Memorialising Native American Civil War Involvement: Visibility, Geography and Agency in 1920s and 1930s Civil War Monument Culture

This thesis investigates Native-American memorialisation of the Civil War in the 1920s and 1930s. Using a cross-regional approach, this thesis compares Civil War monuments in three distinct regions, assessing the agency of Native Americans in each case study. This thesis examines three instances of Civil War commemoration; the Stand Watie monument unveiled in Oklahoma in 1921, the Battle Creek Marker installed at Bear River, Idaho and the Seneca biography, The Life of General Ely S. Parker written and published in upstate New York in 1919. In each case study I evaluate the extent to which Native Americans proposed, conceptualised, endorsed, refuted, created and promoted their Civil War histories across the commemorative landscape.