Red Fox: Stand Watie and the Confederate Indian Nations During the Civil War Years in Indian Territory (review)

BOOK REVIEWS85 has been repeated virtually throughout the world. By telling the story of the Confederate carpetbaggers, Sutherland illuminates the human dynamics of this process. Joseph P. Reidy Howard University Red Fox: Stand Watie and the Confederate Indian Nations During the Civil War Years in Indian Territory. By Wilfred Knight. (Glendale, California: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1988. Pp. 320. $27.50.) In Oklahoma, at least, Stand Watie, brigadier general in the Confederate army and the last general officer to surrender, remains a sacrosanct, larger-than-life hero both to Cherokees and to students of the state's history. Wilfred Knight's account of Watie's Civil War exploits will leave the general's reputation untarnished and the prevailing notions unchallenged . The book which was so eagerly awaited by so many is but a rehashing of events, people, and places already familiar to those who study the Civil War in Indian Territory. Long on detailed narrative and short on meaningful analysis, the book fails in three areas: a quicklydiscernible and annoying bias, a sparse use of archival material, and frequent errors in grammar and punctuation. According to the book jacket, Mr. Knight is trained as a lawyer. He appears to have selected evidence to bolster his case. The result is a onesided and at times almost sycophantic handling of Watie, particularly in his relationship with Principle Chief John Ross. Knight frequently questions Ross's actions and motives, usually without documentation, but never ascribes to Watie even the slightest hint of frailty or avarice. It is common knowledge that most antebellum Indian full-bloods did not own slaves to the same extent as their mixed-blood brethren; hence, there was reluctance among full-bloods to commit fully to the Confederate cause. Knight seems at times to disparage these Indians for failing to become good Confederates—for simply remaining true to Indian ways. Though Knight's bibliography appears at first glance to be commendable , a closer examination of his notes reveals that these archival sources actually are used infrequently. The bulk of his narrative is synthesized from the expected sources—the Official Records and secondary works by Annie Abel, Wiley Britton, Jay Monaghan, and others. This tendency leads to occasional factual errors, such as Knight's mention of the "Moravian" mission school at Brainerd (30). (The main Moravian work centered in Georgia at Spring Place; Brainerd was operated by the interdenominational American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions .) Knight also links completely the two Cherokee factions known as the Old Settlers and the Treaty Party (48), although many prominent Old Settlers aligned themselves with the Ross Party. 86erra war history The book contains many errors in capitalization, punctuation, and grammar, ranging from split infinitives to the prolific use of contractions (including "it's" in place of the possessive "its"). Often the syntax is quite awkward, paragraph structure is erratic, and the phraseology is sophomoric (182, 187). These tendencies detract from the scholarly merit of the book. It is interesting that the same passions which sundered a tribe over one hundred years ago still live to hinder an objective examination of the story. Those familiar with antebellum and Civil War Cherokee history who are looking for a quality revisionist version of the accepted story will have to wait longer. Wilfred Knight's book unfortunately contributes little to an objective understanding of those turbulent times in the Indian Territory. Mark Hellstern Oral Roberts University A Creek Warrior for the Confederacy: The Autobiography of Chief G. W. Grayson. By G. W. Grayson. Edited by W. David Baird. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1988. Pp. vii, 181. $16.95.) 7"Ae Life of Okah Tubbee. Edited by Daniel F. Littlefield, Jr. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1988. Pp. vii, 159. $19.95.) Autobiography offers the historian and the casual reader of history insights into the historical process. This personal perspective breathes life into the factual data and offers a firsthand account of events as they unfolded. These two books provide a unique dimension to the personal view of history. George Washington Grayson, a mixed-blood American Indian, and Okah Tubbee, a black man who passed as an Indian, recount events from a perspective frequently overlooked or...