Were First Nations part of the ACW?

[LMUStats]

Thomas' Legion was composed of Cherokee from the Eastern Band in the North Carolina Mountains.

They saw action in several areas, including Cumberland Gap.

This site can be a little hard to follow and tends to include obscure/tenuous links to some events, but it is not too bad.

http://thomaslegion.net/

[Martin James]

Thomas' Legion was composed of Cherokee from the Eastern Band in the North Carolina Mountains.

They saw action in several areas, including Cumberland Gap.

This site can be a little hard to follow and tends to include obscure/tenuous links to some events, but it is not too bad.

http://thomaslegion.net/

For more on Thomas' Legion, a unique unit I think, see 'Storm in the Mountains' by Vernon H Crow.

Martin

[Hancock the Superb]

The United States Volunteers were organized to meet the threat of Indian raiding on the western frontier. I believe that most of these regiments were composed of captured Confederate soldiers. The US government liked these "volunteers" (not really volunteers in the definition of the word) a lot because the US government had control over their enlistment period, thus many regiments mustered out in 1866 or 67, unlike the state controlled volunteer regiments, who's governors ended terms of service in 1865. This lead to the nationalization of the army as it is today, an army of volunteers led by the national government. The regulars, it should be determined, had a longer term of enlistment and was generally considered an occupation, not a service. I don't believe that there are too many regualar army units anymore; they are more volunteer based. State volunteers have become the national guard today.