Mou.NEVl WILLIAM II. TIIU.MAS Kil 



Iiidiaiis. and Thomas's inotlicM' soon at'tor ivuiovcd from Wayncsvilli' to 

 a farm whii-h slic purcliascd on tlic west hank of Oconahiftee. opposite 

 tlie mouth of Soco, wlici'e licr son went to live with her. haxinjj;' ni>w 

 .set u|) in l)usiness foi' himself at Qualla. Yonaguska and iiis immedi- 

 ate connection continued to i-eside on a small reservation in the same 

 neio-iit)oriioc)(l. while the rest of the Cherokee retired to the west of 

 the Nantaliala mountains, though still visitino- and tradini;' on Soco. 

 After several shiftinys Thomas linuUy, soon after thi^ reino\al in is:;s, 

 houyht a farm on the nortluM ii li;uik of Tuckaseoee. just alio\<' the 

 present town of W'hittiei- in Swain county, and built tliere a home- 

 sti'ad which he called Stekt)a. after an Indian town destroyed by 

 Rutherford wliich liu<l occupied the same site. .Vt the time of the 

 remo\al he was tlu' [)roprietor of five trading- stores in or adjoining the 

 Cherokee country, viz. at (^Uiilla town, near the mouth of Soco creek; 

 on Scott's creek, near Web.ster; on Cheowa, near the present Kol)})ins- 

 ville; at the junction of Valley river and Hiwassee. now Murphy: and 

 at the Cherokee agency at Calhoun (now Charleston), Tennessee. 

 Besides carrying on a successful trading ))usine.ss he was also studying 

 law and taking an acti\'e interest in local politics. 



In his capacity as agent for the eastern Cherokee ho laid otf the 

 lands purchased for them into five districts or ''towns," which he 

 named Bird town, Paint town. Wolf town, Yellow hill, and Big cove, 

 the names which they still r(>tain, the first three being- those of Chero- 

 kee clans.' He also drew up for them a simple form of government, 

 the excH'ution of which was in his own and Yonaguska's hands until the 

 death of the latter, after which the band knew no other ciiief than 

 Thomas until his retirement from active life. In 1848 he was elected 

 to the state senate and continued to serve in that capacity until the 

 outl)reak of the civil war. As state senator he inaugurated a system of 

 road improvements for western North Carolina and was also the father 

 of the AVestern North Carolina Railroad (now a part of the Southern 

 system), originally projected to develop the eopperuiines of Ducktown. 

 Tennessee. 



With his colleag-U(>s i n the state senate he voted for secession in 1 stl 1 . 

 and at once resigned to recruit troops for the Confederacy, to whicii, 

 until the elo.se of the war, he gave his whole time, thought, and effort. 

 In lS(i:> he organized the Thomas Legion, consisting of two rt^giments 

 of infantry, a battalion of ca\alry, a company of engineers, and a field 

 battery, he himself conmianding as colonel, although then nearly si.xty 

 years of age. Four companies wei'e made up principally of his own 

 Cherokee. The Thomas Legion operated chiefly as a frontier guard 



1 In the Cherokee language Tsiskwil'hl, " Bird phvce." Ani'-Wil'dihl, •' Paint placed" Wa'ya'hl, •• Wolt 

 place," E'lawA'di, "Red earth" (now Cherokee post-ofliee and agency), and Kftlanflfi'vl. •■Raven 

 I>hiee." There was also, lor a time, a '- I'retty-woman town " ( .ini'-Gilft'hl?). 



!'.» K-ni— Ul 11 



