The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 63, July 1959 - April, 1960 Page: 632

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

prepared and submitted to the Fifth Congress of Texas a brochure
of his correspondence with Stephen F. Austin, plus other docu-
ments bearing on his Federalist activities in Mexico, and he
pointed out that his motives coincided precisely with those of
Texas' Provisional Government up to the Declaration of Inde-
pendence. Many years later, Fisher heard of the founding of the
Harris County Historical Society and wrote Ashbel Smith, its
first president, and expressed his hope that his activities in Texas
in 1831 and 1832 would not be misunderstood. To clear up such
misunderstanding has been an objective of this biography.
FORREST E. WARD
General Stand Watie's Confederate Indians. By Frank Cunning-
ham. San Antonio (Naylor Company), 1959. Pp. xiv+242.
Illustrations, bibliography, index. $5.00.
Written in a popular style, General Stand Watie's Confederate
Indians should provide considerable information and entertain-
ment for the casual reader who is not already familiar with the
Trans-Mississippi phase of the Civil War. For those who are better
acquainted with the sources of the subject and period, the book's
primary value will lie in the emphasis that is herein placed on
Stand Watie, the Confederacy's remarkable Cherokee general
who did not surrender until June 23, 1865.
Because of the polarized nature of nineteenth century Chero-
kee history and the emotion charged attitudes of the champions
of the opposing factions, it is virtually inevitable that issue will
be taken with Cunningham's interpretation of the tribal schism
and the role of John Ross as opposed to that of Stand Watie. If
one is not unduly disturbed by the writer's partisanship, there-
fore, his study may be accepted as a good, fairly comprehensive
statement of Cherokee participation in the action of the Civil
War.
Texan readers, however, will be primarily interested in the
light that is shed on Texas troops in Indian Territory and state
relations with the tribes across Red River. Cunningham gives
good treatment to the battles of Pea Ridge and Elk Creek, or
Honey Springs, and presents more or less extended statements
on such leaders as Samuel Bell Maxey and Richard M. Gano. Par-

63