The Last One Was Stand

Brigadier General Stand Watie surrendered on June 23rd 1865, the last Confederate General to do so.

Upon learning that the Confederate government in Richmond had fallen, and that the other Eastern armies had surrendered, the leaders of the Confederate Indians began making plans to lay down their arms. There was a council called on June 15th 1865 and a resolution made to send emissaries to the Union authorities for terms of peace.

The largest of the Indian forces was led by Confederate General Stand Watie, who was a chief with the Cherokee Nation. Watie was committed to the Rebel cause, and being un-willing to admit defeat waited almost a full month after Lieutenant General Edmund Kirby Smith’s surrender to give up. On June 23rd 1865 Watie with the Creek, Seminole, Osage and Cherokee who rode with him, went into Doaksville, near Fort Towson in the Indian Territory and surrendered to Lieutenant Asa C Matthews.