William H. Thomas led Confederate "Legion of Indians & Mountaineers." Cherokee companies raised nearby in 1862.
Topics Related to Civil War
White chief and agent of N.C. Cherokee. Secured reservation for them. Confederate colonel. State senator. Home, "Stekoih Fields," stood 1/4 mi. S.
Site of Union attack on Thomas’s Legion, Feb. 2, 1864. Reduced Cherokee support for Confederacy. One mile northeast.
Confederate General, Governor of S.C., 1876-79, U.S. Senator. His summer home, "High Hampton," stood 1 1/3 miles southeast.
On April 3, 1865, Union Col. Isaac M. Kirby left East Tenn. with 1100 men on a raid against Asheville. On April 6, Kirby's force was defeated by local militia under Col. G. W. Clayton. Earthworks remain 100 yds. N.
Thirteen men and boys, suspected of Unionism, were killed by Confederate soldiers in early 1863. Graves 8 mi. E.
Manufactured Enfield-type rifles. In 1863 plant moved to Columbia, S.C. Building was located 1/4 mi. SE. Burned in 1865.
Southern troops turned back Stoneman's U.S. cavalry, raiding through western North Carolina, at Swannanoa Gap, near here, April 20, 1865.
Confederate Secretary of Treasury, 1864-65; S.C. legislator, cotton broker and financier. Summer home "Solitude" stood 1/2 mile east.
Iron works set up four mi. W. by Philip Sitton after 1804. Source for manufacture of rifles by Philip Gillespie. Both operated to 1860s.