Choctaw Confederates - by Fay A Yarbrough

About the Book

"When the Choctaw Nation was forcibly resettled in Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma in the 1830s, it was joined by enslaved Black people-the tribe had owned enslaved Blacks since the 1720s. By the eve of the Civil War, 14 percent of the Choctaw Nation consisted of enslaved Blacks. Avid supporters of the Confederate States of America, the Nation passed a measure requiring all whites living in its territory to swear allegiance to the Confederacy and deemed any criticism of it or its army treasonous and punishable by death. Choctaws also raised an infantry force and a cavalry to fight alongside Confederate forces. In Choctaw Confederates, Fay Yarbrough reveals that, while sovereignty and states' rights mattered to Choctaw leaders, the survival of slavery was what determined the Nation's support of the Confederacy"--

Book Synopsis

When the Choctaw Nation was forcibly resettled in Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma in the 1830s, it was joined by enslaved Black people--the tribe had owned enslaved Blacks since the 1720s. By the eve of the Civil War, 14 percent of the Choctaw Nation consisted of enslaved Blacks. Avid supporters of the Confederate States of America, the Nation passed a measure requiring all whites living in its territory to swear allegiance to the Confederacy and deemed any criticism of it or its army treasonous and punishable by death. Choctaws also raised an infantry force and a cavalry to fight alongside Confederate forces.

In Choctaw Confederates, Fay A. Yarbrough reveals that, while sovereignty and states' rights mattered to Choctaw leaders, the survival of slavery also determined the Nation's support of the Confederacy. Mining service records for approximately 3,000 members of the First Choctaw and Chickasaw Mounted Rifles, Yarbrough examines the experiences of Choctaw soldiers and notes that although their enthusiasm waned as the war persisted, military service allowed them to embrace traditional masculine roles that were disappearing in a changing political and economic landscape. By drawing parallels between the Choctaw Nation and the Confederate states, Yarbrough looks beyond the traditional binary of the Union and Confederacy and reconsiders the historical relationship between Native populations and slavery.

Review Quotes

"Choctaw Confederates is the first book to spotlight the Choctaw Nation's participation in the Civil War. . . . Yarbrough builds on [existing] scholarship and fills important gaps in the story of a tribal nation that committed itself to the Confederate cause."--Arkansas Historical Quarterly

"A highly impressive book that breaks important new ground both in the history of the Choctaw Nation and Native American nations' participation in the U.S. Civil War more broadly. Specialists on the Civil War, American slavery, and Native American history will find it essential reading, but Yarbrough's lucid prose also makes this book easily assignable in advanced undergraduate classes."--American Nineteenth Century History