Trail of Tears; and Company I, 69th North Carolina Infantry Regiment (Thomas' Legion) CSA

Willis Parker receives commutation fee: A wealthy gentleman paid Willis Parker to be his "proxy soldier" during the Cherokees forced removal, aka 1838 Trail of Tears* (also see The Trail of Tears: Cherokee Legacy). Private Willis Parker, serving in Company L with Captain Isaac Truitt, reluctantly participated, not to force the Cherokees removal but rather to be a traveling companion to his Cherokee friends and neighbors. Willis and family not only enjoyed a very harmonious relationship with the neighboring Cherokees, but they even intermarried.

* According to Willis Parker's great-grandson, Mr. William M. Palmer of Andrews, NC, a wealthy man paid Willis to be his substitute for the 1838 Indian Removal.

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."

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 Nathaniel Green Philips. Company I was also involved in the Skirmish at Hanging Dog.

Father, Family, and a Farm

During the American Civil War, anarchy ruled in the Tar Heel State's poorest region termed Western North Carolina. President Jeff Davis, Governor Zebulon Baird Vance, and numerous Confederate corps and division commanding generals heard incessant cries and pleas from the local mountain populace for protection against outliers, deserters and bushwhackers. The Shelton Laurel Massacre in Madison County, North Carolina, epitomized the region's lawlessness and anarchy. However, neighboring Cherokee County was also one of the bushwhackers' preferred areas to plunder and pillage. During a series of raids, when the bushwhackers roamed Cherokee County with impunity (O.R., 53, 313-314*), they were overjoyed while anticipating the loot from a particular farm. As they approached the farm, one Unionist proclaimed "that we are going to make a big mistake here, because this farm belongs to Captain Willis Parker; and he, his brothers, and family will track us to the end of the earth." Parker was 6’2” and was a mounted infantry captain in Thomas’ Legion of Cherokees and Highlanders. Convinced that Captain Parker will exact complete retribution for any harm bestowed upon his family--and that there were less hazardous targets of opportunity--Captain Goldman Bryson's Company detoured and sacked the county seat, Murphy, in October 1863. Consequently, Goldman's Robbers received their fate at the hands of the Thomas Legion's Cherokee scouts. Although Parker had avoided, by some fate, the destruction of his farm, the toll of the Civil War was not so generous. In the cold winter of 1863, Willis's son, Rufus, had contracted Typhoid while serving in the Confederate army in Virginia. Willis resigned his captain commission and, as a loving father, retrieved his dying son Rufus from Virginia. Rufus only had one prayer, "let me die at home." They made the very hazardous journey towards Cherokee County and evaded bushwhackers and outlaws, and even foraged off the land. Although Willis safely arrived home in December 1863, in just a few days Rufus succumbed to the disease and was laid to rest in the family cemetery. His home had not been burned to the ground and his prayer was answered. Also see hellish conditions in Western North Carolina: O.R., Series IV, pt. 2, pp. 732-734, O.R., Series 1, Volume  53, pp. 324-336, and O.R., Series 1, Vol. 32, pt. II, pp. 610-611. *Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. By Matthew D. Parker

Civil War Records

Captain Parker resigned his captain commission on December 26, 1863, by "reason of age," and mustered-out at Bull's Gap, Tennessee.  Samuel Cooper recorded Parker's resignation for the Adjutant and Inspector General's Office (A&IGO), December 26, 1863 (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.

Willis is mentioned in Walter Clark's Regiments: An Extended Index to the Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War 1861-1865, by Charles C. Davis, page 345: Parker, Willis, (Capt, Co I, 69th NCST, Thomas' Legion), volume III, p. 731. He is also discussed in Vernon H. Crow's, Storm in the Mountains: Thomas' Confederate Legion of Cherokee Indians and Mountaineers.

Willis S. Parker, William Benson Parker, and William Asbury Parker

Source:  Company Muster and Descriptive Roll.  (Military Record).

All three served in Company I of Thomas' Legion and are recorded on Official Civil War Muster Records. Thomas' Legion is also referred to as Thomas' North Carolina Legion, 69th North Carolina Regiment, and Thomas' Legion of Indians and Highlanders. See A Guide to Military Organizations and Installations of North Carolina 1861-1865

William Benson Parker, William Asbury Parker, and Willis Parker

William Asbury served in Thomas' Legion with his brother, Captain Willis Parker, and his nephew, Corporal William Benson (Willis's son). All three are listed on Thomas Legion's muster roll: THOMAS LEGION, COMPANY I OF THE FIRST REGIMENT MUSTER ROLL. Willis's brother, John A. Parker,  served as a captain in the Fifty-second Georgia Infantry Regiment, which also fought Sherman during his March to the Sea.

THOMAS LEGION, COMPANY I OF THE FIRST REGIMENT MUSTER ROLL

31 August, 1863, through 31 October, 1863

1. Willis Parker, Capt. Enlisted July 2[4], 1862, Valley Town, N.C., by Col. W[illiam].H[olland]. Thomas. 
Listed as present.

65. Parker, William, private.  Enlisted July 24, 1862, S[trawberry]. Plains, TN, by Capt. [William] Stringfield.  Present.  Made mark for pay.

Parker History, Heritage and Genealogy

Excerpt from OUR HERITAGE by Margaret Walker Freel, the Miller Printing Company, Asheville, NC, 1956, p. 325 and 326:

Willis Parker, the oldest son of Jonathan Parker, belonged to the State Militia, and assisted in the removal in 1838. He always said the Indians should have been allowed to remain in their mountain homes. He and the Indians were always friends.

The Indians who remained here often came to his home to talk with him and to ask his advice. Willis and John A. were Captains of Volunteer Companies of the Confederate Army in the War Between the States. Willis Parker's company in Cherokee Co., and John A. Parker's company in Ga. [John A. is Willis's brother)]

Willis Parker married Adaline Vannoy, daughter of Joel Vannoy, who moved his family in wagons from Wilkes Co. to Cherokee Co. in 1839. He came to mine for gold, but not finding much gold, returned to Wilkesboro. Willis Parker bought the farm owned by Vannoy. He and his wife lived there the rest of their lives and reared ten children.

The fifth generation is living on the farm. During the war the home was ransacked by a posse posing as Federal soldiers, thinking there was gold on the place, and threatened to burn the home when they failed to find it. Capt. Parker mined for gold at his home and at Dahlonega, Ga., in the gold strike there.

Military: Willis Parker was a Captain in Co. I, NC Infantry, Thomas' Legion, North Carolina Troops. Volunteers enlisted in Cherokee County into Colonel W. H. Thomas' Legion of Indians and Highlanders, North Carolina Volunteers. He was listed as being 6' 2" and having a dark complexion, black eyes, and black hair; farmer; resigned December 7, 1864 [Willis resigned on December 26, 1863, per Willis Parker to Samuel Cooper, Adjutant and Inspector General's Office (A&IGO), December 26, 1863; Confederate War Record, National Archives] at Bulls Gap, Tennessee. His reason was that he was over 45 years of age.

Parker, Willis S.
Birth: 12 APR 1819 Haywood Co., N.C.
Death: 18 MAR 1905 Cherokee Co, N.C.
Burial: Willis Parker/Johnson Greybeard Cemetery, Cherokee Co., N.C. Inscription: WILLIS PARKER N.C. MTD. INF. CHEROKEE WAR APR. 12, 1819 MAR. 18, 1905 CAPTAIN IN CONFEDERATE ARMY.
Gender: Male
Parents:

             Father: Parker, Jonathan
             Mother: Blythe, Leoma

Family:

Spouse:

     Vannoy, Adeline Amelia  
     Birth: 18 MAR 1827
     Death: 20 AUG 1897 Cherokee Co., N.C.
     Burial: Willis Parker/Johnson Greybeard Cemetery, Cherokee Co., N.C.
     Gender: Female
     Parents:

         Father: Vannoy, Joel
         Mother: St.Clair, Elizabeth

Children:

Parker, John Rufus
Birth: 12 NOV 1843 Cherokee Co., N.C.
Death: December 1863, Cherokee Co., N.C. (While visiting the Willis Parker/Johnson Greybeard Cemetery in September 2006, Mr. William M. Palmer--the great grandson of Captain Willis Parker--stated the following history: "While serving in the Confederate Army in Virginia, Rufus contracted Typhoid. Willis escorted his son Rufus to Cherokee Co., where Rufus succumbed to the disease. John Rufus is believed to have served in Thomas' Legion of Indians and Highlanders." Burial: Willis Parker/Johnson Greybeard Family Cemetery. Inscription: RUFUS PARKER 1843--1863 CONFEDERATE ARMY DIED IN SERVICE)
Gender: Male
Parker, William Benson "Bud" (Thomas' Legion, Buried: Willis Parker/Johnson Greybeard Cemetery; also see William Benson Parker)
Parker, Louisa Maria
Parker, Eugenia Vannoy
Parker, Sophia
Parker, Joseph Vannoy
Parker, Edwin A.
Birth: 1 FEB 1859 Cherokee Co., N.C.
Death: 1919 Oklahoma
Gender: Male
Parker, Mary
Parker, Jonathan Carl