Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Honoring Cherokee Freedmen Civil War Freedom Fighters




 In the US Civil War, men of African Descent were active in the quest for freedom.  Some had followed Creeks into Kansas. While there, some found themselves in a new status--that of free men. The opportunity to engage in the battle for freedom, several enlisted in one of three groups--Indian Home Guards, 1st and 2nd Kansas Colored Infantries, or the US Colored Troops. Note that the 1st and 2nd Kansas Colored regiments were later re-designated as the 79th and 83rd US Colored Infantries, respectively.

Cherokee Freedmen are found mostly among US Colored Troops, in both 79th and 83rd regiments.  However, a few names are found in other regiments as well. 

To honor Cherokee Freedmen Civil War Soldiers a partial list is placed here. Additional research is much needed to compile a comprehensive list, and hopefully someday such a project will be undertaken. Many of these men died during the war, and others died prior to the Dawes enrollment era, so many names have simply been forgotten with time. And some were born and enslaved in the Cherokee Nation, but moved away from the Territory in later years. Thankfully, Civil War records reflect their names, and their place of birth, their names can still be called and should be remembered.

Partial List of Cherokee Freedmen Civil War Soldiers

Indian Home Guards
Buck Bushyhead

11th US Colored Infantry
Aron Alberty 
George Bench

79th US Colored Infantry

Moses Carter
Wiley Carter
Thomas Daniels
George C. Davis
Isaac Rogers
Franklin Ross
Nelson Ross
Thomas Ross

83rd US Colored Infantry

Amos Adair
Andrew Brewer
Jacob Brewer
George Bushyhead
Moses Fields
Zachary Foreman
William Funkhauser
James Geary
Ephraim Isaac
Andrew Johnson
George Johnson
Israel Johnson
Moses Johnson
Henry Kidd
Dick Linch (Lynch)
George Martin
Hugh Martin
Toby Martin
Melton Washington
Edward Peter
Lewis Theodore
Burgess Thomas
John Webb
Daniel Webster
David Whitman
William Anderson
Aughter Williams

May the service of these men of the Cherokee Nation who served honorably in the Civil War and the quest for freedom, be remembered and honored. 

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