21. The Battles of Cabin Creek
The First and Second Battles of Cabin Creek were relatively small affairs, in terms of casualties and their impact on the war. But they were significant in that they cast Confederate troops from Texas, all of them white, and Cherokee troops under Stand Watie against Union forces comprised of largely “Coloured Troops” including Cherokee and other tribes loyal to the Union. Both were started as troops deployed to deter Confederate attempts to capture Union supply wagon trains. The first, in July, 1863, was a Union victory. In the second, in May 1864, the Confederates prevailed, and atrocities occurred when Confederate troops, whether Texan or Cherokee under debate since, massacred surrendering Union soldiers.
The two Battles of Cabin Creek, and the many other pitched battles which took place in the Indian Territory during the Civil War, are examples of how the nation was torn in ways well beyond the disputes between North and South. The Texas troops resented all Indians, regardless of where their allegiances lay. In many cases, they refused to serve under Cherokee officers, including Stand Watie, by the end of the war a commissioned Confederate general. Raids by both Union and Confederate troops into the Indian Territory destroyed Indian homes, villages, and farms indiscriminately, with Cherokee fighting Cherokee, dividing families and clans.