Native Americans and the War

It's pretty interesting really. In fact, just the other day I was reading a slave narrative of a Choctaw woman who was claimed by a white man as his slave - he didn't have to produce papers or anything! What tribe are you? The ancestors of mine who were with Forrest were Choctaw/Chickasaw/Cherokee/Catawba.
Ack! I'm doing it again! We'll have to start another thread and get out of Donna's food! :laugh:

I'm a member of the Mississippi Choctaw. Not aware of any Choctaw, who sided with the confederacy, kin who was part of the War. Mississippi Native American records are sparse between 1860-1900 roughly. I do have plenty from my paternal side though: William Milo Ferguson; John, David, Daniel, & Jesse Boles (Bowles), Hiram Hogan Boles, Robert Cochran, and James Ward Harris.

I'm what the old-timers called a half-breed.
 
McIntosh-Col.-Danial-Newman-Chili-Creek-Indian-31892.jpg

Daniel McIntosh was a Creek who was a mixed blood (white-Native American). He served as a Colonel for the Confederates.
 
Ah, this is nice! Love these pictures. You don't often see them.
I'm a member of the Mississippi Choctaw. Not aware of any Choctaw, who sided with the confederacy, kin who was part of the War. Mississippi Native American records are sparse between 1860-1900 roughly. I do have plenty from my paternal side though: William Milo Ferguson; John, David, Daniel, & Jesse Boles (Bowles), Hiram Hogan Boles, Robert Cochran, and James Ward Harris.

I'm what the old-timers called a half-breed.

I'm a full blood but my ancestors hit all 500 nations! I'm a member of the Karuk tribe of California. My grandfather was born in 1849, Choctaw mother, in Kentucky. Around 1864 he signed on with Forrest - his five brothers were already in his escort. They were not tribal but were wealthy horse breeders, which is how Forrest came to know the family. Some Chickasaw relations had a cotton plantation somewhere outside Memphis - some of them came on, too. There were two Oklahoma Choctaw cousins as well, who were US marshals. They'd been Choctaw Light Horse. I know the Mississippi Choctaw require you to be half to join - I inquired several years ago when I found my great-grandmother was Choctaw. I believe they also require you to speak the language? I'm always interested in that as I teach three river languages here.
 
Yes, the requirement is at least 50% Native American ... although speaking the language is not a requirement but it helps ... we still have a generation (elderly--who are fast dying out) that speaks only the native tongue-- an ancient link that goes back ages. All after them will be dual-language speakers. More importantly, the language is in better shape than most Indians--- with nearly 90% speaking the language fluently.

Jack Amos, Indian name E-aht-onte-ube, was a CSA private, although I am yet to find his records, who acted as translator for the Mississippi Choctaw and C.S.A. company leaders in Mississippi-- Major J. W. Pierce and Major S. G. Spann.
 
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We have a waaaay lower percentage. I think there are probably only a couple dozen elders I can talk to without using some English. The Karuks almost lost the language but for an ethnolinguist who took an interest in it. It was a very close call. There's a distinct difference, though, in the pronunciation by people who learned English first. As my generation passes, fewer and fewer English-as-a-second-language speakers are around! I love hearing the old Indian tones.
 
cherokee-braves-flag-medium.jpg


Cherokee Braves Flag

This flag was carried by Colonel Stand Watie’s Cherokee Mounted Rifles; the body of the flag is the First National pattern flag of the Confederate States; the canton is blue with eleven white stars in a circle, surrounding five red stars representing the Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminole); the large red star in the center represents the Cherokee Nation. “Cherokee Braves” is lettered in red in the center of the white stripe.
http://www.civilwarvirtualmuseum.org/1861-1862/native-americans-in-the-war/cherokee-braves-flag.php
 
This may be a silly question, Diane, but how can you be Karuk if all your ancestors are Choctaw and Chickasaw and Cherokee?

The rules change? I am Norwegian, although there is a rumored Scot somewhere in there.

It is a given that Swedes and Danes share the Skandinavian umbrella, we are not exactly the same. Or so it is claimed.

The Lakota were Native Americans and didn't get along with the Pawnee and Absarokas who were also Native Americans. They did get along with the Cheyenne.

What am I missing?
 
Chilly McIntosh 2nd Creek July 17,1863 Battle of Honey Springs I.T. "When you first saw the light,it was said of you"a man child is born". You must prove today whether or not this saying of you was true. The sun that hangs over our heads has no death,no end of days.It will continue indefinitely to rise and set;but with you it is different.Man must die sometime,and since he must die,he can find no nobler death than that which overtakes him while fighting for his home,his fires and his country".
 
This may be a silly question, Diane, but how can you be Karuk if all your ancestors are Choctaw and Chickasaw and Cherokee?

The rules change? I am Norwegian, although there is a rumored Scot somewhere in there.

It is a given that Swedes and Danes share the Skandinavian umbrella, we are not exactly the same. Or so it is claimed.

The Lakota were Native Americans and didn't get along with the Pawnee and Absarokas who were also Native Americans. They did get along with the Cheyenne.

What am I missing?

Oh, not all of them were! The whole list is Quesemegan, Seecock, Semack, Narragansett, Cherokee, Pamunkey, Catawba, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Etaw, Cheraw - that's dad's. Mom's is Konomihu, Okwanuchu, Shasta, Applegate Shasta, Takelma, Shoshone, Karuk, Yurok and possibly a stray Rogue River but we're not sure about him. The BIA wants you to prove blood degree back to your great-grandparents but all those tribes meant droplets except for the Karuk. Happened to have the blood degree for them. The eastern tribes did a lot of moving and getting moved and I guess my ancestors believed in being neighborly! :laugh: That blood degree thingie by the government is how you get four by four Indians like me who can't join a tribe, and people who would lose their Indian blood with a paper cut as tribal members. It's a weird system! :playfull:

p s
Oops...forgot the Huron and the Abnaki...
 
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