History records the Cherokee Nation, found in western North Carolina and the southeastern United States more than 1,000 years ago, as a hunting, trading, agrarian-based society that lived in mud-hut communities until European settlers forced them from their lands. But the Cherokees’ role as scalp-taking, hard fighting soldiers of the Confederacy is also a part of their history. Dr. Don Wire, adjunct professor of history at Campbell University’s Fort Liberty campus, spoke to Campbell students about Cherokee history at a Lunch and Learn symposium held Wednesday, Nov. 28.By the time European settlers arrived in 1540, Cherokee lands covered a large part of what is now the southeastern United States, but in the late 18th century the Cherokee Indians battled Carolina settlers, forcing the Cherokee out of their communities and into the Blue Ridge Mountains, explained Wire. Eventually they were removed from North Carolina by the passage of Andrew Jackson’s 1830 Removal Act, calling for the relocation of all native peoples east of the Mississippi River to Oklahoma, later known as “The Trail of Tears.”Not all of the Indians complied with this order and hid in the wilderness of the Great Smoky Mountains. When the Civil War began these Native Americans decided to fight on the side of the Confederacy, believing they could win back their land.”Four hundred of them lived in the area where Cherokee, N.C. is today,” Wire said. “They were represented by a white man, William Holland Thomas, who politicked for them in Raleigh and became an elected state representative to further the Cherokee cause.”Thomas organized the Cherokee into battalions and they became the Highland 69th Legion, the only legion in the Confederacy to contain Native Americans.”News of the Cherokee reputation for being fierce warriors traveled fast,” Wire said, “and the 69th Legion soon became one of the most feared Legions in the Confederacy, known for scalping their victims and cutting off their ears.” One Union commander surrendered before firing a single shot upon hearing the Cherokee war chant prior to battle.An adjunct professor at Campbell University’s Fort Liberty campus, Dr. Don Wire has had a lifelong interest in Native American frontier people. He is a professor of government and history at Fort Liberty.Photo Copy: Dr. Don Wire, Campbell University adjunct professor of government and history at the Fort Liberty campus, was on the main campus to deliver a presentation on the Cherokee Indians in North Carolina recently.
Fort Liberty professor traces Cherokee role in Confederacy