The Cherokee Artillery was composed entirely of white men, and had nothing to do with Confederate military forces that recruited Cherokee men. It was organized in Floyd County, Georgia, in northwestern Georgia in August of 1860 as a Confederate Unit, five months before the state seceded from the Union but when that outcome was considered likely. This book does not state how it got that name, but a few of the soldiers came from adjoining Cherokee County in Alabama, and, certainly, Cherokee people had lived in Floyd County before the removal. The name took on a new meaning as they first went to Canton, Georgia, in Cherokee County, the home town of the Georgia governor, where they obtained their first artillery and were officially made a part of Georgia’s Confederate Army, although still led by Floyd County men. Originally 42 men joined the Cherokee Artillery, but about 200 were involved at one time or another. They fought first in Tazewell, Tennessee, then in the Vicksburg, Mississippi, campaign, and then back close to home at Tunnel Hill and Missionary Ridge and Atlanta and then in Nashville and to Salisbury, North Carolina, three days after Lee Surrendered in April 1865 where most of the remnants were captured and sent to Camp Chase in Ohio where they all eventually signed the loyalty oath and were permitted to return home. This book covers not only their war activities but their annual reunions after the war. An appendix does give the entire roster, but the authors never provide a summary of their fates. Just a quick perusal demonstrates that many returned to Floyd County or home elsewhere, but a high percentage of the men whose fate is known died in battle, died of disease, were imprisoned, or deserted - some of whom joined the Union Army.
Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press, 2020. 300 pages with maps, illustrations, an appendix, Bibliography, and Index. Hardback in dust jacket.