5. John Drew
Born in Georgia of mixed-blood parents (he was the nephew by marriage of John Ross), John Drew was a slave owner when he relocated to Indian Country during the period known as the Trail of Tears. He traveled in the same party as his uncle and his family. During the period before the outbreak of the Civil War, Drew led a party of Cherokee militia to hunt down a group of escaped slaves who fled from the plantation of Joseph Vann. The 100 or so man posse carried whatever weapons they owned. Some were armed with ancient Tower muskets, known familiarly as the Brown Bess, having been handed down in Cherokee families since the days of the American Revolutionary War.
Drew parlayed this “military” experience into a commission in October, 1861, raising the 1st Regiment of Cherokee Mounted Rifles. Few of the Cherokee were armed with rifles, though some did carry Pennsylvania and Kentucky rifles of several decades’ vintage. Most of Drew’s volunteers, unlike their leader, opposed slavery and joined because they were exhorted to, using the traditions of the Cherokee warrior. A significant number of his men deserted during the Trail of Blood in Ice campaign, not wanting to fight against Indians they knew. After the Battle of Old Fort Wayne in 1862, where the Confederates and their Indian allies were routed, most of Drew’s remaining command deserted to the Union.