Colonel William Holland Thomas.

[Old Cremona]

My interest in Colonel Thomas was piqued by Charles Frazier's (Cold Mountain) new novel thirteen moons. Although entirely a work of fiction, Frazier's main character Will Cooper is apparently based on William Holland Thomas, whose legal efforts on behalf of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians helped preserve their land and rights. During the Civil War, he led the Thomas Leigon of Cherokee Indians and Highlanders, who supposedly fired the last shot of the Civil War east of the Mississippi river, at White Sulphur Springs, NC.