The first historical novel of the brutal, deadly, and little-known Civil War in Indian Territory told from the Indian perspective.



It's 1863, and the United States is in the midst of the Civil War when mixed-blood Jack Gaston is called back from Harvard University to his beloved Creek Nation. He is surprised to find that not only has he been elected to be a chief in the House of Warriors, he has also been conscripted as an officer in the Confederate Army. Gaston soon learns that the Civil War in Indian Territory is more than Confederate against Federal—it is tribe against tribe and family against family.

Gaston takes part in most of the major battles of the brutal and bloody conflict, fighting alongside such great Indian army leaders as Stand Watie, Chilly McIntosh, and George Grayson. In trying to reunite his strife-torn people, Gaston discovers an Indian inside himself he didn't know existed. And among the burnt-out stubble of war, he finds love with the Mexican-Apache nurse Bonita Ochoa.

This little-known corner of the Civil War was played out in the fields of the Creek Nation in what is now eastern Oklahoma. In a rich portrayal of period and place, The Confederate War Bonnet is an evocative historical novel that helps to answer how Indians became involved in the Civil War, why they joined Confederate forces, and how the experience shaped their future in America.

Jack Shakely is a fourth-generation Oklahoman and journalist. He is of Creek (Muscogee) descent, but has as Will Rogers said, more than enough white blood not to be trusted. He served on the Los Angeles City and County Native American Indian Commission for six years, and was the commission chair from 1994 to 1996. His family owned newspapers in the Oklahoma towns of Okemah, Okmulgee, Tahlequah, Weleetka, Dustin and Hanna. For twenty-five years he was president of the California Community Foundation in Los Angeles, and has written hundreds of essays, editorials and articles that have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Foundation News and others.

This is Jack Shakely's first historical novel. The Confederate War Bonnet is now available at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. Read an excerpt from The Confederate War Bonnet, click here.

Contact Jack Shakely at