Some People came to Oklahoma during the Land Run while some came after statehood but a few of the original documented people had little to no choice in matters and were forced here on the Indian movement. Stand Watiee was one of the people who fought for his homeland during the Civil War and throughaseriesofeventswas forced to Indian Territory.
He went on a journey hoping to save any ground in the world for his people to stand upon long before Oklahoma became a state and it is no secret that not only was he a Confederate General, he was also the very last general during the civil war to lay down arms to Union forces at Doaksville, Indian Territory on June 23, 1865.
Born in 1806, in the ancestral homelands of now Georgia, Degataga was his Cherokee birth name meaning “stand firm”. Later, he was called Stand Watiee by Europeans. Watiee’s father’s birth name in Cherokee was “Oo-wa-tie” and records show he was later baptized as David UWatiee and changed his sons name to Isaac S. UWatiee. Isaac later dropped the U and combined his names to become Stand Watiee, according to History.com.
Although Stand Watiee was not birthed on the land now called Oklahoma he did passawayinSeptember1871 and was buried here. Watiee made the long move to Indian Territory in 1837 before the Civil War and joined the Confederate forces while living in Indian Territory.
WhentheCivilWarbegan, Watiee took up with the Confederate South in an effort to protect the very ground that the treaty represented in lieu of ancestral homelands in Georgia. Watieie’s intention was to protect and preserve the new land that was promised in lieu of stolen ancestral homelands.
Some may have considered him a sellout or traitor within the Native American communities, but as time and facts reveal, he merely protecting and preserving the inevitable fact that the homelands would be stolen. As time went by, he wound up fighting for future generations to have a land to call home, but this too was stolen in the end.
If one studies the history of Indian Territory, it would be clear that Watiee’s famous quotemeanthewoulddoanything possible to save tribal autonomy.
My great crime in the world is blunder I will get into scrapes without intention or any bad motive,” he was quoted as saying.
Watieie’s Confederate brigadier included the Cherokee, Creek, Seminole and Osage people in Indian Territory who also must have had the same beliefs. After the Civil War, Watiee returned to Indian Territory to find his home burned to the ground by Union Soldiers, however he did rebuild.
Many tribes joined the Union to save any hope for retaining promised land in Indian Territory and further causing turmoil among tribes.˙ However, in the end, both Union and Confederate sides ultimately perished in their efforts. According to History.com, “Watie traveled to Washington D.C. to represent the Southern Cherokee during the negotiations of the Cherokee Reconstruction Treatyof1866whichstripped tribe members of vast tracts of land in Indian Territory in exchange for reinstatement into the Union”.
These facts seem to reveal more of the true grit that Watie possessed and love for Oklahoma. In studying the life of Watie, one can easily say that without the likes of such strong characters like Watie, Oklahoma would not be the spectacular place it is today. There is a spirit of such a true warrior as Degataga that remains in Indian Territory.