Confederate empire and the Indian treaties : Pike, McCulloch, and the Five Civilized Tribes, 1861-1862.

Date

2011-05

Authors

Fisher, Paul Thomas.

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Worldwide access

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Abstract

From its beginning, the Confederacy looked to expand in power and territory by courting the Five Civilized Tribes away from the United States. To accomplish this, the Confederacy sent an unlikely pair of ambassadors: lawyer-negotiator Albert Pike and former Indian fighter Benjamin McCulloch. While Pike signed treaties with the tribes, McCulloch began organizing the Indians as Confederate soldiers. Pike took over equipping and training the various Indian units and led them to join the main Confederate army in Arkansas. This army, including Pike's Indians,suffered defeat in the 1862 Battle of Pea Ridge. McCulloch's death in the battle, Pike's forced resignation afterward, and the defeat itself doomed Confederate efforts to dominate the frontier. Despite their substantial help to the Confederates, the Five Tribes received little help from Richmond, and paid a massive price for trying to get out of United States protection in unequal and unjust treaties after the war.

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Keywords

Five Civilized Tribes--History., Indians of North America--Indian Territory--History., Indians of North America--History--Civil War, 1861-1865., Pike, Albert, 1809-1891., McCulloch, Ben, 1811-1862., Indians of North America--Treaties.

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