Robert Parks' 1st Cherokee Regiment Day Book

Nov 11, 1862 to March 28, 1863

Solomon Miller Collection No. 442
Microfilm reel no: MS 170.02

Transcription notes

This Day Book has been transcibed by a volunteer from the microfilm copy. The original Day Book is housed in Kansas State Historical Society manuscripts collection. The transcriber notes, "While doing some genealogical research on the Parks family I found a reference to the 1st Cherokee Regiment Day Book. The handwriting is very beautiful but also in scribbles which make it hard to decipher. The grammar and spelling are in some places corrected, but for the most part I left the words as spelled and used by Robert. Many words are capitalized that were not at the beginning of a sentence and for the most part are left as he wrote them. For the benefit of our family, references to his wife Clara and son, Sterling Price, are in darker print to make them stand out. References are made to:

• Clara, Robert's wife
• Sterling Price, their son
• Thomas J (Jeff) Parks, Robert's brother
• Aunt Susan Taylor, the wife of Richard Taylor
• Robert's uncle, his mother's brother
• The Riders and Albertys, relatives of Clara
• James Butler, husband of Robert's cousin and the man who shot and killed Robert."

Historic Context

During the Civil War, most of the members of the Cherokee Nation who had been removed from Georgia to Oklahoma under the treaty of 1835 allied themselves with the Confederacy. The 1st Cherokee Regiment was organized in 1861 under the command of Cherokee leader Stand Watie. Robert Calvin Parks was a captain in Company B of Watie's regiment at the time he kept this day book. The day book covers only five months, November 1862 through March 1863. The regiment played an important role in several battles along the border of Indian Territory. Stand Watie was the last Confederate general to surrender to Union forces on June 23, 1865.

Transcription of Entries by Date

• November 1862
• December 1862
• January 1863
• February 1863
• March 1863