Forgotten Warriors: American Indian Home Guard

There's no place like home!

To American Indians suffering in barren refugee camps in eastern Kansas during the Civil War, thoughts like this must have gone through their minds as they longed for the warmth and security of home in Indian Territory (Oklahoma). Some could remember when home was elsewhere, but after more than two decades, many had come to regard Indian Territory as home.

Driven to Kansas in 1861 by Confederate forces, the refugees drew attention from government agencies in Kansas and the Union Army. Seeking to strengthen their position in Kansas and badly needing manpower, commanders of the Union Army made the decision to recruit and train Indian soldiers from the ranks of these displaced tribes. Ultimately, the army created three regiments of Native Americans known as the Indian Home Guards. While Native Americans often welcomed the opportunity to become soldiers as a means to return to and defend their homes, challenges faced them every step of the way.

Civil War in Indian Territory

At the beginning of the Civil War, Union troops abandoned forts in Indian Territory to free up soldiers for campaigns further east. This created a vacuum that the Confederate Army rushed to fill. The absence of the Union Army left Native Americans, particularly those belonging to "the Five Civilized Tribes" (Creek, Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole), vulnerable to an alliance with the Confederacy. The fact that these tribes came from the South bound them culturally to the Confederacy. An additional tie that surprises many is that some Native Americans, particularly the Cherokee, owned African American slaves.

The Chickasaw and the Choctaw readily embraced the Confederacy, but members of other tribes such as the Creek and the Seminole were divided. Many members of these tribes opposed a Confederate alliance and chose to remain loyal to the Union.

As Native American tribes chose sides, tensions mounted. Confederate Indians allied with Texas regiments came to battle against the Union loyalists, led by the Creek chief, Opothleyahola. Despite fierce resistance, Confederate troops prevailed and expelled the loyalists from the territory. This was the first of many battles that tore the Indian Territory into warring factions, with Native Americans even splitting apart and fighting each other.

Native American Refugees in Kansas

The defeated Union loyalists fled to Kansas on what became known as "the Trail of Blood on the Ice." They left behind nearly everything in the way of food, clothing, and medicine. Severe winter weather which almost immediately set in brought indescribable suffering to these Native Americans.

Many of them froze to death as they trekked toward temporary, virtually shelterless camps along the Fall and Verdigris rivers where they stayed for a long winter. Relief for the Native American refugees was slow in coming. Meager supplies of food and clothing trickled into the camps, but it was not enough, and many perished. Visitors to the camps described the conditions as wretched.

"Valuable as a Flock of Sheep"

The real desire of the refugees was to return to their homes and be able to fend off their comrades in Confederate arms. The Union Army, which aimed to reduce the risk of a Confederate invasion of Kansas, concurred with their desires and began planning an expedition to retake Indian Territory. Some Union commanders felt that Native Americans could provide badly needed manpower for the expedition and began recruiting Native American soldiers and forming regiments. Their efforts were opposed by many Kansans who felt that Native American soldiers would be inferior. The Fort Scott Bulletin stated of the Native American soldiers being recruited that, "their principal use is to devour Uncle Sam's hard-bread and beef, and spend his money. They will be as valuable as a flock of sheep in time of action. They ought to be disbanded immediately." Others feared that Native Americans, once armed, would turn against the white population of Kansas. Some pointed to the reported behavior of Confederate Cherokees at Pea Ridge, who many believed to be responsible for scalping and mutilating Iowa troops.

Despite prejudice and misgivings, the recruitment of the Native Americans proceeded with the condition that they would only fight in Indian Territory. The Union Army formed two regiments-the First and Second Indian Home Guards. When first organized, White officers had overall command of the regiments, but leadership of individual companies fell to the Native American. Not being familiar with Army discipline or tactics, the Indian regiments did not immediately become effective fighting units. The Osage of the Second Regiment never did adjust to Army regulations and procedures. Many were mustered out after a series of mass desertions.

Expedition to Indian Territory

The Native Americans’ first taste of war as Union soldiers came in the summer of 1862. Recruited to be part of the expedition to Indian Territory, the First and Second Indian Regiments accompanied several units of White soldiers in a quest to return Native American refugees to their homes and to reestablish a Union presence in the Indian Territory.

Organized and supplied at Fort Scott in the summer of 1862, soldiers of the expedition experienced initial success. Union victories near the Cherokee capital of Tahlequah resulted in not only the rout of Confederate troops, but also the capture of several of their Cherokee allies. However, the expedition was short lived as Union commanders fearing the disruption of supply lines decided to withdraw.

Although only marginally successful, the expedition did have one significant impact. A large number of the captured Cherokee, once free from Confederate influence, ended up joining the Union Army. Three companies of Cherokee enlisted in the Second Indian Regiment and enough Cherokee recruits remained to form an entire third regiment of Native American soldiers.

The Indian Brigade

By fall of 1862, the Army had replaced most of their Native American officers with White noncommissioned officers from other units to instill army discipline into the Indian regiments. All three regiments were organized to form the Indian Brigade. Increased drilling improved their performance, and in spring of 1863, brigade commander William A. Phillips remarked that he was satisfied that all three regiments had become effective fighting units.

Fully trained, the Union Army and Indian regiments returned to Indian Territory in greater numbers and fought in a series of pitched battles that would prove the mettle of the Home Guards. Some of these actions included:

• A battle at the site of old Fort Wayne: the Third Indian Home Guard helped to avert a flanking operation and pushed Confederate forces back seven miles, capturing their battle flag and four artillery pieces. (October 1862)
• The seizure of Fort Davis (near present-day Muskogee, OK): Indian Home Guards drove off Confederate warriors stationed at Fort Davis and left the fort a smoldering ruins. (December 1862)
• The capture of Fort Gibson: the Second Indian Home Guard assisted in driving the fort's Confederate defenders into the nearby Grand River, forcing survivors to swim for their lives. (April 1863)
• Action at Cabin Creek: soldiers of the Indian Home Guards helped to save a Union supply train from being captured by the forces of Stand Watie, the most persistent of the Confederate Army's Native American commanders. (July 1863)
• Honey Springs, site of the most important Confederate installation in Indian Territory: Indian regiments, along with White soldiers and African-American troops, combined in a pitched battle called “the Gettysburg of Indian Territory” by some. These combined Union forces drove Confederates from the area, liberated valuable stores of supplies, and importantly secured the Union Army a firm foothold in Indian Territory. (July 1863)

Total Warfare

The actions of the Union Home Guards made it possible for Native American families to begin returning home, some of them doing so as early as spring of 1863. But the war was not over. Fierce and determined opposition brought about two more years of fighting.

In early 1864, the Indian Home Guards went on a march through the southern part of the territory, engaging in Sherman-like destruction and laying waste wherever they marched. Houses and other structures were destroyed, the economy ruined, and thousands became homeless refugees as tribes fought each other. Tensions continued until the very end of the war.

The determination of the Indian Home Guards contributed to ultimate Union victory. Individual soldiers felt a sense of pride with “war whoops sounding up and down the line” when they rode into battle. They had been driven from Indian Territory in rags, but they came back in Union blue, successful in their quest to return home.

Suggested Reading

• The American Indian in the Civil War, by Annie Heloise Abel
• The Union Indian Brigade in the Civil War, by Wiley Britton
• The American Civil War in the Indian Territory, by John D. Spencer
• Civil War in the Indian Territory, by Steve Cottrell