William Holland Thomas (1805 - 1893)

Born 5 Feb 1805 in Haywood county, North Carolina

Ancestors

Husband of Sarah Jane Burney (Love) Thomas — married 30 Jun 1857 in Haywood County, North Carolina

Descendants

Died 10 May 1893 at age 88 in Morganton, Burke, North Carolina, United States

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Biography

Commanding Colonel William Thomas served in the United States Civil War.
Enlisted: 27 September 1862
Mustered out: 9 May 1865
Side: CSA
Regiment(s): 69th North Carolina Regiment aka "Thomas' Legion of Indians and Highlanders"

William Thomas is Notable.

William Holland Thomas (February 5, 1805 – May 10, 1893)

William, as a young man, learned to practice law. He represented Chief Yonguska and a small group of Eastern Cherokee. William used some of his own money, along with funds from the Eastern Cherokee, to purchase land for the Cherokee. William, being a white man adopted by the Chief, was able to buy land. This was something that the Native Cherokee could not do. This large area of land was called Qualla, it became Federally recognized as the Qualla Reservation. Today, this land is known as Cherokee, North Carolina.

William was born in a log house on Raccoon Creek, two miles East of Mount Prospect (today's Waynesville, North Carolina). He is related, on his Mother's side, to the Calvert family, the founders of the colony of Maryland. His Mother is the grandniece of Lord Baltimore. On his Father's side, he is related to President Zachary Taylor. William's Father, Richard, drowned shortly before his birth.

Thomas served as a state senator in North Carolina from 1850-1861.^[1]

Sixty-Ninth Regiment
By W. W. Stringfield, Lieutenant Colonel
"This command was originally intended for local defense in the mountains of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina, and was generally known as part of 'Thomas' Legion of Indians and Highlanders.' Colonel W. H. Thomas, its founder, was an old-line Democrat, and a leading citizen and politician in Western North Carolina — was a man of considerable means, and was personally well known to President Davis and Cabinet. He was born in Haywood county and raised to manhood close by the Cherokee Indians and at an early day espoused their cause, and prevented the forced removal to the West, of those in Western North Carolina, by General Scott in 1836 to 1838. He was adopted by the Indians and upon the deaths of their old chiefs, Yona-gus-kee and Juna-lus-kee, he was made chief and for twenty-five years prior to the war was also the Government Agent for these Indians.
When the war had progressed for a year and conscription had become a necessity and a certainty, this command was organized at Knoxville, Tenn., into a regiment and a battalion.
Several of the companies had been in service for several months, but General E. Kirby Smith, commander of the Department of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina (an old West Point army officer), was very much opposed to a temporizing or conservative policy, and would not allow Colonel Thomas the latitude he wanted; but the latter being a personal friend of President Davis, generally carried his points, and often went to Richmond to consult with him.
The organization of the regiment was completed at Knoxville, Tenn., 27 September, 1862, by the election of the following Field and Staff officers:

William H. Thomas, Colonel, Jackson county, N.C.

James R. Love, Lieutenant-Colonel, Jackson county, N.C.

William W. Stringfield, Major, Strawberry Plains, Tenn.

Luther C. May, Adjutant, Virginia.

James W. Terrell, A.Q.M., Jackson county, N.C.

Lucius M. Welch, A.C.S., Haywood county, N.C.

John W. Lawing, Surgeon, Lincoln county, N.C.

John C. Love, Assistant Surgeon, Jackson county, N.C.

Hezekiah West, Chaplain, Haywood county, N.C.

Alex R. Carmack, Sergeant Major, Pennsylvania."^[2]

William is buried on a hilltop in Waynesville.

Slaves

William Holland Thomas was a major enslaver in Haywood, North Carolina.

1850 Census

Based in part on his claimed ownership of human beings, Thomas's property was valued at $10,870 in 1850.^[4] It is worth noting that one African-American is listed by name as part of Thomas's household on this record, Andrew Coalman, 21 years old. (This is in contrast the 15 people listed as "unknown" on the slave schedule.)

Sources

1. ↑ https://www.carolana.com/NC/1800s/nc_1800s_general_assembly.html
2. ↑ 69th North Carolina Regiment, "Histories of the several regiments and battalions from North Carolina, in the great war 1861-'65", Walter Clark, 1901, Vol.3, p.852.
3. ↑ "United States Census (Slave Schedule), 1850 ", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HRW7-7J2M : 15 March 2022), William H Thomas in entry for MM9.1.1/MVCP-M12:, 1850.
4. ↑ "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-6LD7-87B?cc=1401638&wc=95RC-4W5%3A1031311901%2C1032323101%2C1032323102 : 9 April 2016), North Carolina > Haywood > Haywood county > image 154 of 160; citing NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

See also:

• William Holland Thomas- Wikepedia

• Thomas' Legion

• "Histories of the several regiments and battalions from North Carolina, in the great war 1861-'65", Walter Clark, 1901, Vol.3, p.518-519.