Glacier National Park, Montana c.1910 Photo by Roland W. Reed
Most tribes and nations of Native Americans did not have amiable relations with the government of the United States. A long history of broken promises and violated treaties meant that thousands of Indians had been pushed off their land and forced to settle further west, or on reservations.
During the Civil War while Union forces tended to alienate Native Americans, the Confederate leadership expressed an interest in making alliances with the Indians in the Indian Territory. Neither the Confederacy nor the Indian troops ultimately benefited from their alliances. The Confederacy gained little military advantage from the help of Native Americans, except for the service of scouts. In fact, Confederate warfare was denigrated in the North when the traditional acts of Indian warfare, including scalping, were publicized in the Northern press as indications of Confederate depravity. Native Americans hardly fared better. Confederate coffers being so low, little food or other aid could be provided for Indians struggling with the challenges of a wartime economy. In addition, after the Civil War ended, Native American tribes and nations that fought with the Confederacy had their treaties with the federal government nullified.
