Answer:
This question assumes there was a single “Native America.” There was not. There were hundreds of distinct groups, just as there are now.
Some tribes signed alliances with the Confederacy. Some sided with the Union. And some just tried to survive.
The Confederacy signed treaties with the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, Creek and Cherokee, and a few others. The treaties guaranteed the right to own slaves—of whom there were about 6,000 in Indian Territory. The Cherokee were split and there was something of a civil war. About 3,500 Indian soldiers fought with the Confederates and also about 3,500 fought with the Union. The last Confederate general to surrender was Stand Watie, a Cherokee.
When the Confederates invaded New Mexico Territory, they were attacked by Apaches, who also attacked Union patrols.
Concurrently, the Sioux in Minnesota were experiencing severe exploitation by agents, and they rebelled, killing about 800 settlers. The revenge was harsh, maybe 1,500 killed, and 38 hanged. Paranoid Unionists accused the Confederates of fomenting rebellion. There is no evidence that is true.
Californians were still killing Indians in California, in what is the clearest example of genocide in the long, bitter and violent history of the US appropriation of Indian lands. This was also the time of the infamous Sand Creek Massacre was in 1864 when Colonel Chivington of the Colorado militia attacked a village, and killed an estimated 230, mostly women and children.
About 100,000 people lived in Indian Territory in 1860. The war caused devastation, and much of it was a no-man’s land frequented by guerillas, raiders and criminal gangs not attached to either side—some of the infamous gangs after the Civil War were involved. Casualties were high.
Step-by-step explanation:
Indian