By Al Fonner
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2024, All Rights Reserved
Editor’s note: This article was originally published in The Charger in December 2024.
When we think of the American Indian’s support of the Confederate States in the American Civil War, we most often think of what occurred west of the Mississippi River and in the Southwest. One name that often comes to mind is General Stand Watie, who raised and commanded a contingent of Cherokee fighters for the Confederate States, operating in the Indian Territory, Kansas, and Missouri. Although not as celebrated as Watie and his Cherokee, the Eastern Cherokee who remained in western North Carolina also threw their lot in with the Confederate States. This remnant formed the backbone of what became known collectively as Thomas’s Legion of Indians and Mountaineers. The Cherokee contingent of the Legion served primarily in the defense of the Appalachian Mountain region of western North Carolina, although they had some involvement in early operations in eastern Tennessee.
In 1861, local businessman and politician William Holland Thomas recognized the importance of raising a local militia to defend western North Carolina. Thomas was a great friend of and advocate for the Eastern Cherokee, even being the first and only white to serve as their chief. Believing that the Eastern Cherokee would benefit from supporting the Confederate States, Thomas initially recruited 200 Cherokee Indians into what became known as the “Junaluska Zouaves,” so named in honor of the late Cherokee Chief Junaluska, who had reportedly saved Andrew Jackson’s life at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. On April 9, 1862, the Zouaves were incorporated into service with the Confederacy as Companies A and B of the North Carolina Cherokee Battalion. Thomas was eventually given command with the rank of major. When the Cherokee Battalion was ordered into eastern Tennessee in September 1862, Thomas obtained permission from the Confederate government to recruit additional Indians and whites as necessary. As a result, Thomas added five companies of whites to his original two Indian companies. He designated the unit as “Thomas’s Legion of Indians and Highlanders” (Palmetto Riflemen & New York Zouaves, N.D.)
On September 27, 1862, the Legion was officially mustered into service with the Confederate States in Knoxville, Tennessee as the 69th North Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment. The full regiment included two battalions, the Cherokee Battalion and Walker’s Battalion. By December 1863, Thomas recruited two more Indian companies for the Cherokee Battalion. Thomas’s Legion was eventually bolstered by the addition of a light artillery battery and two companies of sappers and miners. Thomas’s Legion was the largest single military unit raised in North Carolina. However, the unit was eventually split, as Walker’s Battalion and other white units were separated from the Legion to fight in eastern Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia during Jubal Early’s 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign. The Cherokee Battalion, under Thomas, spent the war in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina, defending mountain passes, guarding against Union raiders, and performing provost duties. In the final months of the war, Thomas’s Legion was reunited in western North Carolina for a final defense of their homeland.
Thomas’s Cherokee Battalion had its first serious engagement with Union forces on September 13, 1862, 10 miles north of Rogersville, Tennessee at Baptist Gap. There, a company of Cherokee was ambushed by a Union reconnaissance force. The Union’s first volley killed one Cherokee, and the Cherokee Battalion responded by resolutely charging the Union line and engaging them in hand-to-hand combat. Major William W. Stringfield of the 69th North Carolina reported that “the Indians were led by Lieutenant John Astoogatogeh (or Astooga Gota), a splendid specimen of Indian manhood and warrior” (Parker, 2023a). Astoogatogeh was killed in the charge, which enraged the Indians who responded by scalping several of the Union dead and wounded. Upon hearing of the incident, Thomas strongly rebuked the Indians and instructed them to never speak of it, although word soon spread to the Union forces. Following this engagement at Baptist Gap, Stringfield reported that the men of Thomas’s Legion performed the “hard, disagreeable work” of enforcing conscription, pursuing saboteurs and insurgents, and guarding key installations and infrastructure such as bridges, railroads, and blockhouses (Parker, 2023a).
In September 1863, Thomas and his Cherokee Battalion deployed to the mountains of North Carolina, where he pressed into service absentee and furloughed men from his and other units. During the withdrawal from Tennessee, Thomas and the Cherokee Battalion, along with a mixed contingent of white soldiers, were pursued by Union forces. A brisk skirmish occurred between the Cherokee Battalion and the Federal pursuers at Sevierville, Tennessee. However, Thomas succeeded in withdrawing across the Smoky Mountains and immediately secured the passes. When Confederate forces surrendered the Cumberland Gap to Union Major General Ambrose Burnside on September 9, 1863, the Cherokee Battalion was guarding the passes through the Smoky Mountains.
Between October 27 and 28, 1863, fighting occurred in Cherokee County, North Carolina between Confederate forces, including the Cherokee Battalion, and Captain Goldman Bryson’s Federal Mounted Company. Bryson’s company, also referred to as “Mountain Robbers,” consisted of between 120 and 150 troops and had been active in conducting raids in a number of western North Carolina communities. Such raids garnered hatred from the local population. As if the raids were not enough to warrant animosity, Bryson, a native of the region, had been acquitted of the 1856 murder of John Timson, a Cherokee constitutional convention delegate and resident of Cherokee County. After sacking Murphy, North Carolina, Bryson and his company were pursued by a Confederate force that included Company B of Thomas’s Legion commanded by Lieutenant Campbell H. Taylor, a mixed-blood Cherokee. When Confederate General John C. Vaughn and a detachment of his mounted infantry caught up to Bryson on October 27, they killed two of Bryson’s company and captured 17 men and 30 horses.
Taylor and 19 men of his Cherokee company left Murphy on October 28 to continue their pursuit of Bryson through the mountains. They tracked Bryson over 25 miles for two days without stopping to eat. When Taylor and his men finally caught up to Bryson, he refused to surrender. Taylor shot Bryson several times, killing him. Taylor also captured one man accompanying Bryson as well as his company’s roll and a copy of Burnside’s orders to Bryson. When the Cherokee returned to Murphy, they proceeded through the streets of Murphy wearing Bryson’s bloody clothes. Taylor was honored by Lieutenant Colonel W. C. Walker of Thomas’s Legion, who commended Taylor in writing to General Braxton Bragg.
On December 8, 1863, several of Thomas’s Cherokee scouts were captured and imprisoned in the Sevierville jail. Thomas responded by advancing on Sevierville with about 200 men of the Cherokee Battalion and overwhelmed the Unionist home guard. Thomas released the Cherokee scouts and captured around 60 Unionist home guard soldiers and six Federal men, along with their weapons and ammunition. After this action, Thomas was pursued by Union Colonel William J. Palmer’s 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry. Palmer caught up with Thomas at Gatlinburg, Tennessee, on December 10, where a skirmish erupted. Thomas and his Cherokee Battalion had camped at the foot of a steep wooded ridge, from which they conducted a fighting retreat with the thick woods as cover. After their ammunition was exhausted, Thomas and his Cherokee soldiers melted away into the mountains, having suffered two wounded and the loss of Thomas’s hat, as reported by Palmer (Parker, 2023a).
In 1864, Governor Zebulon Vance of North Carolina wrote that “the condition of western North Carolina is deplorable,” referring to bushwhackers and outlaws (Parker, 2023b). In affirmation of the governor’s concern, Thomas’s Cherokee Battalion spent the winter of 1863-1864 defending western North Carolina against bushwhackers and outlaws who terrorized the local population. Walker’s Battalion and the remainder of the Legion were assigned to Jackson’s Brigade in eastern Tennessee. In evidence as to how dangerous it was in the region, Thomas’s Legion’s very own Lieutenant Colonel William Walker was murdered in his Cherokee County home on January 3, 1864 while he was recovering from an illness.
In February 1864, Union Major Francis M. Davidson and the 600 troopers of the 14th Illinois Cavalry were ordered to pursue and destroy Thomas and his Cherokee Battalion. The 14th Illinois Cavalry surprised Thomas and his men on February 2 ten miles west of Qualla Town at Deep Creek, North Carolina. The Cherokee quickly formed a skirmish line and held off the advancing Federal cavalry for an hour before their ammunition ran out. The Cherokee then melted away into the mountains. Thomas initially reported that two Indians had been killed and 18 taken prisoner, which he later amended to five killed. Davidson, however, reported that he had killed nearly 200 Indians and taken 54 rebels prisoner, thereby utterly destroying the Cherokee. These were exaggerated claims to be sure, since no other Union report corroborated the claims, and continued resistance in the North Carolina mountains demonstrated that the Cherokee were still active as a fighting force.
While Thomas and the Cherokee Battalion defended western North Carolina, the rest of Thomas’s Legion was reassigned from Jackson in eastern Tennessee to General Jubal Early’s Army of the Valley for the Shenandoah Valley Campaign during the summer and autumn of 1864. All elements of Thomas’s Legion were reunited in December 1864 with orders to defend western North Carolina, although the part of the Legion that had participated in Early’s Valley Campaign was depleted, having begun with over 700 men and returning with around 100. As for the Cherokee Battalion’s overall condition, their ranks had been thinned by mumps and measles.
During the winter of 1864-1865, Union scouting parties began a campaign of hit-and-run raids into western North Carolina. On February 4, Union Colonel George Kirk and his 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry, 600 strong, left Newport, Tennessee and entered Haywood County, North Carolina. This raid went as far as the county seat, Waynesville. In Waynesville, Kirk and his men pillaged stores, stole horses, burned down several houses, released prisoners from the town jail, and killed 20 men. Lieutenant Colonel James Love’s Infantry Regiment of Thomas’s Legion battled Kirk’s men in Haywood County, and Lieutenant Robert Conley’s sharpshooters of the Legion pursued Kirk across Balsam Mountain to Soco Gap, 13 miles north of Waynesville. On March 6, Lieutenant Colonel Stringfield and a battalion that included many Cherokee engaged Kirk at Soco Creek, forcing the raiders back into Tennessee toward Sevierville. Stringfield’s force killed or wounded several Union soldiers and took a number of horses. Had Stringfield’s men not been low on ammunition (five rounds per man), things would have gone much worse for Kirk and his men, who were nearly boxed in. Nonetheless, this engagement dispelled any doubt that Thomas’s Legion and its Cherokee contingent were still an effective fighting force.
As the Civil War wound down, even after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, Thomas’s Legion and its Cherokee Battalion continued fighting a guerrilla war in North Carolina’s southern Appalachian Mountains. On May 4, 1865, Union Brigadier General Davis Tillson ordered Lieutenant Colonel William Bartlett and his 2nd North Carolina Mounted Infantry to Waynesville, North Carolina. On May 6, Bartlett and his command were surprised at White Sulphur Springs, North Carolina by Robert Conley’s sharpshooters of Thomas’s Legion, who drove the Federal forces off the field. Bartlett and his men spent a restless night in nearby Waynesville, North Carolina. Their restlessness was due to the fact that all through the night, Bartlett and his men observed campfires in the hills surrounding the town and endured the war-whoops and drums emanating from all directions. Thinking he and his contingent surrounded and outnumbered, Bartlett offered a flag of truce (Lewis, 2023).
The exact events that transpired following that night are unclear. Some accounts indicate that a truce was negotiated on May 7, while others report May 9 and even May 10 (Lewis, 2022; Parker, 2023b). What is certain is that Confederate Brigadier General James G. Martin, who was Commandant of the District of Western North Carolina, accompanied by Colonel James R. Love (Love’s Regiment, Thomas’s Legion) and by Colonel William H. Thomas (Indian Battalion, Thomas’s Legion), met with Bartlett to discuss the surrender of Waynesville. Thomas was accompanied by approximately 20 to 25 of his Cherokee personal guard, who were, along with Thomas, “stripped to the waist and painted and feathered in good old style” (Lewis, 2022). To bolster their effort for more favorable terms, Thomas even went so far as to threaten Bartlett that he would unleash his Cherokee warriors in an orgy of scalping.
In the end, Bartlett surrendered Waynesville to Martin, and, ironically, Martin surrendered his command to Bartlett, which ended organized conflict in western North Carolina. Additionally, Bartlett agreed that the Cherokee could retain their arms to “protect their families from ther [sic] marauder bands still roaming western North Carolina” (Lewis, 2022). Thus, the Cherokee of Thomas’s Legion had the unusual distinction of negotiating the simultaneous surrender of an enemy-held town as well as their own surrender. However, as one of the Legion’s veterans later wrote, “I say surrender, but a better word would be quit, for I don’t think we really ever did surrender. In fact, we just disbanded and carried our guns and cartridges home with us” (Parker, N.D.).
Ultimately, the Cherokee who survived the war returned to their homes and families to resume their uncertain lives in a land where the white man continued to whittle away at their way of life. Some, like Chief Nimrod Jarrett Smith, who achieved the rank of First Sergeant by the end of the war, rose to prominence within their people. The contribution of the Cherokee to the Confederate’s war efforts cannot be understated. Their knowledge of the mountains was unmatched; tracking and hunting were their forte. The Cherokee’s guerrilla tactics were often derided as cowering and retreating in the face of superior Union forces. Largely armed with .69 caliber muskets, the Cherokee were no match in an open field for the Federal troops armed with Enfield rifles. By luring the Federals into the mountains and forests, and employing guerrilla tactics, the Cherokee’s stealthy ways more than evened the odds against the Federals. Additionally, Union soldiers’ recollections of scalping early in the war gave the Cherokee a psychological advantage, although Thomas had early on forbidden that practice. Finally, the independent spirit of the Cherokee warrior could not be denied since, as one member of the unit insisted, they did not surrender, they simply quit.
Related links:
A Valorous but Fruitless Service: Native Americans of Co. K, 1st Michigan Sharpshooters
Two Lost Causes
References
Lewis, J. D. (2022) Indian Battalion – Thomas’s Legion; Retrieved on November 5, 2024 from North Carolina in the American Civil War.
Lewis, J.D. (2023) May 6, 1865 – White Sulphur Springs; Retrieved on October 30, 2024, from North Carolina in the American Civil War.
Palmetto Riflemen & New York Zouaves (N.D.) Thomas’ Legion of Indians & Highlanders: North Carolina Volunteers, April 9th, 1862, to May 10th, 1865; Retrieved on November 20, 2024 from The Zouave Archives: The Junaluska Zouaves.
Parker, Matt (2023a) William Holland Thomas’ Legion (1861-1863): Civil War on the Mountains; Retrieved on November 5, 2024 from Thomas Legion, Cherokee Indians of the Thomas Legion.
Parker, Matt (2023b) William Holland Thomas’ Legion (1864-1865); Retrieved on November 5, 2024, from Thomas Legion, Cherokee Indians of the Thomas Legion.
Parker, Matt (N.D.) The Thomas Legion Cherokee Battalion and Bodyguards; Retrieved on October 30, 2024 from Thomas Legion, Cherokee Indians of the Thomas Legion.