2nd Regiment, Cherokee Mounted Volunteers, CSA

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2nd Regiment, Cherokee Mounted Volunteers, CSA

OVERVIEW:

2nd Cherokee Mounted Rifles was organized near Fort Gibson, Cherokee Nation, in September, 1861. It served in the Department of the Indian Territory, then was assigned to D.H. Cooper's and Watie's Brigade in the Trans-Mississippi Department.

The unit skirmished and raided the Federals in the Indian Territory and in September, 1864, fought at Cabin Creek with 150 officers and men. Later it surrendered at Doaksville with the other Indian forces.

The field officers were Colonel William P. Adair; Lieutenant Colonel O.H.P. Brewer; and Majors Porter Hammock, J.R. Harden, and John Vann.

https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battle-units-detail.htm?battleU...

ORGANIZATION. Joel M Bryan was authorized by Brig Gen Albert Pike to raise 100 men or more as partisan rangers during the summer of 1862. The company (A) was mustered in at Fort Davis, Canadian District, Cherokee Nation, July 20, 1862. Bryan proceeded to recruit another four companies, and was ordered by Maj Gen Thomas C Hindman to organize the force into a battalion, which was done September 13, 1862. Records indicate that the enlistment term was three years.

By order of Brig Gen Douglas H Cooper, the battalion was on February 3, 1863, consolidated with 5 companies attached to Watie’s 1st Cherokee Mounted Volunteers to form the 2nd (Adair’s) Cherokee Mounted Volunteers 1st (Holt’s) Squadron, Cherokee Mounted Volunteers

CAPTAIN. Charles H Holt, to Captain of Co L, 2nd Regt after 30 Jun 63 ?.

STAFF. Adjutant Charles C Reed.

ORGANIZATION. This company was mustered in at Webber’s Falls, Canadian District, Cherokee Nation, 12 December 62, for two years. The last record of the company is dated June 30, 1863, it may have been assigned to the 2nd Regiment as Company L after that date.

2nd (Adair’s) Cherokee Mounted Volunteers (Adair’s Regiment, Cherokee Mounted Rifles)

COLONEL. William Penn Adair (prev AQM, 1st Regt).

LIEUTENANT COLONELS. James Madison Bell (from Capt, 1st Co D, 1st Regt) promoted and transferred to the 1st Regt in June 1864; O H Perry Bewer, succeeded Bell (from Capt, Co F).

MAJORS. T Porter Hammock, appointed 26 Apr 63 ( from 2d Lt, Co A); John R Harden, by May 64 ( from Capt, Co C ); John F Vann, by Sept 64 ( from Capt, Co I).

REGIMENTAL STAFF

Adjutant: 1st Lts Joseph A Scales (from 1st Sgt, 2nd Co F, 1st Regt) to Capt, Co A, Frye’s Bn June 63; Andrew J Greenway (from 2nd Lt, Co B); S T Fair (from pvt, Co C) Assistant Quarter Master: Capt Joel B Mayes (from Adjt, 1st P R Bn) to Brigade AQM 1864); J W Phagan, to Capt, Co G, 12 Jul 64. Ass Commissary of Subsistence: 1st Lt Richard F Martin Surgeon: Maj Thomas M Colley, resigned 16 Apr 63; William J Dupree appointed 24 Jul 63. Assistant Surgeon: Capts Robert White, resigned 16 Apr 63; Harrison J Payden (prev Ass Surg of 1st P R Bn), W C Dunn Chaplain: Rev Elder L Compere Drill Master: 2nd Lt Michael L Coudon (from pvt, Co G) to 2nd Lt, Co E, June 63. Sergeant Major: J W Burk (from pvt, Co D), Riley Walter Lindsay (from Co H) Quartermaster Sergeant: A W Timberlake Ordnance Sergeant: J Foster Bell Hospital Steward: J Frank Marrs (from pvt, Co H)

Companies and their Commanders

• Company A. John Miller, to Cherokee Battalion, Special Service 1865; T D Flinn ? (from 1st Lt)
• Company B. Bluford West Alberty
• Company C. John R Harden, to Major by May 64; W H Hendren (from 1st Lt)
• Company D. Joseph L Martin
• Company E. D C Patton
• Company F. O H Perry Brewer, to Lt Col July 64; Thomas F Brewer ? (from 1st Lt)
• Company G. William H Acridge, J W Phagan (12 Jul 64, from AQM)
• Company H. William H Shannon
• Company I. John F Vann, to Major by Sept 64; Cary Walker ? (from 1st Lt)
• Company K. E M Adair
• Company L (?). Charles H Holt

ORGANIZATION. Formed 3 February 1863 at Prairie Springs, Creek Nation (winter camp of Indian Cavalry Brigade, 15 miles southeast of Fort Gibson), by the consolidation of Bryan’s 1st Battalion, Cherokee Partisan Rangers, and five companies attached to Watie’s 1st Cherokee Mounted Volunteers.

Frye’s – Scales’ Battalion, Cherokee Mounted Volunteers (1st Battalion, Cherokee Mounted Rifles)

MAJORS. Moses C Frye (prev Capt, 1st Co I, 1st Regiment); Joseph Absalom Scales, promoted Major 23 Apr 64 (from Capt, Co A), to Brigade AIG after Bn was disbanded.

Companies and their Commanders

• Company A. Joseph Absalom Scales (prev Adjt, 2nd Regt), to Major 23 Apr 64.
• Company ?. Morgan (prev 1st Lt, Holt’s Squadron ?), MW 18 Dec 63, Barren Fork, I. T.
• Company ?. John Spears (prev Capt, 2nd Co H, 1st Regt)

ORGANIZATION. On April 1, 1863, Col Watie was authorized to raise a Cherokee brigade. After the 2nd Regiment had been formed, steps were taken to enlist another unit. The first company (A) was probably organized on 3 June 63, but details about the other companies are missing. Consisted of 4 companies by December 1863. The battalion was apparently broken up and consolidated with the 1st and 2nd Regiments about 12 July 64.

A general reorganization of the Cherokee forces took place on Limestone Prairie, Choctaw Nation, after Watie had been promoted Brigadier General and the Cherokees on June 27, 1864, had declared their unanimous reenlistment for the war. On July 11, the Cherokee National Council passed a conscription act, which required that all able bodied free citizens between 17-45 report for duty before August 1.

Cherokee Battalion (or Regiment), Special Service (Bryan’s Battalion)

LIEUTENANT COLONEL. Joel M Bryan (prev Major, 1st Partisan Ranger Bn)

Companies and their Commanders

• Company ?. John Miller (prev Capt, Co A, 2nd Regt)
• Company ?. Owens.

ORGANIZATION. Not much is known about this organization, which is mentioned in Brig Gen Douglas H Cooper’s correspondence in March and May of 1865 and in a Federal report dated 23 Apr 65, then supposed to be at Fort Towson (in the southern Choctaw Nation), 300 strong. Joel M Bryan, who previously led the 1st Partisan Ranger Bn, was the commander. Captain John Miller led a company, and a Captain Owens another.

NOTES: 1st (Meyer’s) Battalion, Cherokee Cavalry is a “paper” organization that never existed. Major Benjamin W Meyer may have received authorization to raise a battalion early in the war, but he never did.

Brigade Staff Upon Watie’s promotion to Brigadier General in the summer of 1864, he was entitled to appoint staff officers to the following positions:

• Aides-de-Camp: Capt Lucien B Bell, 1st Lt Saladin Ridge Watie (from pvt, 2nd Co G, 1st Regt)
• Assistant Quartermaster: Major Joel B Mayes (from AQM, 2nd Regt)
• Assistant Adjutant General: Capt Thomas F Anderson (from Adjt, 1st Regt)
• Assistant Inspector General: Major Joseph A Scales (from cdr of Frye’s-Scales’ Bn)
• Surgeon: Major Walter Thompson Adair (from Surg, 1st Regt)
• Assistant Surgeon: ?
• Ass Commissary of Subsistence:?
• Ordnance Officer: ?

Cherokee Battalion, Thomas’ North Carolina Legion (2nd Battalion, Thomas’ Legion; Indian Battalion)

COLONEL. William Holland Thomas, Col of Thomas’ NC Infantry Regt 27 Sep 1862, which was a month later increased to a Legion. Relinquished field command of the Legion about 1 Sep 63 (officially in command until March 1865), except the Cherokee Battalion, which he personally commanded until war’s end.

Companies and their Commanders

Company A. William Holland Thomas, 9 April 62, to Major of Thomas’ Inf Bn Jul 62; James W Terrell, 19 Jul 62 (from 1st Lt), to AQM of Thomas’ Inf Regt (later Legion) 27 Sep 62; Matthew H Love, 27 Sep 62 (from the 16th NC Inf Regt). Company B. Gideon M Hanks, 18 May 62, KIA late 1863; James Taylor (from 1st Lt) Company C. Campbell H Taylor (from 2nd Lt, Co B), resigned 4 Jun 64; James Welch Company D. Black Fox

ORGANIZATION. The nucleus of the battalion was the «Junaluska Zuaves», a North Carolina militia company of Cherokees organized in Quallatown in May 1861 by William H Thomas. Company A was mustered into CS service April 9, 1862, at Quallatown. Company B was organized in Knoxville, Tn, on May 18, 1862, by a division of the over strength Co A. In July 1862, these two companies formed part of Thomas’ Infantry Battalion. The battalion was increased and reorganized as Thomas’ NC Infantry Regiment on September 27, 1862, in Knoxville. The Cherokee companies then became Cos C and D, respectively. In October, another battalion (Walker’s) was added to Thomas’ command, which thereafter became known as Thomas’ Legion of Indians and Highlanders. In January 1863, the two Cherokee companies reverted back to their previous designations as Co A and B of the Infantry Regiment (Love’s), Thomas’ Legion. The Cherokee companies were detached from the regiment in September 1863, and from then on served as a separate battalion under Thomas’ direct command (who at that point relinquished field command of the Legion). Company C was added in Quallatown in December 1863, and Company D organized in the summer of 1864. Not until April 9, 1865, however, was the Cherokee Battalion officially mustered as a separate unit of Thomas’ Legion. At that time the battalion reportedly totalled about 300 men.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Wilfred Knight, Jr Red Fox: Stand Watie’s Civil War Years in Indian Territory
• Annie H Abel The American Indian as Slave holder and Secessionist
• Annie H Abel The American Indian in the Civil War 1862-1865
• Annie H Abel The American Indian and the End of the Confederacy 1863-1866
• Larry C Rampp & Donald L Rampp The Civil War in Indian Territory
• Carolyn M Bartels Stand Watie and the First Cherokee Regiment 1861-1865
• Edward E Dale & Gaston Litton (eds) Cherokee Cavaliers: Forty Years of Cherokee History as Told in the Correspondence of the Ridge-Watie-Boudinot Family
• Mabel W Anderson Life of General Stand Watie
• W. Craig Gaines The Confederate Cherokees: John Drew’s Regiment of Mounted Rifles
• Stewart Sifakis Compendium of the Confederate Armies: Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, the Confederate Units, and the Indian Units
• National Archives Microfilm M861 Compiled Records Showing Service of Military Units in Confederate Organizations Roll 74 – Organizations raised directly by the Confederate Government (regular infantry, Indian units, engineer troops, etc)
• Marybelle W Chase Index to Civil War Service Records: Watie’s Cherokee Regiments
• Vernon H Crow Storm in the Mountains: Thomas’ Confederate Legion of Cherokee Indians and Mountaineers
• Official Records of the War of the Rebellion
• Confederate Veteran

http://www.thepeoplespaths.net/history/CherConfed.htm