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American Civil War Era Photographs and Pictures:
Western North Carolina and the Thomas Legion
(Additional
American Civil War Pictures and Photographs located at the bottom of this page) Photos
If you possess
additional information about the veterans in these photographs please contact us. And if you retain or own related pictures
and desire to post them on www.thomaslegion.net, please contact Matthew Parker at: thomas_legion@yahoo.com photos
Cherokee Chief, Confederate Colonel, Lawyer, Entrepreneur, and Politician
February 5, 1805--May 10, 1893
Photograph is Courtesy of the North Carolina Office of Archives and History
1858 photograph of 53 year old Chief William Holland Thomas.
William Holland Thomas Historical Marker
Photograph is Courtesy of the North Carolina Office of Archives & History: Department of Cultural Resources
Photos Thomas'
Legion of Cherokee Indians and Highlanders
Photograph is Courtesy of the North Carolina Division of Archives and History
Photos 5 thru 8 are officers from Company F or "Conley's Sharpshooters."
When General Jubal Early aborted the campaign to sack Washington, Union cavalry approached the rear of the Confederate army. "Old Jube" ordered sharpshooters from Thomas' Legion to engage
the cavalry. Lt. Robert T. Conley and twenty-five marksmen from Company "F" of Love's Regiment were instrumental in forcing the enemy across
the river. General Gabriel C. Wharton wrote to James R. Love, December 8, 1864, and complimented Lt. Conley and Thomas' Legion for their "coolness and bravery in the
fight." Company F was in the thick of the fight during the Battle of Piedmont, Virginia, and it lost several good men, including Lt. James Conley, number 7 in above photograph.
Adams Brothers of the Thomas Legion
Photograph is Courtesy of grahamcounty.net
Adams Brothers: Alfred and Benjamin, top; Aseph and John Posey,
bottom. They all served under the command of Captain Willis Parker, Company I, Thomas' Legion.
Photographed by the Writer (February 2007)
Courtesy of the Museum of the Cherokee Indian
The Thomas Legion Historical Marker
Photograph is Courtesy North Carolina Office of Archives & History: Department of Cultural Resources
Photograph is Courtesy of the Waynesville Mountaineer Photos
The Cherokee veterans posed for their last photograph
at New Orleans Confederate Reunion in 1903. Banner Inscription: “Cherokee Veteran Indians
of Thomas’ Legion, 69 N.C. Regiment, Suo-Noo-Kee Camp U.C.V.
4th Brigade, N.C. Division”
Pictured from left to right; Front row: Usai, Kimson Saunooke, Jesse Ross, Jesse Reed, Sevier Skitty. Back row: Bird
Saconita, Dave Owl, Lt. Colonel William Williams Stringfield, Lt. Suatie (Suyeta) Owl (Owle), Jim Cag, Wesley Crow, Jessan, Lt. Calvin Cagle. (Cagle is often reported as a member of
the Legion, but no records confirm it. However, his presence appears to connect him to the Legion). Names were furnished
by the late James R. Thomas, son of William H. Thomas. It is the editor's view that this is the most accurate "photograph
interpretation" available.
Confederate Veterans of Haywood County, N.C.
Reunion of Confederate
veterans in front of Franklin’s Courthouse (about 1905).
Confederate Veterans of Transylvania County, N.C
Reunion
of Confederate veterans: believed to be at Brevard, N.C., 1911.
Confederate Veterans of Jackson County, N.C.
Sylva, Jackson County, NC: The unveiling of the Confederate Monument at Sylva on September 18,
1915; more than 3,000 people were in attendance. "In the mid-1990s the statue was removed, refurbished and rededicated,"
according to The Sylva Herald in Jackson County.
Confederate Veterans' Memorial of Jackson County, N.C.
Photographed by the Editor
Sylva, Jackson County, NC: The Confederate Monument at Sylva in Sept. 2006.
Reunion of Bryson City Confederate Veterans
A Reunion of Civil War Veterans from Bryson City.
The 1st North Carolina Cavalry Regiment engaged in numerous fierce skirmishes and
battles, including the Battle of Gettysburg. If you possess additional information about the veterans in this photograph
please contact me: thomas_legion@yahoo.com
*Notes for Veteran Noah G. Earls are courtesy Mr. Edward
J. Earls: The soldier 4th from the right with the beard and hat is Noah G. Earls who died in 1908 (He is standing next to
his brother-in-law, Sam B. Gibson, who is positioned 5th from the right). He initially served in Company E, 39th North
Carolina Infantry Regiment and was wounded at Chickamauga. He enlisted in the Thomas legion in 1864. In May
1865, as a member of “William Stringfield's select command” and en route to Knoxville to confirm the Confederate surrender, he was arrested at Knoxville, Tennessee, and subsequently imprisoned in Louisville, Kentucky.
Noah G. Earls signed a second oath of allegiance at Franklin, N.C., in September 1865. Noah Grayson Earls was my grandfather. (Courtesy of Mr.
Edward J. Earls)
Editor's Notes:
On April 25, 1865,
General Martin had sent written orders to Lt. Col. Stringfield and ordered him to advance to Knoxville, with a flag of truce, and present General George Stoneman with the “Western
District of North Carolina's surrender terms.”
Battle
of Limestone Station, Tennessee: Historical Marker
William Stringfield recorded Thomas' Legion in the battle: "...we forced them to surrender with [their] loss of 20 killed,
30 wounded and 314 prisoners, with 400 splendid small arms. Our loss was six killed and fifteen wounded..." (Major Stringfield
also received the sword from surrendering Union army Lt. Colonel Edwin L. Hayes). Dyer's Compendium states
the Confederates captured 240 men from the 100th Ohio Infantry Regiment. Lieutenant Colonel Milton A. Haynes records
the battle: O.R., i, 30, ii, 643 and O.R., i, 30, ii, 644. Union report: O.R., i, 30, ii, 578. Also see Histories
of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War 1861-1865, Volume 3, p. 739, by Walter
Clark.
On May 6, 1865, Lieutenant Robert T. Conley and a small company from Thomas' Legion clashed with Union Lt. Col. William C. Bartlett's 2nd North Carolina Mounted
Infantry Regiment in White Sulphur Springs, N.C. When Conley was passing through the woods,
he was unaware of Bartlett's presence and actually stumbled into Bartlett's regiment. Conley rapidly formed a skirmish line
and commenced firing causing the Yankees to run in confusion. In the Civil War the last man killed east of the Mississippi River was Union soldier James Arwood at White Sulphur Springs, North Carolina.
After the Civil War, Mr. Conley often stated, "I still have James Arwood's gun as a relic." The Last Shot should also
be defined as the last Union and Confederate forces in combat east of the Mississippi and should not be viewed
or confused with the United States Army fighting bushwhackers and outlaws.
Waynesville,
North Carolina
Thomas' Legion surrounded and captured the Union occupied city, White Sulphur Springs (present-day
Waynesville), North Carolina, on May 6, 1865. Ironically, General Martin and Colonel Thomas also agreed to surrender; they formally surrendered on May 9, 1865. Martin and Thomas
understood that on April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee had surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia. However, Captain Stephen Whitaker and Company "E" First Battalion (a.k.a. Walker's Battalion) of Thomas' Legion were stationed at nearby Franklin. General
Davis Tillson had ordered Colonel George W. Kirk and the Union's 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry Regiment to Franklin (O.R., 1, Vol. 49, pt. II, p. 689), and when they approached the battalion, Captain
Whitaker formed a skirmish line. Consequently, he received
word of Thomas and Martin surrendering at Waynesville, and then Whitaker and Company E also surrendered.
Final Surrender Memorial: Franklin, North Carolina
Captain Stephen Whitaker surrendering the final Confederate soldiers to Colonel George W. Kirk.
Photographed by the Writer
Final Surrender Memorial: Franklin, North Carolina
Captain Stephen Whitaker and Company E, First Battalion (Walker's Battalion), Thomas' Legion parole signatures. Photographed by the Writer
May 12, 1865,
is the "The Final Surrender" for Thomas' Legion. The First Battalion's Company E soldiers signed the parole papers beginning on May 12, with the last signature recorded on May 14, 1865 (Thomas had surrendered on May 9, 1865).
Captain Stephen Whitaker and Company E, First Battalion of Thomas' Legion were stationed at nearby Franklin, North Carolina. Whitaker and Company E had recently Skirmished at Hanging Dog, Cherokee County,
and were advancing toward White Sulphur Springs to reinforce Thomas when they were intercepted. When Union Colonel George W. Kirk and the Union's 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry Regiment approached the battalion, Captain Whitaker formed a skirmish line. He soon received word of Thomas and Martin surrendering at Waynesville, and then Whitaker and
Company E also surrendered. On May 14, 1865, the Legion's soldiers finished signing the
paroles and they viewed Whitaker roll them up, tie them, place them in a Haversack, and give them to Col. Kirk's
Courier. "And thus at 10 o'clock in the morning of May 14, 1865, our Civil War Soldier Life ended and our Every Day Working
Life began," said John H. Stewart of the Thomas Legion. The Confederates surrendered
to Colonel Kirk understanding that additional
fighting was futile and senseless, and, finally, the aftermath embraced the region.
Notes:
The Union Army recruited two mounted infantry regiments within North Carolina, and both mounted regiments were principally raised from Western North Carolina counties: William C. Bartlett
commanded the Union 2nd North Carolina Mounted Infantry Regiment, and George W. Kirk commanded the Union 3rd North Carolina
Mounted Infantry Regiment. Recruitment of these regiments epitomized the "Brother's War" and the men serving in the two Union
mounted infantry regiments were commonly referred to as "Home Yankees." Approximately 10,000 white North Carolinians served the United States during the war, while more than 5,000 North Carolina African Americans joined the Union Army. These free blacks and escaped slaves served in segregated regiments led by white officers.
Union Major General
George Stoneman's command as it concerns Western North Carolina in 1865: Second North Carolina Mounted Infantry Regiment,
Lieut. Colonel William C. Bartlett; Third North Carolina Mounted Infantry Regiment, Colonel George W. Kirk; First Brigade,
Commanding Colonel Chauncey G. Hawley; Fourth Division, Department of the Cumberland, Brig. General Davis Tillson; District
of East Tennessee, Major General George Stoneman (to view entire Union District of East Tennessee, including 1st and 2nd Brigades,
and Brig. Gen. A. C. Gillem's Cavalry Division, please see O.R., 1, 49, pt. II, pp. 538-539)
Photograph is Courtesy Library of Congress
The 1,600-foot Strawberry Plains Bridge spanned the Holston River and was located approximately
15 miles from Knoxville. It was considered the most important bridge in East Tennessee, and it was destroyed and rebuilt several times during the Civil War. When destroyed, United States Military
Academy graduate and Union General, Ambrose Burnside, pleasurably stated, “It will take months to rebuild it.”
O.R., 23, i, 385.
Photograph is Courtesy North Carolina Office of Archives & History: Department of Cultural
Resources
White Sulphur Springs Memorial
In 1971 the Sloan family donated
the land where the renowned White Sulphur Springs Hotel once stood. The Sloans are descendants of Lt. Colonel William W. Stringfield.
Eastern Cherokee Tribal Council Members in 1891
Rev. John Jackson, Morgan Calhoun, Wm.Ta-la-lah, and Wesley Crow
Tennessee State Flag and its Origin
The Thomas Legion fought numerous skirmishes and battles in Tennessee. Divided loyalties in the region had
no boundaries and, during the aftermath, spawned feuds which would last for decades. Madame Collier was a federal soldier from East Tennessee who enjoyed army life until her capture and subsequent imprisonment at Belle Isle, Virginia. She decided
to make the most of the difficult situation and continued concealing her gender, hoping for exchange. Another prisoner learned
her secret and reported it to Confederate authorities, who sent her North under a flag of truce. John L. Ransom, Andersonville Diary (1881), pp. 20-21
Related Pictures and Reading:
Highly Recommended Reading: Storm in the Mountains: Thomas' Confederate Legion of Cherokee Indians and Mountaineers.
Storm in the Mountains, by Vernon Crow, offers the Legion's rosters and partial Confederate
military service records (CMSR). Moreover, it offers a more detailed account of the Legion's inception and fighting history.
Vernon spent ten years conducting extensive Thomas' Legion research.
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