Dust in the Wind:

The Civil War in Indian Territory
Ethel Taylor

2005, 5½x8½, paper, 296pp.
ISBN 0-7884-3276-1

Dust in the Wind is the history of the almost-forgotten Indian soldiers in the Civil War. It is also the story of a war within a war, describing how the feuding political factions of the Cherokee Nations vented their hatred for each other by choosing to fight with either the North or the South.

As hostilities began between the North and the South, the Cherokee found themselves caught in the middle. Having been forced onto Indian Territory under the terms of removal, the Cherokee were already politically divided under two prominent leaders: John Ross and Stand Watie. Ross, who was the chief of the full-bloods, was only one-eighth Cherokee
himself. He was pro-Union, even though he owned 100 slaves to work his large plantation.Watie, three-quarters Cherokee, was a Southern sympathizer and a member of the Ridge family who signed the Treaty of New Echota, which gave away the Cherokee lands in the east. The full-bloods believed that no bullet ever fired by them could kill Stand Watie. As far as Watie was concerned, the Yankees could think the same thing!

Some 20,000 Indians were drawn into this conflict as soldiers or auxiliaries of the United States or the Confederat States. Whether in Blue or Gray, they fought for their beliefs, and this work is a monument to them. Maps, photos and excerpts from treaties provide additional perspective in this well-researched history.

The book is currently out of print, but I have some personal copies left.

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TO order:
Contact bandony@yahoo.com for confirmation of availability, then

Send your name and mailing address along with your Money Order to:

Ethel Taylor

55500 Bates Road

Bandon OR 97411

$37.00 plus $4.00 shipping - Add $2.00 each additional book