Editing Cherokee (section)

====Civil War====
[[File:Cherokee Confederates Reunion.gif|upright=1.25|thumb|Cherokee confederates reunion in [[New Orleans]], 1902.]]

{{Further|Cherokee in the American Civil War}}
The [[American Civil War]] was devastating for both East and Western Cherokee. The Eastern Band, aided by [[William Holland Thomas|William Thomas]], became the Thomas Legion of Cherokee Indians and Highlanders, fighting for the Confederacy in the [[American Civil War]].<ref name=Will_Thomas>[http://www.cherokee-nc.com/history.php?Name=Will%20Thomas "Will Thomas."] ''History and culture of the Cherokee (North Carolina Indians).'' (March 10, 2007)</ref> Cherokee in Indian Territory divided into Union and Confederate factions.

[[Stand Watie]], the leader of the Ridge Party, raised a regiment for [[Confederate Army|Confederate]] service in 1861. [[John Ross (Cherokee chief)|John Ross]], who had reluctantly agreed to ally with the Confederacy, was captured by Federal troops in 1862. He lived in a self-imposed exile in [[Philadelphia]], supporting the Union. In the Indian Territory, the national council of those who supported the Union voted to abolish slavery in the Cherokee Nation in 1863, but they were not the majority slaveholders and the vote had little effect on those supporting the Confederacy.

Watie was elected Principal Chief of the pro-Confederacy majority. A master of hit-and-run cavalry tactics, Watie fought those Cherokee loyal to John Ross and Federal troops in [[Indian Territory]] and [[Arkansas]], capturing Union supply trains and [[steamboats]], and saving a Confederate army by covering their retreat after the [[Battle of Pea Ridge]] in March 1862. He became a Brigadier General of the [[Confederate States]]; the only other American Indian to hold the rank in the American Civil War was [[Ely S. Parker]] with the Union Army. On June 25, 1865, two months after [[Robert E. Lee]] surrendered at [[Appomattox Court House National Historical Park|Appomattox]], Stand Watie became the last Confederate General to stand down.