Marshall McClung
The Civil War unit that locals were the most familiar was likely the Thomas Legion, which was made up of a large number of Cherokee Indians who had the name of being ferocious fighters and was part of 69th North Carolina regiment. The unit was organized by Col. William Holland Thomas in 1862.
Thomas started with 200 Cherokees from North Carolina known as the "Junaluska Zouaves," after Chief Junaluska – who is buried in Robbinsville. Most of the Cherokees and whites in the unit were either from Western North Carolina or Eastern Tennessee, with the number of troops eventually reaching over 1,100 men. One unit, known as the "Cherokee Battalion," was made up of 400 Cherokees.
The legion saw action in a battle at Powell’s Valley in 1862. They were ambushed at Baptist Gap. The Cherokees counterattacked and a Cherokee Lieutenant named Astooga Stoga was killed. This angered the Cherokees in the unit so much that they scalped several dead and wounded Union soldiers. Word of this spread to other Union outfits and caused widespread fear and dread of facing the group.
The legion was in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia and was down to 500 troops by then. They fought in the Battle of Cedar Creek on Oct. 19, 1864. By the time the unit was transferred back to North Carolina, there were fewer than 100 soldiers left. Once back in North Carolina, Thomas was able to enlarge the unit to 1,200 men – which included 400 Cherokees.
In November 1864, the legion was involved in a skirmish with the 3rd Tennessee Mounted Infantry of Union Volunteers at Robbinsville. This Union outfit was said to be made up of deserters from both the Union and Confederate Armies, and likely contained some of the Kirkland Bushwhackers. The battle seemed to be more of a running gun fight and the Union unit pulled out and went to Murphy.
The last surrender of Confederate troops east of the Mississippi River was said to have taken place in Robbinsville on May 14, 1865, at a store that sat at the present location of the Graham County Schools' central office. Jeremy Wiggins made it his senior project to place a historical marker there on the edge of the hill to mark that historical event.
The Confederate troops stationed here were supposed to surrender to a Union officer at Franklin – but refused, saying he was a traitor because he left the Confederate Army and joined the Union Army. The troops said they would continue to fight before they would surrender to a traitor.
The Union Army hastily made arrangements for them to surrender to another officer at Robbinsville.
Marshall McClung is the historical columnist for The Graham Star. He can be reached via email, mcclungs@email.com.