Battleline
Posts: 426
Joined: 10/5/2006
Status: offline
|
For your reading pleasure. Thomas commanded a unit of Cherokee Indians and western North Carolina mountain men during the war. He is buried near the site of the Battle of Waynesville, one in which the victors surrendered. I just found him to be a very interesting character with a story which needed to be shared.
Col. William H. Thomas (b. 1805, d. 1893) Friend of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee tribe, William Holland Thomas formed the mixed-race Thomas’s Legion of Indians and Highlanders (better known as the Thomas Legion) among Cherokees and whites of western North Carolina. This unit mainly served in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, though some parts of the command were sent to the Shenandoah Valley during the 1864 Valley Campaign. Thomas was born in a mountain cabin in Haywood County, North Carolina, Feb. 5, 1805. His father, Richard, a veteran of the American Revolution, had died in an accident before William’s birth. Thomas took a job at a trading post as a youth. There, a co-worker taught him the Cherokee language. Thomas learned about the Cherokee culture. Thomas studied law and eventually became a defender of the Cherokee tribe. Chief Yonaguska came to consider Thomas as a son. Wil-Usdi (Little Will) and Chief Yonaguska advocated temperance among the Indians. In 1835, Thomas negotiated as an Indian agent in the Treaty of New Echota for the right of some Cherokees to stay in North Carolina. This group became the current Eastern Band. In 1839, Chief Yonaguska named Thomas a Cherokee chief. Thomas was elected to the North Carolina senate in 1848, where he continued to advocate the cause of the Cherokees. The core of what became the Thomas Legion (sometimes called the 69th North Carolina Regiment) started with 130 Cherokee volunteers under Manassas veteran Maj. George Washington Morgan, a mixed-blood Cherokee. Thomas was named captain. In time, the Legion would have over 2,000 men at full strength, consisting both of Cherokees and western North Carolina whites. The Legion had infantry, cavalry and artillery elements at different times. Thomas also made enemies. He came up for court martial three times. Brig. Gen. Alfred Jackson was one of his biggest military foes. The Legion initially was sent to Knoxville, Tennessee, to train. At Strawberry Plains, it was attached to Col. John Vaughn’s 3rd Tennessee. The Legion fought Sept. 13 at Baptist Gap, where Artoogatogeh, grandson of the famous chief Junaluska, was killed. The opposing regiment from Indiana felt the wrath of the Legion, which may have collected scalps while routing the Federals. Before going into battle, the men would consult an oracle stone. Successful missions were celebrated with war dances. Men incorporated feathers into their uniforms. Near the end of the war, Federals under Col. George Kirk raided into western North Carolina. Kirk raided Waynesville, but was cut off from returning to Tennessee. At Soco Creek, location of where Tecumseh had held a war council during the War of 1812, the Thomas Legion struck. Brig. Gen. James “Old One Wing” Martin was the local Confederate commander. After the surrender of armies under Gen. Robert E. Lee and Joseph Johnston, his command held on. Federals pushed into Waynesville May 6 with a small skirmish. That night, the men of the Thomas Legion ringed the hills surrounding Waynesville. The Cherokees built large fires and did war dances. The screams and howls frightened the Federals in town. On the morning of May 7, Martin, Thomas and 20 of the largest, fiercest warriors came into town. The Cherokees were in full war paint. They demanded the surrender of the Federals. Instead, Martin and Thomas arranged that the Confederates would disband. Men were supposed to turn over arms, but most just went home instead. The postwar years were not good for Thomas. In 1867, he was assigned to the North Carolina Insane Asylum in Raleigh. In 1877, after the death of his wife, Thomas was admitted to the Western North Carolina Insane Asylum at Morganton (now Broughton Hospital). Thomas, “the best friend the Cherokees ever had,” died May 10, 1893, and was buried in Green Hill Cemetery in Waynesville, North Carolina.
|
Printable Version
Wil-Usdi: CSA Col. William H. Thomas (Thomas Legion) - 
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread