Lt. Colonel William C. Walker
Commanding, Walker's Battalion, Thomas' Legion
August 4, 1820--January 3, 1864
Interred: Walker Family Cemetery (Panther Top Rd.), Cherokee County, N.C.
Photograph is Courtesy of Carolyn Ellertson
Lieutenant
Colonel William Clay Walker
While
at his home in Cherokee County during sick leave on January
3, 1864, Lt. Colonel William C. Walker was awakened and murdered by outlaws. The murder of the unit's
battalion commander vividly reflected Western North Carolina's anarchy during the Civil War (unharmed, Mrs. Walker died on November 4, 1898). Furthermore, Walker's murder is stated
to have greatly altered Colonel Thomas's view of the war and underscored his initial position and pleas to protect North Carolina's western counties.
Thomas retained the Cherokee Life Guard, in part, because of Walker's death. During the winter of 1863-64, Thomas and the Cherokee Battalion
operated against raiders and bushwhackers in the North Carolina mountains, while the Legion fought bushwhackers in East Tennessee (Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies,
Series 1, Volume 32, part II, p. 611). Also see
hellish conditions in Western North Carolina: Shelton Laurel
Massacre, O.R., IV,
pt. 2, pp. 732-734, O.R., 1, 53, pp. 324-336, O.R., 1, 32, pt.
II, pp. 610-611.
William C. Walker, commanding, July 18, 1862--September 11, 1863*
Officially organized on July, 18, 1862, when Stringfield mustered its first company in Cherokee
County, North Carolina. During July and August, the Battalion comprised the companies of Berry, Walker, Parker, and Cooper. Six companies were added in September but Parker and Cooper were transferred to the Regiment, Thomas'
Legion. On October 1, the Battalion, 600 officers and men, was mustered at Knoxville, and William C. Walker was selected as
Lieutenant Colonel. By the end of October 1862 the ranks increased to a total of 740 men. James A. McKamy was promoted to
Major in August 1863 and assumed command of the Battalion, which was reduced to 500 men in September 1863. After Walker's
death in January 1864, McKamy was promoted to Lt. Colonel. After McKamy's capture at
the Battle of Third Winchester (Virginia) on September 19, 1864, during General
Early's Valley Campaigns, Lieutenant James A. Robinson led a portion
of the Battalion during the remainder of the Valley Campaigns and until it returned to North Carolina in December 1864.
In February 1865, General James Green Martin officially placed Stringfield in command of the Battalion. Captain Stephen Whitaker was in command at war's end.
The Battalion was known as Walker's Battalion, McKamy's Battalion and, at times, Battalion. When Thomas
officially organized the Indian Battalion at the end of the war, Walker's Battalion became known as First Battalion, with
the Cherokee Battalion also referred to as Second Battalion.
When the unit mustered at Knoxville it had 7 companies, including 3 of Tennessee cavalry. The
mounted or cavalry units were all transferred from the Battalion in December 1862, so that during most of the Battalions'
service it only had 5 infantry companies.
*
Lt. Colonel William C. Walker commanded Walker's Battalion, Thomas' Legion of Cherokee Indians and Highlanders. Walker's Battalion was unofficially designated the 80th and also
never received official recognition above battalion status. Many, however, believed that the battalion qualified
with regimental strength and therefore called it a "regiment." Perhaps Walker's Battalion should have been officially recognized
as Walker's Regiment and designated the 80th North Carolina Infantry Regiment.
In 1861, a
typical regiment mustered approximately 1,100 soldiers. In late 1863 and by early 1864, due to combat fatalities (killed-in-action),
diseases, wounds, missing-in-action, desertions, enlistment expiration, and soldiers captured by the enemy, many
regiments were reduced by as much as 70%.
In late 1864,
Walker's Battalion met or qualified by reason of its numerical strength. Lt. Colonel William C. Walker had prior service
in the 29th North Carolina Infantry Regiment.
** Lt. Colonel McKamy commanded the battalion after the death of Lt.
Colonel Walker. However, when McKamy was captured at 3rd Winchester, Lt James A. Robinson assumed command of the Battalion. Robinson commanded the Battalion for the remainder of the
Shenandoah Valley Campaigns (September 19, 1864--until its return to North Carolina with Special Order
267). Then, Lt. Colonel William Stringfield commanded the Battalion, with Captain
Whitaker commanding it at war's end.
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.
Walker Genealogy:
Highly Recommended Reading:
Sources:
National Archives and Records Administration; Walker's Service Record; Stringfield's Service Record; McKamy's
Service Record; Parker's Service Record; Robinson's Service Record; W. H. Thomas's Service Record; Moore's
Roster; Hunter Library, Western Carolina University; 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; 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; Library of Congress; National Archives and Records Administration; State
Library of North Carolina; North Carolina Office of Archives and History; North Carolina Museum of History; E. Stanly
Godbolt, Jr. and Mattie U. Russell, Confederate Colonel and Cherokee Chief: The Life of William Holland Thomas; Paul A. Thomsen, Rebel Chief: The Motley Life of Colonel William Holland Thomas C.S.A.
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