I am a member of a Civil War Re-enactment Unit in Oklahoma (77th PA Vol Inf). We are in the process of “galvanizing” as the Indian Home Guards for re-enactments in what we style as the Indian Territory. What we have found out is that the Officers were almost totally white, though some of the Chief Ross’s sons were also officers. Also, many of the NCO were white. They were equipped as normal Federal Volunteer Infantry (accoutrements, equipment, and uniforms). They were trained and fought as regular foot infantry. Though, some of their scouts were mounted. There was the hope to have the entire Indian Brigade mounted, but that was never realized beyond the scouts because of a shortage of horses in the Trans-Mississippi Theater, and the true Cavalry Units and Artillery had priority on mounts. The white officers were almost all “hard core” Jayhawkers from Kansas and had been fighting for years in the Border Wars in Kansas. They had a very hard bitten attitude towards the “succesh”, which would undoubtedly added a certain flavor to the way they conducted their campaigns. Basically, here across the Indian Territory, they pretty much left a path of absolute destruction of any “succesh” or their sympathizers. We have found out that they fought hard and well, and dealt with some Texas Confederate units rather harshly and defeated them so soundly that they didn’t stop running till they hit the Red River (border with Texas). They also forced Stand Watie and his pro-Confederate Indians to just disband and turn every man for himself, and it took them months to all re-assemble down in the far South-East Corner of the Indian Territory on the Red River. We have also found that when the Indians that composed the Indian Home Guards first left the Indian Territory, it was not a very good eviction experience. Basically, Stand Watie and his pro-Confederate Indians would show up at the settlement (or farm) and tell everyone to leave and give ten minutes to gather their stuff and be gone. If you resisted, you were shot. If you took to long, you were shot. Then the pro-Confederate would pillage what was left and then burn everything to the ground. Especially with the Cherokee, there was a rift in the tribe that went back to their Georgia days when Stand Watie’s father had sold some of the Tribal land that it was in contention that was not his to sell. The Watie and their followers had established themselves as true “Southern Gentlemen”, with plantations, slaves, etc., sent their children to the best Southern schools, and had sold their plantations, etc. and moved to the Indian Territory way before the forced removal of the rest of the Cherokees had started. Naturally, being the first to arrive in the newly granted Cherokee lands in the Indian Territory, they took the best lands available and more or less left the rock infested unfarmable land for the rest that came latter. I have been told that the rift continues to some extent even to today in the tribe, though I have to do some more research on that.