Nicholas enlisted in the Confederate Army and served in Phillip's Legion of the Georgia Volunteers. During the war he performed duties with the medical corps and afterwards attended medical school at what is now Emory College. [85]
Mary Jane was the daughter of William P. and Martha Catherine (Blackburn) Nichols. Her grandmother Mary Daniel Buffington Blackburn was half Cherokee. [85]
After the war, Nicolas moved his family to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) settling first at Bitting Springs, and later Tahlequah. The old mill at Bitting Springs was a picturesque landmark for many years. Dr. Bitting practiced medicine for many years and is supposed to have been a physician for the Jesse James and Dalton Outlaw gangs. [85]