M.">NKY| TIIK TIMMAS LK(;i(>N 1 ()<) 



had coimiuuidcd tlii' ( lii'ioUoi^ at the Tlorso.-ihoe l)oiid. Hy \irtiu' of 

 his Indian hh)()d and iiistnric anccstiy lie was diHMiied the most httinif 

 (Mnissarv for tlic ])ur|ii)sc. iOarly in isii:^ he arrived anioni;' the 

 ('heroi<ee. and hy appealing to ohl-tinie memories so aroused the war 

 snii'it aiiiono' them that a hiriic numlier declared themselves readv to 

 follow wherever he leil. ( '(inceixing the question at issue in the war 

 til lie one that did not concei-n the Indians, Thomas had diseouraijed 

 I heir participation in it and advised them to remain at home in tjuiet 

 nentrality. Now. however, knowing Morgan's i-eputation for reckless 

 daring, he became alarmed at the possilde result to them of such 

 leadership. Forced eithei' to see them go from his own protection or 

 to lead them himself, he chose the latter alternative and proposed to 

 them to enlist in the Confederate legion which he was about to organize. 

 His object, as he himself has stated, was to keep them out of danger 

 so far as possible by utilizing them as scouts and home guards through 

 the mountains, away from the path of the large armies. Nothing of 

 this was said to the Indians, who might not have been satisfied with 

 sucii an arrangement. .Morgan went back alone and the Cherokee 

 enrolled under the counnand of their white chief. ' 



The "■ Thomas Legion." i-ecruited in ISt!^ by William H. Tiiomas for 

 the Confederate service and conuuanded by him as colonel, consisted 

 oi-iginally of one infantry regiment of ten companies (Sixty-ninth 

 North Carolina Infanti-y), one infantry battalion of six companies, one 

 ca\alrv liattalion of eight companies (First North Carolina Cavalry 

 Hattalion), one field battery (Light Rattery) of 103 officers and men. 

 and one c(Hnpany of engineers; in all about '2,S00 men. The infanti'v 

 battalion was recruited toward the close of the war to a full regiment 

 of ten companies. Companies A and li of the Sixty-ninth regiment 

 and two other companies of the infantry regiment recruited later 

 were composed almost entirely of East Cherokee Indians, most of the 

 commissioned officers being white men. The whole numlier of Chero- 

 kee tiiiis (>nliste(l was neai'ly foul' hundi'(>d. or about e\"ery able-l)odied 

 man in the tribe. ' 



In accordance with Tiiomas's jilan the Indians were emj)loyed chiefly 

 as scouts and home guards in the mountain I'egion along the Tennessee- 

 Carolina border, where, aecoi'ding to tiie testimony of Colonel String- 



1 Tht' liistory of the events leiKliiig t(i the organization of the "Thomas Legion" is cliieHy from the 

 antlior's conversations with ('olonel Tliomas liiinself, corroborated ami snpplemented from other 

 ^onrces. In tlie words of 'I'lioinas. ■■ H' it liad not tjeen for tlie Indians I would not liave been in the 

 war," 



-This is believed to be a correct statement of the strength and malie-np of tlie Thomas Legion. 

 Owing to the iraperfeetioii of llie records and the absence of reliable memoranda among the surviv- 

 ing otVu-ers. no two accounts exactly coincide. The roll given in the Nortli Carolina Confederate 

 Roster, handed in by (.'aptaiii Terrell, assistjint quartermaster, was compiled early in the war and 

 contains no notice of the engineer company or of the second infantry regiment, whii-h inchidcd two 

 other Indian companies. The information therein eontJiincd is supplemented from conversatiotis 

 and personal letters ()f Captain Terrell, ami fnau letters and newspaper articles by Lien tenant -Colonel 

 siringtield of the Sixty-ninth. .Another statement is given in Mrs Avery's sketch of Colonel Thomas 

 in tlu' North Carolina I'niversity Magazine for May. ISiiy. 



