Background
Stand Watie was born near the site of Rome, Ga. , the son of a full-blood Cherokee, David Oowatie or Uweti, and a half-blood mother whose baptismal name was Susannah.
Stand Watie was born near the site of Rome, Ga. , the son of a full-blood Cherokee, David Oowatie or Uweti, and a half-blood mother whose baptismal name was Susannah.
When twelve years old he was sent to a mission school at Brainard near the line between Tennessee and Georgia. There he learned to speak English and received a fair education.
Returning to his home he became a planter and at times assisted his elder brother, Elias Boudinot, c. 1803-1839, in the publication of the Cherokee newspaper called the Cherokee Phoenix. In 1835 he joined Elias Boudinot, his uncle Major Ridge, and John Ridge, in signing the treaty of New Echota. By this treaty the Cherokee in Georgia agreed to surrender their lands, remove west to what is now Oklahoma, and join the Cherokee West, who had migrated to that region some years earlier. The great majority of the tribe bitterly opposed this treaty, but it was ratified by the United States Senate, and the Cherokee were forced to remove in 1838. The feeling of bitterness against the Ridge and Watie group was intense, however, and in 1839 Major Ridge, John Ridge, and Elias Boudinot were all killed on the same day. Stand Watie himself was marked for slaughter but escaped death and became the leader of the minority, or treaty, party. At the outbreak of the Civil War the Cherokee sought to remain neutral but at last made a treaty of alliance with the Confederacy. Early in 1861 he raised a company of home guards, of which he became captain. Later in the year he raised the first Cherokee regiment of volunteers known as the "Cherokee Mounted Rifles, " and he was made its colonel by the Confederate government. In May 1864 he was raised to the rank of brigadier-general. During the entire war he was very active as a raider and cavalry leader and took part in many engagements in Indian Territory and along its border, including the battles of Wilson's Creek and Pea Ridge. He was one of the last Confederate officers to surrender, not yielding up his sword until June 23, 1865. In 1863 the majority party of the Cherokee had repudiated the alliance with the Confederate States, but he remained loyal to the South and was chosen as principal chief by the Southern wing of the tribe. After the close of the war he went to Washington as a member of the Southern delegation of the Cherokee, but soon he returned home and resumed the life of planter, engaging at times in various business enterprises including tobacco manufacturing.
Small in stature, he had great physical strength and endurance. He was an able and fearless soldier and was of frank, candid nature.
He was married in 1843 to Sarah C. Bell, a woman of intelligence and strength of character. They had three sons and two daughters, but the sons all died before their father, and both daughters died in 1875.