David Moniac: West Point’s First American Indian Graduate

David Moniac graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point in 1822. He was the academy’s first American Indian graduate and the first graduate from the state of Alabama. He lived as a civilian and died a soldier.

Moniac was born in 1802 in present-day Montgomery County, in what was then part of the Mississippi Territory. His mother was Elizabeth Weatherford, sister of William Weatherford, the Upper Creek chief who surrendered to Andrew Jackson at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend (1814). 

David’s father, Sam, owned a tavern on the newly-built federal road through Creek territory. During the Creek War (1813–14), Sam served as a scout for the US military.

After the war, David moved to Washington, DC, where he studied under tutor John McLeod to prepare for the entrance exam at West Point. In 1817, David was admitted to the academy. At the time, the academy served primarily to train future military officers and engineers.

In 1821, Moniac marched with his fellow cadets all the way to Boston, where they drilled, and their marching band played. Former President John Quincy Adams had them to his house. Moniac’s commandant, Major William Worth, tried to introduce him to Adams but Moniac didn’t want to, which the commandant told Adams was due to shyness. 

Moniac’s shyness was likely due to his refusal to be made a celebrity and his exhaustion at the constant gawking. Worth told Adams that on more than one occasion, gawkers had mistaken him for the Indian that everyone knew was attending West Point.

Although Moniac had few demerits, he did not perform exceptionally well — likely due to his limited early education. He graduated 39th out of a class of 40 after being held back a year at his request. However, two-thirds of the students who entered the academy when he did failed to graduate. 

His class included five future generals in the US army, two generals in the New Jersey militia, two officers in the Confederate army, three college presidents, and five civil engineers or chief operating officers of railroads.

The army commissioned him as a second lieutenant in the Sixth US Infantry Regiment upon graduation. He promptly resigned, however, because his father had drunk himself to destitution, and his family needed someone to manage its clan’s estate.

After returning home, Moniac settled in Baldwin County, in the newly-admitted state of Alabama. In addition to growing cotton, he bred thoroughbred horses — a profession held by many of the upper-class Creek farmers.

He married fellow Creek Mary Powell, a cousin to Seminole leader Osceola. The couple had two children: a girl and a boy.

Moniac’s first stint of active military duty came in 1836, during an uprising by his fellow Creeks. 

The Indian Removal Act of 1830 gave the president the right to negotiate an exchange of Indian lands in existing states for lands west of the Mississippi River. This law eventually led to the Trail of Tears in 1838–39, in which roughly 4,000 Cherokees perished on a forced march to the new Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma.

Despite popular misconception, the Indian Removal Act divided opinions among both Americans and members of the Indian tribes. 

The way it usually played out was that the White House or state governments would negotiate treaties with certain chiefs. Other heads of the tribes who opposed relocation would dispute these — often on the claim that the negotiating chiefs lacked authority to authorize tribal removal — and would challenge the treaties in court or take up arms to defend their ancestral lands. Others fled to Florida and joined the Seminoles.

The Treaty of Cusetta (1832) abolished collective Creek Indian lands in Alabama and allotted the tribe’s lands to individual Creeks. The remaining 20,000 Creeks could choose to sell and move west or remain on their land as citizens of Alabama and the United States. 

Land speculators, however, took advantage of the situation and defrauded many who chose to sell, which led to bloodshed. 

Moniac reenlisted and served in the Alabama militia under General Thomas Sidney Jesup.

After quelling the Upper Creek rebellion, the US organized a Creek regiment from Alabama to join troops from Florida and Tennessee against the Seminoles in the Second Seminole War. 

Moniac led the all-Creek Regiment of Mounted Volunteers. He was the only American Indian in the war who served as a commissioned officer, holding the rank of major.

In the Battle of Wahoo Swamp — present-day Sumter Couty, Florida — Moniac was killed trying to lead his troops across the swamp in the face of enemy fire. His death effectively ended the  battle. US troops retreated rather than drag their equipment through the swamp, and the commander was replaced by Jesup the following month.

Moniac’s body was later recovered and laid to rest next to the fallen of the Dade’s Massacre — a battle the previous year, in which the Seminoles won a decisive victory over Major Francis Dade’s troops. His  body was later removed to the Florida National Cemetary near St. Augustine

Moniac’s son, David Moniac Jr., later served as the Baldwin County sheriff.

The Moniac plantation home remained one of the oldest remaining structures in Baldwin County before it burned down at the end of the 2010s. 

In 2021, Moniac was awarded the Alabama Distinguished Service Medal posthumously in 2021.

 

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