The Last Confederate General to Surrender - Standhope Oowatie, Degataga, and Isaac S. Watie


Watie had returned from the Civil War to find his home burned to the ground by Federal soldiers. In financial ruin, he spent his final years farming and trying to restore his once-beautiful Grand River bottomland.

All three of Watie’s sons preceded him in death and in his last years he watched as colossal tracts of land legally deeded to the Cherokee were taken from them as punishment for their support of the Confederacy and given to other tribes. 

Many believe that Stand Watie died of a broken heart. In one of his last letters to his daughter, he would say “You can’t imagine how lonely I am up here at our old place without any of my dear children being with me.” He died on September 9, 1871 and was buried in the Polson Cemetery in Delaware County, Oklahoma. 

Sure you can trust your government, just ask an Indian...