Surrender at Dixie Hall

The last formal surrender of Confederate forces east of the Mississippi River took place in Franklin on May 12, 1865. According to W.W. Stringfield, Lt. Col. in the 69th Regiment CSA, this region was the “most inaccessible portion of the Confederacy.” The nearest railroad was located 6 miles east of Morganton. There was no telegraph system in the entire area and the mountains formed natural barriers to transportation.

The Confederate troops located in these hills were the last to hear of Lee’s surrender, which took place on April 9, 1865, or of the surrender
of North Carolina forces under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, at Durham Station, April 26.

The federal troops had begun a mopping up action in Western North Carolina which led to a skirmish in Waynesville between the Confederate soldiers of the Thomas Legion and a portion of Bartlett’s Regiment.

Union officer Col. George W. Kirk proceeded west to Franklin where he “last body of organized army troops remaining east of the Mississippi, of all those whom the Confederacy sent to battle” were known to be located. These men, a remnant of Gen. J.G. Martin’s forces were under the command of Major Stephen Whitaker.

Whitaker heard of the surrenders of Lee and Johnston and went to Franklin to surrender himself and his men. Kirk accepted their surrender and furloughed the men home. Some believe it was Kirk’s original intention to burn Franklin but the town was spared because the war ended before he could carry out his intent.

As a footnote, Kirk had taken over Dixie Hall, the home of Julius Thomas Siler, a Captain of the Confederate Army. Union soldiers stole what they could carry from the home and young Alice Siler secretly went onto the upstairs porch and spat on Kirk’s Union flag.

The Thomas Legion

Thomas’ Legion of Cherokee Indians and Highlanders, also called the 69th North Carolina Regiment, was organized by Col. William H. Thomas September 27, 1862. The people of this mountainous area were sometimes referred to as “highlanders” and as such, the local citizenry began to refer to Thomas’ unit as the “Highland Rangers”.

The Legion eventually recruited more than 2,000 officers and men including 400 Cherokee. The unit skirmished extensively in areas of Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia and is credited with having prevented the Union forces from subjugating Western North Carolina. A portion of this legion was involved in the final skirmish of the war in Waynesville, NC.

Holland (February 5, 1805 to May 10, 1893) was the first and only white man to serve as Cherokee Chief and was instrumental in obtaining the land on which the Qualla Boundary, located north of Franklin, was established. He was the subject of a 2006 novel “Thirteen Moons”, by former Franklin resident Charles Frazier.

Several Macon County men, both white and Indian, joined Thomas’ unit. Among the Cherokee who fought for the Legion were several from Sandtown, a village just west of Franklin in the Cartoogechaye area. The Chief of Sandtown was Chuttahsotee or Jim Woodpecker. Thomas himself bestowed a Gillespie Long Rifle on his friend Chuttahsotee. This rifle is now on exhibit at the Macon County Historical Museum.

Thomas was an influential and powerful figure in Western North Carolina before the Civil War. As State Senator in 1848 he was instrumental in establishing the Great Western Turnpike which went from Asheville through Franklin to Murphy. This road was essential to the development of the region.

After the war, Thomas received a pardon from President Andrew Johnson in 1866 but illness prevented him resuming his political career.