Posted by Diana S on May 28, 2001 at 13:09:12:
#18 - The Oddest Battle of the Civil War and Last Shot of the Civil War in NC.
William H. Thomas, a state legislator and proponent for the rights of the eastern band of the Cherokee Indians, was given permission by Jefferson Davis to form the "North Carolina Cherokee Battalion". He intended to raise a full battalion to act as a guerrilla force, made up of whites and Cherokees, to defend East Tennessee, the Western Carolinas, and Virginia. This group of men known as Thomas' Legion (sometimes referred to as the Highland Rangers) was at times up to 2000 men strong. The legion was known for its "gallant conduct" and saw may battles in eastern Tennessee and the Shenendoah Valley of Virginia, always wanting to return home to NC for local defense. Having returned home near the end of the war, with fewer than 100 men, new recruits were enlisted to number 400 just a month before Lee's surrender at Appomattox.
On May 9, 1865, a month AFTER the Confederate surrender, Colonel W.C. Bartlett's Federal Mounted Infantry were encountered by the Thomas Legion near Waynesville, NC. Despite the fact that both sides knew the war was basically over, a skirmish ensued and the Federals were driven into the town and surrounded. That night the Cherokee soldiers built fires on the hillside and filled the night with war whoops and drumming making the federal troops very nervous. The next morning, Confederate General James G. Martin, Thomas and Colonel Love, escorted by "twenty of the biggest Cherokees", Thomas could roundup, stripped to the waist and painted with war paint, all met with Bartlett and arranged terms for the VICTORIOUS confederates to surrender to the DEFEATED Federals, realizing fighting was fruitless. Bartlett was so impressed with the confederate leaders and their escorts that he allowed them to keep their arms and equipment (sound familiar?) and he agreed to leave the area.
After # 34,
there'll be no more.
For in just 16 days,
we'll be in the Gathering Way!!
Di