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{{Short description|US Civil War Union Army Native American infantry}}
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{{For|militia from India|Home Guard (India)}}
The '''Indian Home Guard''' was a series of volunteer infantry regiments recruited from the [[Five Civilized Tribes]] of the [[Indian Territory]] to support the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] during the [[American Civil War]]. There was also a series of [[Confederate units of Indian Territory]].

The leaders of all of the Five Civilized Tribes signed treaties with the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] at the start of the Civil War. Many of the tribal members, however, did not support the Confederacy, and, not being organized, were driven from Indian Territory with a large loss of life. Most fled to Kansas and Missouri. Many of the "Loyal" Indians volunteered for Union duty in order to get control back from the Confederate generals. The Indian Home Guard regiments fought mostly in Indian Territory and Arkansas. It was mainly due to these Loyal Indians that the Five Civilized Tribes were able to retain any of their lands following the end of the Civil War.

==Indian Home Guard Regiments==
===1st Regiment, Indian Home Guard===
Organized at [[Le Roy, Kansas]] on May 22, 1862, it included Major [[William Addison Phillips]].<ref name="WAPKHS">{{cite web | title=William Addison Phillips | publisher=Kansas Historical Society | url=https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/william-addison-phillips/16923 | access-date=April 10, 2022}}</ref> The regiment consisted of eight companies of Creeks and two recruited amongst the [[Seminole]]. Company A of the unit was led by [[Sonuk Mikko]]. From the summer 1862 to Spring 1865, the 1st Indian Home Guard participated in over thirty actions.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Porter |first1=Kenneth W. |title=Billy Bowlegs (Holata Micco) in the Civil War (Part II) |journal=The Florida Historical Quarterly |date=April 1967 |volume=45 |issue=4 |page=397 |url=http://palmm.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/ucf%3A22408 |access-date=13 April 2023}}</ref>

===2nd Regiment, Indian Home Guard===
Organized on Big Creek and at Five-Mile Creek, Kansas, June 22 to July 18, 1862. "Concurrently with the 1st Regiment of Indian Home Guards in May 1862, this regiment, commanded by Colonel [[John Ritchie (abolitionist)|John Ritchie]], consisted of one company each of [[Lenape|Delaware]], [[Kickapoo people|Kickapoo]], [[Quapaw]], [[Seneca people|Seneca]], and [[Shawnee]], two companies of [[Osage Nation|Osage]], and two of [[Cherokee]]. It took longer to organize, due to the political disagreements of the various government agents involved in the negotiations. They were attached to the first Indian Expedition given the task of clearing the territory north of the Arkansas River of Confederates. Lack of support from higher command, as well as in-fighting" among the colonels, caused the expedition to be withdrawn."<ref>[http://history-sites.com/mb/cw/itcwmb/index.cgi?read=2708 Text of interpretive sign on Trail #1 (Federal Units) at Honey Springs Battlefield] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070314130703/http://history-sites.com/mb/cw/itcwmb/index.cgi?read=2708 |date=2007-03-14 }}</ref>

===3rd Regiment, Indian Home Guard===
The Third Regiment was formed at [[Tahlequah, Oklahoma|Tahlequah]] and [[Park Hill, Oklahoma|Park Hill]] in July 1862. It was commanded by Colonel [[William A. Phillips]], promoted from Major in the 1st Regiment.<ref name="WAPKHS"/> Many of its troops had previously fought for the Confederate Army, particularly the [[First Cherokee Mounted Rifles]] that had been commanded by Colonel John Drew.<ref name="EOHC-IHG">Franzmann, Tom. ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''. Retrieved July 17, 2013.</ref>

===4th Regiment, Indian Home Guard===
Organization commenced but not completed. Men transferred to other organizations.

==See also==
* [[Indian Territory in the American Civil War]]
* [[Indian cavalry]]
* [[United States Army Indian Scouts|Indian Scouts]]
* [[Choctaw in the American Civil War]]
* [[Cherokee in the American Civil War]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
*[[Annie Heloise Abel|Abel, Annie Heloise]]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20060901141637/http://unp.unl.edu/bookinfo/2557.html ''The American Indian in the Civil War 1862–1865'']. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1992. {{ISBN|0-8032-5919-0}}.
*Connole, Joseph.[https://www.amazon.com/Civil-Subversion-American-Indian-Sovereignty/dp/1476670730/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= ''The Civil War and the Subversion of American Indian Sovereignty'']. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2017 {{ISBN|1476670730}}
*Lause, Mark A.[https://www.amazon.com/Race-Radicalism-Union-Army-Lause/dp/0252079256/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= ''Race and Radicalism in the Union Army'']. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2009.
* {{Internet Archive|02208690.3232.emory.edu|Britton, Wiley. ''The Union Indian Brigade in the Civil War''. Kansas City: Franklin Hudson Publishing Co., 1922.}}
*Warde, Mary Jane. '''Now the Wolf Has Come': The Civilian Civil War in the Indian Territory''. The Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol 71 (Spring 1993).

==External links==
*[http://www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/unindtr.htm The Civil War Archive—Indian Troops]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060317054343/http://www.juntosociety.com/native/black_dog.htm Junto Society]
* [http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/I/IN010.html Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Indian Home Guard] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101018203244/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/I/IN010.html |date=2010-10-18 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121024013411/http://www.library.okstate.edu/okmaps/ Oklahoma Digital Maps: Digital Collections of Oklahoma and Indian Territory]

[[Category:Irregular forces of the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Arkansas in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Kansas in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:19th-century Cherokee history]]
[[Category:Indian Territory in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Native Americans in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:1862 establishments in the United States]]
[[Category:Units and formations of the Union army from Indian Territory]]

Indian Home Guard - Revision history

PQRS1 at 01:52, 26 March 2025