Cherokee Indians and the Civil War

Thomas' Legion
Introduction & How to Use this Site
Cherokee Chief William Holland Thomas
Causes and Motives: American Civil War
Organization of Union and Confederate Armies: Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery
American Civil War: Union and Confederate Navies
American Civil War: The Soldier's Life
American Civil War: Casualties, Battles and Battlefields
Civil War's Turning Points
Civil War Casualties, Fatalities & Statistics
Civil War Generals
American Civil War Desertion and Deserters: Union and Confederate
Civil War Prisoner of War Prison Union Confederate Prisons
Aftermath and Reconstruction
Civil War Genealogy and Research Tools
American Civil War Pictures - Photographs
African Americans and American Civil War History
NORTH CAROLINA HISTORY
North Carolina American Civil War Statistics, Battles, History
North Carolina Civil War History and Battles
North Carolina Civil War Regiments and Battles
North Carolina Coast: American Civil War
HISTORY OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA
Western North Carolina and the American Civil War
Western North Carolina Civil War
HISTORY OF THE CHEROKEE INDIANS
Cherokee Indians: American Civil War
History of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian Nation
Cherokee Indian Heritage, History, Culture, Customs, Ceremonies, and Religion
Cherokee War Rituals, Culture, Festivals, Government, and Beliefs
Researching your Cherokee Heritage
Recommended American Indian History
North Carolina: American Civil War Photos
Thomas' Legion Papers, Diaries, and Memoirs
American Civil War Polls
Civil War History
Recommended American Civil War History
Civil War Video Games

"Cherokee Battalion of Thomas' Legion History"

The Cherokee Battalion: 400 Cherokees 
 
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.
 
"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
 
Jefferson 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 Civil War Strategy. Fortunately, with Chief Thomas’s persuasion, the Cherokees were not assigned to the Old North State'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.
 
Prior to Chief Yonaguska's death, he commanded the Eastern Cherokee to obey their new Chief, William H. Thomas. Subsequently, the Cherokees' loyalty was steadfast with Thomas. Not combat, but mumps and measles killed most of the Cherokees during the conflict. And after the war, smallpox was responsible for killing more than one hundred. (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?) 
 
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. 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".

Recommended Reading: The Blue, the Gray, and the Red: Indian Campaigns of the Civil War (Hardcover: 288 pages). Description: Inexperienced Union and Confederate soldiers in the West waged numerous bloody campaigns against the Indians during the Civil War. Fighting with a distinct geographical advantage, many tribes terrorized the territory from the Plains to the Pacific, as American pioneers moved west in greater numbers. These noteworthy--and notorious--Indian campaigns featured a fascinating cast of colorful characters, and were set against the wild, desolate, and untamed territories of the western United States. This is the first book to explore Indian conflicts that took place during the Civil War and documents both Union and Confederate encounters with hostile Indians blocking western expansion. Continued below...

From Publishers Weekly: Beginning with the flight of the Creeks into Union territory pursued by Confederate forces (including many of Stand Watie's Cherokees), this popular history recounts grim, bloody, lesser-known events of the Civil War. Hatch (Clashes of the Cavalry) also describes the most incredible incidents.... Kit Carson, who fought Apaches and Navajos under the iron-fisted Colonel Carleton, arranged the Long Walk of the Navajos that made him infamous in Navajo history to this day. The North's "Captain" Woolsey, a volunteer soldier, became a brutal raider of the Apaches. General Sibley, a northerner and first Governor of Minnesota, oversaw the response to the Sioux Uprising of 1862 that left several hundred dead. The slaughter of Black Kettle's Cheyennes at Sand Creek in 1864 by Colorado volunteers under Colonel Chivington, a militant abolitionist whose views on Indians were a great deal less charitable, “forms a devastating chapter.” Hatch, a veteran of several books on the Indian Wars that focus on George Armstrong Custer, has added to this clear and even-handed account a scholarly apparatus that adds considerably to its value. 

 

Recommended Reading: Civil War in the Indian Territory, by Steve Cottrell (Author), Andy Thomas (Illustrator). Review: From its beginning with the bloody Battle of Wilson's Creek on August 10, 1861, to its end in surrender on June 23, 1865, the Civil War in the Indian Territory proved to be a test of valor and endurance for both sides. Author Steve Cottrell outlines the events that led up to the involvement of the Indian Territory in the war, the role of the Native Americans who took part in the war, and the effect this participation had on the war and this region in particular. As in the rest of the country, neighbor was pitted against neighbor, with members of the same tribes often fighting against each other. Cottrell describes in detail the guerrilla warfare, the surprise attacks, the all-out battles that spilled blood on the now peaceful state of Oklahoma. In addition, he introduces the reader to the interesting and often colorful leaders of the military North and South, including the only American Indian to attain a general's rank in the war, Gen. Stand Watie (member of the Cherokee Nation). With outstanding illustrations by Andy Thomas, this story is a tribute to those who fought and a revealing portrait of the important role they played in this era of our country's history. Continued below...

Meet The Author: A resident of Carthage, Missouri, Steve Cottrell is a descendant of a Sixth Kansas Cavalry member who served in the Indian Territory during the Civil War. A graduate of Missouri Southern State College in Joplin, Cottrell has participated in several battle reenactments including the Academy Award winning motion picture, "Glory". Active in Civil War battlefield preservation and historical monument projects and contributor of a number of Civil War relics to regional museums, Cottrell recently co-authored Civil War in the Ozarks, also by Pelican. It is now in its second printing.

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Highly Recommended Reading: Storm in the Mountains: Thomas' Confederate Legion of Cherokee Indians and Mountaineers (Thomas' Legion: The Sixty-ninth North Carolina Regiment). Vernon H. Crow, Storm in the Mountains, spent 10 years conducting extensive Thomas Legion's research. Crow was granted access to rare manuscripts, special collections, and privately held diaries which add great depth to this rarely discussed Civil War legion. He explores and discusses the unit's formation, fighting history, and life of the legion's commander--a Cherokee chief and Confederate colonel--William Holland Thomas. Continued below...

Numerous maps and photographs allow the reader to better understand and relate to the subjects discussed. It also contains rosters which is an added bonus for researchers and genealogists. Crow, furthermore, left no stone unturned while examining the many facets of the Thomas Legion and his research is conveyed on a level that scores with Civil War students and scholars alike.

 

Highly Recommended Viewing: Indian Warriors - The Untold Story of the Civil War (History Channel) (2007). Description: Though largely forgotten, 20 to 30 thousand Native Americans fought in the Civil War. Ely Parker was a Seneca leader who found himself in the thick of battle under the command of General Ulysses S. Grant. Stand Waite--a Confederate general and a Cherokee--was known for his brilliant guerrilla tactics. Continued below...

Also highlighted is Henry Berry Lowery, an Eastern North Carolina Indian, who became known as the Robin Hood of North Carolina. Respected Civil War authors, Thom Hatch and Lawrence Hauptman, help reconstruct these most captivating stories, along with descendants like Cherokee Nation member Jay Hanna, whose great-grandfathers fought for both the Union and the Confederacy. Together, they reveal a new, fresh perspective and the very personal reasons that drew these Native Americans into the fray.

 

Recommended Reading: Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation. Description: One of the many ironies of U.S. government policy toward Indians in the early 1800s is that it persisted in removing to the West those who had most successfully adapted to European values. As whites encroached on Cherokee land, many Native leaders responded by educating their children, learning English, and developing plantations. Such a leader was Ridge, who had fought with Andrew Jackson against the British. Continued below...

As he and other Cherokee leaders grappled with the issue of moving, the land-hungry Georgia legislators, with the aid of Jackson, succeeded in ousting the Cherokee from their land, forcing them to make the arduous journey West on the infamous "Trail of Tears." ...A treasured addition for the individual remotely interested in American Indian history as well as general American history.

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.

Try the Search Engine for Related Studies: Cherokee Indians and the American Civil War History, Details, Picture of Cherokee Indians, Battle Photo, Native American Indians of the Civil War Facts, Indian Battles, Battlefields Details, The Cherokee Indian Battalion

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