Dear Dr. Zellar,

It's always an honor and a pleasure to see a distinguished historian posting on the message boards. I know of your book on the "African Creeks: Estelvste and the Creek Nation" and will add your bibliography to our Contributing Authors page this coming week. Ken Martin, History of the Cherokee website and upcoming Indian Territory in the Civil War website, and I have long been curious about the composition of the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry (aka, 79th USCT). It would seem that the initial composition of the battalion and later regiment, must have included, not only, Cherokee Freedmen, but also, large numbers of Afro-Amerindian (I hope I spelled that term correctly) soldiers.

Have you done any study of the composition of the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry? As a mixed-blood Cherokee, I would like to see the Native-American ancestry of many of these troops recognized, as well as their African heritage.

Thanks again for contributing and I note in some information that you're working on a "manuscript" or history of the the Civil War in Indian Territory. Can you give any details?

Jim Martin