Thanks for posting this John... on the Missouri and IT both.
My interest started when Darrell first posted a question about Eli. He was living in McDonald Co. MO and, with a number of whites from Benton Co. AR, shows up in Bryan's Battalion and then Adair's 2nd Cherokee Mtd Vols. I haven't seen anything regarding him and his family that would suggest an "Indian connection" to the Cherokee, Osage, or other tribe though they lived in the vicinity of these tribes.