Today's entry is an excerpt from a letter by Tandy Walker, a Confederate officer and mixed blood Choctaw Indian. Here he writes about the 1st Choctaw & Chickasaw Mounted Rifles and their eagerness to serve the Confederacy.
Scullyville, August 1, 1861.
His Excellency JEFFERSON DAVIS,
President of the Confederate States:
SIR: I have the honor to inform you that the regiment of mounted rifles authorized for the service of the Confederate States from among the Choctaws and Chickasaws has been raised, and is now fully organized according to law. When supplied with arms, I can justly state no more ardent, efficient, and patriotic body of warriors will be found under the banner of Southern independence.
It is an unkind and certainly an incorrect statement, made by some Southern journals, that the Indian warriors design using the scalping-knife in any conflict in which they may be engaged with the enemy. These warriors are a civilized people, are Christians in principle, observe the Army Regulations, and drill with commendable closeness, and will show, when proper occasion offers, they are worthy the age, the cause, and the brotherhood they share with their white allies.
There are two Choctaw and one Chickasaw companies organized, besides the number authorized, that are very anxious to enter the service. I learn there will shortly be organized one Choctaw and one Chickasaw company more, expecting to be called into the field. . . .
TANDY WALKER,Adjutant-General Army Choctaw Nation(As found at http://history-sites.com).
Later, the Indians' zeal to fight for the South was tempered when they found out that neither arms nor pay were arranged for them (per article at Wiki, "Choctaw in the American Civil War"
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| Tandy Walker records.ancestry.com |
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