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The Cherokee Battalion: 400 Cherokees
Prior to Chief Yonaguska's death, he commanded the Eastern Cherokees to obey their new Chief, William H. Thomas. Subsequently, the Cherokees' loyalty was steadfast with Thomas. Not combat, but mumps, measles and, after the war, smallpox were responsible
for killing hundreds of Cherokees (letter written by Thomas concerning smallpox). Also during the war, the Cherokees were even promised their liberty
and five thousand dollars in gold if they would bring in the scalp of Chief Thomas.
(Also see: The Cherokee Battalion: Skirmishes and Battles, William Holland Thomas's 20 Cherokee Bodyguard or "Life Guard", Cherokee Indians: Weapons and Warfare, and Cherokee Loyalty: Confederate, Union, or Neutral?)
"Before Yonaguska died he assembled his people and publicly willed the chieftainship
to his clerk, friend and adopted son, W. H. Thomas, who he commended as worthy of respect and whom he adjured them to obey
as they had obeyed him. He was going to the home provided for him by the [G]reat [S]pirit; he would always keep watch
over his people and would be grieved to see any of them disobey the new chief he had chosen to rule over them." 1883, Ziegler
According to Neely, North Carolina's Eastern Band of Cherokees, p. 162, "Some
Cherokees desired neutrality while as many as 30 joined the Union Army." Oral history states that many of the disloyal
Cherokees were later murdered by their relatives because they had betrayed Thomas. The Cherokees that had joined the Union Army not only fought against their brothers, but after
the War were credited for returning to Western North Carolina with the dreaded smallpox. However, captured Confederate
Cherokees were held in Federal prisoner of war camps and after the War, the paroled Cherokees, immediately
returned to Western North Carolina and, most likely, also with smallpox. Smallpox is considered biological warfare and is currently deemed a "Weapon of Mass Destruction or WMD".
Jeff Davis initially stated that the Cherokees should be used to defend the "coast and swamps of North Carolina" (O.R., Series 1, 51, II, p. 304: September 19, 1861), however, this was contrary to Thomas's American Civil War Strategy. Fortunately, with Chief Thomas’s persuasion, the Cherokees were not assigned to the
Old North State Coastal Region’s swamps. The Coastal Region was the first of the
state's three regions to capitulate, which allowed longer imprisonment for the captured Confederates and, hence, greater exposure
to the numerous diseases at the POW Camps. However, the greatest threat to the Cherokees would have been the immediate exposure to the disease infested
swamps.
On September 15, 1861, two Cherokee companies (200
warriors) loyally answered the call to arms. These 200 Indians were originally known as the "Junaluska Zouaves" (in honor
of Chief Junaluska) and Thomas also referred to them as the North Carolina Cherokee Battalion (O.R., Series 1, 51, II, p. 304 and O.R., 1, 49, pt. II, p. 754). By the end of the war, muster records reflect almost every able-bodied Cherokee (400 Cherokees comprising 4 companies) from Western North Carolina entered into Confederate
military service. Their loyalty was to Chief Thomas and then to the Confederacy, and, in O.R., Series
1, 53, p. 314, Thomas stated that the Cherokees didn't own any slaves, so slavery wasn't a motive.
Highly
Recommended Reading: Storm in the Mountains (Thomas' Legion: The Sixty-ninth
North Carolina Regiment). Vernon H. Crow, Storm in the Mountains, spent 10 years conducting extensive Thomas Legion's
research. In addition, Mr. Crow was granted access to rare manuscripts and privately held diaries, which adds great depth
to this rarely discussed Civil War legion. It also contains rosters which is an added bonus for researchers and genealogists.
Mr. Crow, furthermore, left no stone unturned while examining the many facets of the Thomas Legion. Crow's research is conveyed
on a level that scores with Civil War students and scholars alike.
Additional Sources: Official Records
of the Union and Confederate Armies; Vernon H. Crow, Storm in the Mountains: Thomas' Confederate Legion of Cherokee Indians
and Mountaineers; Walter Clark, Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War 1861-1865;
National Park Service: American Civil War; National Park Service: Soldiers and Sailors System; Weymouth T. Jordan and Louis
H. Manarin, North Carolina Troops, 1861-1865; D. H. Hill, Confederate
Military History Of North Carolina: North Carolina In The Civil War, 1861-1865; Christopher M. Watford, The Civil War
in North Carolina: Soldiers' and Civilians' Letters and Diaries, 1861-1865. Volume 2: The Mountains; William F. Fox, Regimental
Losses in the American Civil War.
Cherokee Indians and the American Civil War History Details Photos Photographs Pictures of
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