Existing comment:
The Civil War
Conflicting loyalties continued to torment Indian Country during the Civil War. Approximately 20,000 American Indians fought in the Civil War, most of them for the Confederacy -- a choice informed by the southern origins of many tribal nations, bitter memories of the Indian removals of the 1830s, and tribal grievances against federal treaty violations.
Wearing blue uniforms were 3,600 American Indian soldiers who served bravely in the Union Army. The Native people who fought for the Union hoped their alliance would improve conditions in and defend their tribal homelands.
American Indian volunteers on both sides wore their uniforms as proudly as their non-Native comrades did, and suffered the same appalling casualty rates. Of the 135 Oneida volunteers from Wisconsin in the Union Army, only 55 returned home -- a mortality rate of nearly 60 percent. |