Flag design of the 1st Cherokee Rifles Brigade
Join the members of Gen. Wright Camp 22 as we welcome historian and author Guy “Red Corn” Nixon to the California Military Museum on October 2 at 7:00PM.
Guy is a Native American, whose family history in California goes back to 1846, when his ancestors moved to El Dorado County from Oklahoma. He ahs done extensive research on his ancestry, which includes Osage, Pawnee, and Cherokee heritage.
Among his famous ancestors: a first cousin to his family is Sequoyah, the man credited as the inventor of the Cherokee syllabary. Another relative, John Mathews, a cousin of his grandfather, is reputed to be the first American pilot credited with an air-to-air combat kill in World War I, and was also the first Native American to attend Oxford University.
At the October 2 meeting, Guy will be talking about his Civil War heritage, which includes ancestors who fought in Native American brigades for the Confederacy.
Guy has written a number of books about his ancestors, and about his genealogical research process. Titles include: “A River Divided The Story & Biography of ‘ Chief ‘ Coppa Hembo,” “Slavery in the West,” “The Battle over Hell Hole and Rubicon in El Dorado and Placer Counties, California 1907,” “From Warrior to Judge The Biography of Wahshashowahtinega Bill Nixon Hapashutsy of the Osage Tribe 1843 to 1917,” and “Finding Your Native American Ancestors.”
For information about Guy, see this article in the Mountain Press Democrat.