Dear Ralph,

Thanks for responding so quickly with this "first time" complete roster of Lee's Battery. As Gerald stated in his posting this battery has "always" been referred to as a TEXAS battery. Well, that's partly true but this roster proves another contention which is that it was a mix of both Texas and Indian troops.

As a mixed-blood Cherokee, this is very important as the stereotype of the Native-Americans in the Civil War is wearers of buckskin, speaking in "grunts" and broken-English, with scalping knives and a savage participation in the battles. The Pea Ridge accounts of "wild Indians" dancing around the "Shooting Wagons" perpetuates this stereotype. In fact, this roster proclaims loudly that Native-Americans could fully utilize "white" technology in the form of artillery and did not "scamper" up a tree whenever they saw a cannon.

I don't mean to go off on a "rant" but the record of the contributions and the culture of the Native-Americans in the Indian Territory is so misunderstood by many Civil War historians that this little list is a "big symbol" to the pride of we descendants of these men.

Thanks again Ralph,

Jim Martin
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