Stephen Whitaker Papers, 1853-1898

OlBldlmt of Arcij..i»a anb flta»Bertlpl« ©latr Or^artnirnt of Arrbiufa онй History Baltigtf. Norttj (Biiroltua Collection: STEPHEN WHITAKER PAPERS P.C— JLl Western North Carolina East Tennessee Shenandoah. Valley • 1853-1896 Physical Description: 102 items: orders, instructions, passes, muster and bounty lists, receipts, pay voucher, magazine, memorial, newspaper, clippings, oaths, and correspondence. Acquisition: Received February 29, 1932. Presented by 'Mrs. Fannie D. Eubanks, Historian, Cherokee Chapter, U.D.C., Andrews, N.C.. Filed under Organization records, United Daughters of the Confederacy, Cherokee Chapter. Transferred to Private Collections c. 1963. Description: 'MagCr—Stephen Whitaker, born 1814, son of Polly Walker and James Whitaker (state legislator, Macon County, 1830-1833). Lived in Valley Town, Cherokee County; fanner and slave owner. Provided commissary stores for William H. Thomas' "Valley River Rangers of Cherokee County" until September, 1862, when he recruited Company E for William C. Walker's 1st Battalion of W. H. Thomas' "Legion of Highland Rangers" (also called "Legion of Indians and Highlanders"), Strawberry Plains, Tennessee. Served as officer with this command in east Tenn¬ essee and Shenandoah Valley until ordered to western North Carolina for home defense. Married Elizabeth Taylor, 1835; two sons, J. M. and David L also served in Thomas' Legion. The collection includes fifty-nine (59) official and semi-official papers relating to Whitaker's war service from the September, 1862, authorization tb raise a company in Cherokee County to his May 12, 1865, parole. There are passes, muster and bounty rolls, orders, and instruc¬ tions from W. C. Walker, battalion commander and W. H. Thomas, regimental commander. Included are orders to violate parole (1863 ), to gather deserters and absentees from the company, and to act in concert with Governor Vance's home guards in western North Carolina. A memorial to the Confederate government (n.d.) requests that conscripts and reserves be kept at home to raise crops and protect families. Twenty-two (22) letters are to his father (1863-1865) with references to guarding bridges, hunting deserters and conscripts, and safeguarding cattle in east Tennessee; to fighting tn the Shenandoah Valley; and to the need for troops to defend western North Carolina from the destructive roving bands of "bushwackers, " deserters, and Federal troops. Other topics are his relationship with his men, his children's education, and his parent '3 old age. Throughout are references to transportation problems with three tombstones he bought in Tennessee.