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"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.
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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