Stand Watie - Early Years in Indian Territory

Early Years in Indian Territory

In 1835, Watie, his family, and many other Cherokee emigrated to Indian Territory (eastern present-day Oklahoma). They joined some Cherokee who had relocated as early as the 1820s and were known as the "Old Settlers".

Those Cherokee who remained on tribal lands in the East were rounded up and forcibly removed by the U.S. government in 1838. Their journey, on which they took their slaves, became known as the "Trail of Tears," as 4,000 people died.

After removal, members of the National Party targeted Treaty Party men for assassination; their giving up tribal lands was considered a "blood" or capital offense. Stand Watie, his brother Elias Boudinot, their uncle Major Ridge and cousin John Ridge, along with several other Treaty Party men, were attacked. Those four men named were all attacked on 22 June 1839; only Stand Watie survived. He arranged for his brother Elias' children to be sent for their safety and education to their mother's family in Connecticut; their mother Harriet had died in 1836 before the migration.

In 1842 Watie encountered James Foreman, whom he recognized as one of his uncle's assassins, and shot him dead. This was part of the post-Removal violence within the tribe, which was close to civil war for years. Ross partisans killed Stand's brother Thomas Watie in 1845. At least 34 politically related murders were committed among the Cherokee in 1845 and 1846.

In the 1850s Stand Watie was tried in Arkansas for the murder of Foreman; he was acquitted on the grounds of self defense. His nephew Elias Cornelius Boudinot, who had returned to the West and become a lawyer, defended him.

Watie, a slave holder, developed a successful plantation on Spavinaw Creek in the Indian Territory. He served on the Cherokee Council from 1845 to 1861, and part of the time served as Speaker.