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Captain Joseph Anderson Kimsey
Commanding, Company I, Thomas Legion of Cherokee Indians and Highlanders
Date Enlisted: July 24, 1862
Residence: Cherokee County
Commissioned: 1st Lt., July 24, 1862; Captain, January 7, 1864
Captain Willis Parker tendered his captain
resignation on December 26, 1863, by reason of age and ill-health, and mustered-out at Bull's Gap, Tennessee. General Samuel
Cooper recorded Parker's resignation for the Adjutant and Inspector General's Office (A&IGO) on January 7, 1864 (Confederate
War Record, National Archives). On January 7, 1864, Captain Joseph Anderson Kimsey assumed command
of Company I, Thomas' Legion.
Thomas' Legion Muster Records: Company I – Cherokee County – Willis Parker,
Captain, and Jos. A. Kimsey [Joseph
Anderson Kimsey], Captain; Sol. E. Egan, First Lieutenant, all of Cherokee county;
N. G. Philips [Nathaniel Green Philips], First and Second Lieutenant, and P. B. Gailer, Second Lieutenant, both of Graham county. Number of officers and
men, 109.
On July 24, 1862, Company I initially mustered as Company D, Walker's Battalion, at Valleytown, Cherokee County, North Carolina. On September 27, 1862, when the Thomas Legion officially mustered at Knoxville,
it became Company I, Infantry Regiment, Thomas' Legion. After the Battle of Cedar Creek, October 19, 1864, Companies C and
I were temporarily consolidated under the command of Captain Nathan G. Philips. Company I was also involved in the Skirmish at Hanging Dog (includes details and contributions of Captain James Kimsey).
John H. Stewart's account of Company I, Thomas' Legion of Cherokee Indians and Mountaineers: "Col. Thomas sent Captains Commissions to J. W. Cooper of Cheoah and Willis Parker of Valley River late in 1861 or early in 1862 and asked each of them to get up a Company to join his Regiment. They each
made up a Company, Cooper's Company camped at what is now Robbinsville. Parker's Company camped at what is now Marble and
called it Camp Valley Town. I joined Parker's Company. Both Companies drilled at their camps for a short time and then were
ordered to Chilhowie [Chilhowee: as the crow flies, it is about 20 miles from Andrews, NC], Tennessee and there drilled until
further orders. From that time until near Christmas 1864, the two Companies were together in the 69th Regiment part of Thomas'
Legion. They were together every day, in camp, on the march and in battles."
Related Reading:
The Standard of Raleigh, Aug. 19, 1863
MY MOTHER -- SARAH KIMSEY
The subject of this brief memoir was born in Macon County, N.C. , on the
25th
of November, 1804, and was married to my father, JAMES KIMSEY, November
the 18th, 1828. She died at her residence at Fort
Hembree, Clay County, on a
beautiful Sabbath morning, July 12th, 1863, aged 58 years, eight months and 18
days.
J. A. KIMSEY, 1ST LIEUTENANT
Company I, Thomas' Legion
Recommended
Reading: NEW! North Carolina Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster (Volume XVI: Thomas's Legion) (Hardcover, 537 pages),
North Carolina Office of Archives and History (June
26, 2008). Description: The volume begins with an authoritative 246-page history of Thomas's Legion.
The history, including Civil War battles and campaigns, is followed by a complete roster and service records of the field
officers, staff, and troops that served in the legion. A thorough index completes the volume. Continued below...
Volume XVI
of North Carolina Troops: A Roster contains the history and roster of the most unusual North Carolina Confederate Civil
War unit, significant because of the large number of Cherokee Indians who served in its ranks. Thomas's Legion was the creation
of William Holland Thomas, an influential businessman, state legislator, and Cherokee chief. He initially raised a small
battalion of Cherokees in April 1862, and gradually expanded his command with companies of white soldiers raised in western
North Carolina,
eastern Tennessee, and Virginia.
By the end of 1862, Thomas's Legion comprised an infantry regiment and a battalion of infantry and cavalry. An artillery battery
was added in April 1863. Furthermore, in General Early's Army of the Valley, the Thomas Legion was well-known for its fighting
prowess. It is also known for its pivotal role in the last Civil War battle east of the Mississippi
River. The Thomas Legion mustered more than 2,500 soldiers and it closely resembled a brigade. With troop roster, muster records, and Compiled Military Service Records (CMSR) this
volume is also a must have for anyone interested in genealogy and researching Civil War ancestors. Simply stated, it is an
outstanding source for genealogists.
Additional Reading:
Kimsey was sometimes spelled Kimzey in the census records.
For more information about Captain James A. Kimsey, see:
Recommended
Reading:
Hardtack & Coffee or The Unwritten Story of Army Life. Description: Most histories of the Civil War focus on battles and top brass. Hardtack and Coffee
is one of the few to give a vivid, detailed picture of what ordinary soldiers endured every day—in camp, on the march,
at the edge of a booming, smoking hell. John D. Billings of Massachusetts enlisted in the
Army of the Potomac and survived the hellish conditions as a “common foot soldier”
of the American Civil War. "Billings describes
an insightful account of the conflict – the experiences of every day life as a common foot-soldier – and a view
of the war that is sure to score with every buff." Continued below...
The
authenticity of his book is heightened by the many drawings that a comrade, Charles W. Reed, made while in the field. This
is the story of how the Civil War soldier was recruited, provisioned, and disciplined. Described here are the types of men
found in any outfit; their not very uniform uniforms; crowded tents and makeshift shelters; difficulties in keeping clean,
warm, and dry; their pleasure in a cup of coffee; food rations, dominated by salt pork and the versatile cracker or hardtack;
their brave pastimes in the face of death; punishments for various offenses; treatment in sick bay; firearms and signals and
modes of transportation. Comprehensive and anecdotal, Hardtack and Coffee is striking for the pulse of life that runs through
it.
Highly
Recommended Reading:
Storm in the Mountains: Thomas' Confederate
Legion of Cherokee Indians and Mountaineers (Thomas'
Legion: The Sixty-ninth North Carolina Regiment). Description: 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--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.
Recommended
Reading: The Soldier's View: The Civil
War Art of Keith Rocco (Hardcover). Description: A splendid collection of more than 100 paintings and sketches
from one of the leading artists working in the Civil War field. The text features carefully selected eye-witness accounts
that accompany the paintings, and the result is a moving ensemble of images and words that pays homage to the common soldier.
Rocco's oils are reproduced here on acid-free, heavy art paper and placed in a finely sewn binding. "This art is more graphic than the most gripping Civil War photo or picture that I have ever viewed."
Recommended Reading: The Life of Johnny Reb: The Common Soldier of the Confederacy (444
pages) (Louisiana State University Press) (Updated edition: November 2007) Description: The
Life of Johnny Reb does not merely describe the battles and skirmishes fought by the Confederate foot soldier. Rather,
it provides an intimate history of a soldier's daily life--the songs he sang, the foods he ate, the hopes and fears he experienced,
the reasons he fought. Wiley examined countless letters, diaries, newspaper accounts, and official records to construct this
frequently poignant, sometimes humorous account of the life of Johnny Reb. In a new foreword for this updated edition, Civil
War expert James I. Robertson, Jr., explores the exemplary career of Bell Irvin Wiley, who championed the common folk, whom
he saw as ensnared in the great conflict of the 1860s. Continued below...
About Johnny Reb:
"A Civil War classic."--Florida Historical Quarterly
"This book deserves to be on the shelf of every Civil War modeler and enthusiast."--Model
Retailer
"[Wiley] has painted with skill a picture of the life of the Confederate
private. . . . It is a picture that is not only by far the most complete we have ever had but perhaps the best of its kind
we ever shall have."--Saturday Review of Literature
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