in Indian Territory.
August 3, 1862: Chief Ross
escorted out of the Cherokee
Nation into Kansas along with
his family, a few friends,
records and the National
Treasury. Ross was exiled to his
wife’s family home in Delaware
for the duration. Soon after,
approximately 2,000 Cherokees
sought refuge in neutral lands
in southeast Kansas.
August 21, 1862: Stand Watie
elected Principal Chief by first
Confederate Cherokee Convention
held at Tahlequah. The final
session was held June 1, 1863
near the mouth of Coody Creek in
Canadian District.
August 31, 1862: Confederate
Cherokee troops reorganized (due
to desertions) forming the First
Cherokee Mounted Volunteers.
Watie promoted to rank of
Colonel. Several months later,
Second Regiment Cherokee Mounted
Volunteers formed under command
of Colonel William Penn Adair.
October 22, 1862: Battle of Fort
Wayne. Confederate troops were
defeated and their artillery
pieces were captured.
December 7, 1862: Battle of
Prairie Grove in northwest
Arkansas. Confederates defeated
by Union army in a sweeping
invasion into Indian Territory.
December 27, 1862: Fort Davis,
the Confederate Command Post
located just across the river
from Fort Gibson, burned by
Union Army and Indian troops.
Confederates retreated south to
Honey Springs.
February 20, 1863: Cherokees
loyal to John Ross revoked
treaty with the South and
pledged loyalty to the Union at
emergency session of the
National Council at Cow Skin
Prairie; also, removed
Confederates from office,
emancipated slaves and affirmed
Ross as Principal Chief.
April 8, 1863: 3,150 Union
troops (Kansas Calvary, Indian
Home Guards and artillery units)
occupied Fort Gibson at the
start of a campaign to clear the
area of Confederate resistance.
May 20, 1863: Watie’s men,
reduced to making guerrilla
raids without the support of
Confederate army regulars, made
a raid on Fort Gibson and
captured mules and most of the
Union’s horses.
July 17, 1863: Battle of Honey
Springs in Creek Nation. Watie’s
men and Confederate Indians
defeated in what became the
turning point in the territorial
war.
October 28, 1863: Stand Watie
and his men burned the Cherokee
Capital buildings at Tahlequah.
October 29, 1863: Watie burned
Chief Ross’ home at Park Hill
and committed many other acts of
vengeance and destruction.
May 10, 1864: The Confederacy
promoted Stand Watie to the rank
of Brigadier General.
June 15, 1864: Brig. General
Watie captured the steamboat "J.J.
Williams" on the Arkansas River
which was headed for Fort Gibson
loaded with supplies.
September 19, 1864: At Cabin
Creek, Brig. General Watie and
General Richard M. Ganoe
captured a huge military supply
train of 300 wagons headed for
Fort Gibson. The extra food,
clothing and supplies allowed
his men to continue their raids.
April 9, 1865: Confederate
General Robert E. Lee
surrendered at Appomattox ending
fighting in the east.
May 10, 1865: Confederate
President Jefferson Davis
captured.
May 31, 1865: Union Cherokee
troops mustered out of military
service.
June 23, 1865: Brig. General
Stand Watie surrendered and
signed articles of peace at
Doaksville. He was the last
Confederate General to lay down
arms.
July 13, 1865: Cherokee National
Council called into session by
Lewis Downing.
September 1, 1865: Chief John
Ross returned to the Cherokee
Nation, arriving by boat at Fort
Gibson.
September 8, 1865: Cherokee
delegates and representatives of
eleven tribes in Indian
Territory met federal agents at
Fort Smith to negotiate terms of
a new peace treaty. The
commission refused to recognize
Ross as Principal Chief.
September 16, 1865: Tentative
peace treaty signed by Cherokees
at Fort Gibson. Final terms were
to be finalized in Washington.
November 7, 1865: Chief Ross and
seven delegates empowered by the
National Council to go to
Washington to finalize terms of
the permanent reconstruction
treaty.
July 19. 1866: Terms of
reconstruction treaty agreed
upon and signed by Cherokee
delegation. It was ratified by
Congress July 27, and further
proclaimed by August 11, 1866.
August 1, 1866: Chief John Ross
died in Washington.
November 28, 1866: Cherokee
Constitution amended by the
National Council to comply with
the terms of the new treaty. |
