Moi'XEv] CHEKUKEE IN INION AKMY 171 



li.shed in 1848 had heoii paid annually up to and including- the yoar 

 185it, at tho rato of $8.:i() por capita, or an aoji'i'cyatc. cxcliisi\-(' of 

 disbursing' afrcnt'.s commission, of !tv4,88S.40 annually, based upon the 

 original Mullay enumeration of 1.517. 



Tpon receipt of this report it was enacted by the Confederate con- 

 vrress that the sum of $19,352.36 be paid the East Cherokee to cover 

 the interest p(>riod of four years from May 23. 18()0, to May 23, ISti-l. 

 In this connection the Confederate conuuissionor suggested that th(> 

 payment l)e made in provisions, of -.vhich the Indians were then 

 greatly in need, and which, if the payment were made in cash. th(\v 

 would 1)1' unable to purchase, on ai'count of the general scarcity. lie 

 adds that, according to his information. ahiMist every Cheiokee capable 

 of hearing ai'ms was then in the Confe(li>rate service. The roll fur- 

 nished by Captain Tei-rell is the original Mullay roll cori'ected to May, 

 1860. no r(>ference being made to the later MuIIay enumeration (2,133), 

 already alludefl to. There is no record to show that the payment thus 

 authorized was made, and as the Confederate government was then in 

 hard straits it is probable that nothing further was done in the matter. 



In submitting his statement of previous payments. Colonel Thomas, 

 their former agent, adds: 



As the Xorth Carolina CherokeesJ have, like their brethren wes't, taken up arms 

 ajrainst the Lincoln government, it i^^ not prolialile that any further advances of 

 interest will he made by that jrovernment to any portion of the Cherokee tribe. I 

 also enclose a cojiy of the act of ,Iuly 29, 184S, so far as relates to the North Carolina 

 Cherokees, and a printed explanation of their rights, prepared by me in 1851, and 

 submitted to tlie attorney-general, and his opinion thereon, which may not be alto- 

 gether uninteresting to those who feel an interest in knowing something of the 

 history of the Cherokee tribe of Indian-s, whose destiny is so closely identified with 

 that of the Southern Confederacy.' 



In a skirmish lu'ar Bryson City (then Charleston). .Swain county. 

 North Carolina, about a year after enlistment, a small party of 

 Cherokee — perhaps a dozen in number — was captured by a detach- 

 ment of Cni(^n troops and carried to Knoxville, where, having become 

 dissatisfied with their experience in the Confederate service, they 

 were easih' persuaded to go over to the Union .side. Through 

 the influence of their principal man. Digane'ski. several others were 

 induced to desert to the Union army, making about thirty in all. A.s a 

 part of the Third North Cai'olina Mounted Volunteer Infantry, they 

 served with the Union forces in the same region until the close of the 

 war, when they returned to their homes to find their tribesmen so 

 bitterly incensed against them that for sonn> tinn' their li\-es wcmc in 

 danger. Eight of these are still alive in l!»(Kl.-' 



One of these Union Cherokee had brought back with him the small- 



' Thomas- Terrell manuscript East Cherokee roll, with accompanying letters, 1804 (Bur. Am. Kili. 

 archives). 



'Personal information from Colonel W.H.Thomas, Captain .I.W. Terrell, Chief X.J. Smith, ami 

 others; see also Carrington, Eastern Band of Cherokees, Extra Bulletin of Eleventh Census, p. Jl. 1,S92. 



