The Massacre at Noe Creek: A Collection of Stories and Tales

By FA Shepherd

The Massacre at Noe Creek is a collection of partly truth and partly fiction short stories and tales. Noe Creek, the story from which the book takes its name is the story of how an event near the end of the civil war affects the lives of two young people at the beginning of WW II. It is a delightful tale of romance and war. Colonial heights Road, the second story in the book, is part history and part biography as it tells the story of the author coming of age while growing up in this rural crossroads community during the 1940s. Other stories in the book include fishing and hunting tales, and the author's memories of his trips to Moscow and England.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Dec 16, 2010
• ISBN: 9781456701857

FA Shepherd

FA (Freddie) Shepherd is a retired research chemist, retiring from Tennessee Eastman’s Research Laboratories in 1992. After retiring he began spending his winters at Bob’s Landing in Florida, his summers in a house that he built himself on TVA’s Cherokee Lake in East Tennessee and doing some traveling. He was in Moscow in 1995 for their 50th anniversary celebration of the end of WW II. He also traveled to Great Britain and did some short term mission trips with Crossroads Missions building houses and churches in Mexico. He is an army veteran with service in Germany in 1958, and was in the Tennessee National Guard for more than 10 years. He has been a member of Colonial Heights Christian Church for more than 40 years. He now lives in Gray, Tennessee and enjoys playing golf and writing. Freddie has a way of seamlessly blending history with fiction and some of his own experiences to weave a variety of partly truth and partly fiction stories and tales. The Secrets of Hickory Hollow is his third book. Visit oldshepbooks.com for details about his other books.

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The Massacre at Noe Creek

A Collection of Stories and Tales

By

FA Shepherd

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AuthorHouse™

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© 2010 FA Shepherd. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 11/9/2010

ISBN: 978-1-4567-0187-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4567-0186-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4567-0185-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2010917100

Printed in the United States of America

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any Web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Table of Contents

The Massacre at Noe Creek

Colonial Heights Road

The Old Man

March Madness

The Still

Flem’s Practical Joke

The Day the Plant Blew Up

The Ghost of

Church House Hollow

When Our Ship Came in We Were at the Airport

The Shopping Trip

Bubba’s Thanksgiving Turkey

Thanks for the Memories

The Northern Lights

Moscow, Russia in 1995

The Second American Invasion of England

The Massacre at Noe Creek

After General Burnside had marched his Army of the Ohio into East Tennessee and recaptured Knoxville from the Confederates he began to secure the area. Part of this securing operation included the battle for Bean’s Station in December, 1863 where General Longstreet’s First Corps was defeated and sent retreating across the Holston River. The remnants of First Corps moved south along the old Morristown Road and crossed the river just east of Noe Creek. Even though the area between the Holston and French Broad rivers around Morristown was a bastion of Union sentiment it was also an area rich in forage opportunities, and the defeated Confederates were tired, cold and hungry. The First Corps set up winter quarters near Russellville and began to lick their wounds and raid the surrounding farms and villages for food. Although there were no more major battles in this area of East Tennessee for the remainder of the war there were several skirmishes, and some of these had a much greater effect on the communities in which they were fought than the major battles did.

The cavalry arm of the Army of the Ohio had played a major role in the battle for Bean’s Station. In particular, a young cavalry officer, Captain James Moreland from Sugar Creek, Ohio had shown special courage in leading his company to break up numerous Confederate charges. General Shackelford, the commander of the cavalry had taken note of Capt. Moreland’s leadership during this battle and afterwards ordered young Moreland’s company to cross the Holston River and provide security and protection for the Union hospital that had been established in the Mossy Creek Baptist Seminary near Jefferson City. Moreland set up his headquarters in one of the houses near the hospital and began to secure the area, sending out patrols to obtain information and establish friendly relations with the numerous farms in the area. He knew that since this area was mostly loyal to the Union these contacts could provide valuable information about any Confederate activity. Moreland didn’t spend any more time than was absolutely necessary anywhere near his headquarters and personally led most of these patrols. On one such patrol Moreland and his men happened upon a little white washed clap board church on the banks of Noe Creek just as Sunday services were letting out. The church was located on a little knoll in a grove of trees, mostly oaks, maples, and poplars that had supplied the wood to build the church with, and overlooked the mouth of the creek where it emptied into the Holston River. Keeping most of his men well away from the church with orders to stay out of sight until he returned, Moreland took a couple of men in for a closer look. Seeing nothing to cause suspicion, after several minutes they returned to the main part of the patrol.

However, young Moreland had noticed something of interest in the churchyard. There had been several very pretty young ladies there and he made a mental note to lead a patrol back this way very soon. Something that he hadn’t noticed was that they had been observed by some of the men at the church who held their breaths out of fear of trouble because they knew that a Confederate forage party was also nearby. Since these forage raids were intended to find food and not a fight, the Confederates avoided any contact with Union troops whenever possible. Capt Moreland had also given his patrols orders not to make contact with any of the Confederate patrols unless it became a military necessity. So, on this Sunday afternoon two opposing forces hid in the woods on the opposite sides of a little clap board Southern Baptist Church and watched young women leaving Sunday services.

Moreland kept that promise to himself and two weeks later again led a patrol into Noe Creek. This time they wound up staying for several days after getting to know some of those young ladies that James had noticed on his first visit to the little church. One of the young ladies, eighteen year old Jennifer Ferguson was soon providing young James with all the attention that the young cavalry officer needed to help him forget about the war, if only for a few minutes during his visits to the Ferguson farm. James usually found it necessary to make at least one patrol a week into Noe Creek and soon other men from his company also had found a reason, in addition to young ladies, to look forward to these patrols. Even though East Tennessee remained loyal to the Union throughout the war there were a few who favored the South and some even fought with the Confederacy. However, the folks of Noe Creek had done a good job of keeping politics out of their community life and so far had been able to mostly ignore the war and live in an uneasy peace with each other. George Ferguson, Jennifer’s Dad was for the most part a private man who minded his own business and did not get involved in politics, whether local, state, or national. He had no quarrel with either the North or the South and could care less about the outcome of the war one way or the other. He knew that if they survived the war, no matter what the outcome, they probably would still be there on that farm trying to scratch a living out of the good Tennessee dirt. All he wanted from the war was for him and his family and farm to be left alone. Both sides were welcome at George’s place and the visits to the Ferguson farm proved not only to be a brief relief from the war, but also became a valuable source of information. Both sides soon learned of the others visits to the farm and through talks with the girls both not only knew what units were in the area, but what most of their commanding officers names were. However, since military matters were not what was on the minds of the soldiers that visited George’s farm no serious harm was done by these exchanges of information. George Ferguson’s farm was about three miles south east of the little church. The more than 150 acres had been in the Ferguson family since George’s grandfather had crossed the mountains from North Carolina soon after the battle at King’s Mountain in 1781. The land lay good, had plenty of water, and although the work was hard it had provided food and shelter for the Ferguson family for over eighty years now. While a lot of the surrounding farms on both sides of the Holston River raised corn and wheat for market, George was content with his subsistence farming. He had three or four work horses, and raised a few cows, hogs, and chickens, and the vegetables from a large garden plot provided most of their needs.

George did plant a small tobacco patch each year for his own consumption and he grew some wheat, but it too was for his own use. George’s largest crop and the one he took special pride in and care of each year was his corn. His corn field got larger each year and last summer almost all of the land that George planted was in corn. While corn and wheat were the money crops for all of George’s neighbors George had found a much better use for his corn than selling it on the open market. He had found out a long time ago that in its liquid state, corn was not only much more valuable, but much easier to store in a jug than on the cob in a crib, and most of George’s corn crop each year was converted into corn liquor. There was nothing too unusual about that in this part of East Tennessee. Almost every other farm had a small still to produce alcohol for medicinal purposes and for their own consumption, but corn liquor was George’s money crop. One whole end of George’s barn was devoted to this operation. He had converted one of the stalls into a distillery and on the other side of the hall another stall was used as a fermentation room. When not needed for other farm work all of Georges time was spent at his still. Up until now George’s corn liquor had been sold or traded for whatever the farm needed that he couldn’t raise or grow. When the war came to East Tennessee, it was used to keep both the Confederate and Union troops from raiding and ransacking his farm. It may have been Jennifer and the other Ferguson girls that got a few of the soldiers interested in coming to the Ferguson farm in the first place, but it was the corn liquor that kept them coming back. Young Capt Moreland had to know why his troops were so eager to volunteer to accompany him on the patrols into Noe Creek, but as long as Jennifer was there he didn’t care. Whether George had warned both sides that his liquor was for all of them or whether they made sure that others were not around each time a patrol showed up at the farm is not known. But, for over four months during the winter and early spring of 1864 Capt Moreland visited Jennifer every chance he got and the men that accompanied him on these visits enjoyed the product from George’s still without incidence. A lot of the times as soon as they would leave a Confederate patrol would show up to quench their thirst. Whether Moreland could have prevented what happened on his next visit to the Ferguson farm will never be known. The fact is he could have cared less what his men were doing while he was with Jennifer and as a result did nothing. James and Jennifer had been spending most of the time James was at the farm in the barn ever since the second or third visit. They didn’t think anyone knew about these trips to the barn, but Sue Ellen, Jennifer’s younger sister had seen them the very first time they were in there. They didn’t know that Sue Ellen was in the barn finishing up her feeding chores. She heard them come in and decided to stay out of sight and see what they were up to. She sure got an education that evening.

George Ferguson had never been much of a church going man but his wife and five daughters usually attended the services at Noe Creek Baptist Church. Since there was no son to help George with work on the farm he hoped that one or more of his daughters would soon provide him with a son-in-law, and would on rare occasions go with them to church to see if any progress was being made in that direction. As soon as the preacher started his sermon on this Sunday, George knew that he had chosen the wrong day to go with them. Judging from the words of his sermon, the circuit preacher apparently didn’t approve of the use George made of his corn crop, or of any relationships that might be between the young ladies of Noe Creek and the young soldiers that always seemed to be in the area lately. George felt as though the words were intended just for him. He made a mental note not to be in any hurry to come to another church service. If he had known just how soon he would be back he might have paid more attention to the preacher’s words that morning.

The next few weeks were busy ones for George and his family. It was spring and all the plowing and planting had to be done. Because of all the work there was not much time for socializing and this bothered the girls who by now had grown used to all the attention they were receiving from the soldiers. George, however had a more pressing problem. Last years corn crop was long gone and his supply of liquor was getting low. In order to make it last he had already started watering it down and this was causing some complaints. George knew that it was only a matter of time now before there was going to be real trouble. However, he expected it to come from someone being really upset about the quality of his liquor, not in the form of a massacre. It came sooner than he expected. Jennifer had told James that she would be busy with the spring farm work for the next few weeks and would not be able to see him. James stayed away as long as he could stand it, but he and about a dozen of his men showed up at the Ferguson farm late one afternoon just three weeks later. James tried to time the visit late enough so that the family would be through working for the day. They were, and soon James and Jennifer were sitting on the front porch while the rest of the men had gone off with George to find what was left of George’s liquor supply. James and Jennifer didn’t think anyone noticed when they got up and started walking towards the barn. George had known for some time now about James and Jennifer’s visits to the barn, but he decided that he would pretend not to know as long as James pretended he didn’t know about the liquor. James and Jennifer had just entered the barn when the first shot was fired.

A Confederate patrol had arrived just as George and the Union soldiers were going into the shed. They hadn’t seen James and Jennifer, nor did they know how many Union troops were there. It was a good thing for the Union boys that the Confederates didn’t know. As they were going into the shed one of the men heard something and as he turned he saw the Confederates ride into the barnyard. After yelling to the other men already in the shed he dropped to one knee and before George could stop him he fired into the startled Confederates. Even though both sides knew that the others often visited the farm this was the first time that both had been there at the same time. The Confederates started firing back and as the other Union men in the shed opened fire on them the Confederates began to retreat to the safety of a patch of woods behind the barn firing as they went. James came out of the barn just as the Confederates entered the woods and ran to the shed to see what was going on. Two of his men had been hit pretty badly and another had been wounded in the shoulder. George had also taken a bullet through the arm. They didn’t know if any of the Confederates had been hit or not. James, worried about Jennifer in the barn between them and the Confederates and not wanting any more damage done to the farm ordered his men to cease fire and mount up. As they started to ride off, the Confederates fired another volley into the shed. This one did no damage, but caused James to change his mind about riding off. He was still worried about Jennifer in the barn and didn’t want any more shots fired into the Ferguson farm so he ordered a charge into the woods. The Confederates still not knowing that they were facing only a handful of men left the area and started a retreat down the creek towards the church. James and his men kept up the pressure and a running battle ensued with no serious wounds on either side. The Confederates decided to make a stand in the grove of trees where the church stood. After several exchanges of fire with each side taking casualties James decided to break off the engagement. It was becoming evident that he couldn’t sustain the casualties that he was taking and the fight that had started over a few jugs of watered down corn liquor was not worth it. Both sides left men laying dead in the grove of trees around the little white washed clap board church as they rode back to their camps that night. What they didn’t know was that there had been some men from the community who had been working around the church when the fighting started that had also been killed. James was not going to like what he would learn upon returning to his headquarters. While he was away a message had arrived from General Shackelford. The dispatch was an order for his cavalry to rejoin Shackelford’s main force on the road to Knoxville. A company of infantry would replace them in Jefferson City, but they were not to wait for the infantry. Their orders were to report immediately for redeployment with the Union army that was forming up for a spring offensive into the deep South.

James Moreland returned to Sugar Creek after the war and settled on the family farm. He never got a chance to say goodbye to Jennifer or to know if she was even alive after that day. He didn’t think that any of the shots had gone into the barn, but still he wondered from time to time what had happened to her. He never knew that Jennifer had been pregnant when he left. James eventually married and raised a family, never knowing that he also had a daughter in East Tennessee, or that the battle that day where both soldiers and civilians had died in the church yard would forever be known as the massacre at Noe Creek. Three weeks to the day that George had vowed not to attend church anytime soon he was back in there attending the memorial services for the men that died at his farm and in the woods around the Noe Creek church that day. He felt that since the fight that got them killed had started on his farm he was kind of obligated to attend the services. As he stood on the little hill below the church looking down at the new graves he wondered which of the men that had shared his liquor with him were in them. The war ended a little over a year later and the people in Noe Creek did their best to put the war behind them. Since no one in the community knew who the soldiers were, the graves were soon forgotten. Occasionally that part of the church yard would be cleaned off but as the years went by these occasions became less and less frequent. It wasn’t long before that area became a thicket and no one ever went down there anymore.

The graves may never have been found if the TVA hadn’t built that dam. Even then, they probably wouldn’t have been found if Jim hadn’t picked that particular rock to sit on while he ate his lunch. The TVA was constructing Cherokee Dam just downstream from where Noe Creek empties into the Holston River. The land that would be flooded behind the dam was being cleared of all trees and brush and Jim was working with one of the brush crews. He had noticed the flat rock as he drug a maple sapling down to the pile to be burned. Walking back up the hill he thought that rock would make a good place to sit since it was almost lunch time. James (Jim) Moreland was between his junior and senior years at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and had taken the job on one of TVA’s brush crews that summer in 1941 in order to stay in shape for the coming football season and to earn some extra money. TVA had provided a lot of jobs for that area of East Tennessee during the construction of Cherokee Dam and some folks thought it was little enough for them to do since they had practically stolen the land that would be flooded.

Problem was that Jim was not a local boy and even if he was a football player for the University of Tennessee he was still an outsider. He was a Yankee from Ohio and in addition to football was studying to be a lawyer. A Yankee lawyer in East Tennessee was considered about as useless as one could get so Jim didn’t have too many friends on the brush crew. Outsiders generally perceived these East Tennessee hillbillies as being ignorant immoral clods and even though they never did anything to dispute this notion they didn’t like outsiders coming in and telling them about it. So Jim had to be extra careful of anything he said. Mostly, he kept to himself while working and only talked when someone spoke to him. Jim had chosen to be in Knoxville for two reasons. First, he had been an outstanding running back on his high school’s single wing football team, and his coach who was a graduate of UT had convinced him to go to Tennessee where their coach, Robert (General Bob) Neyland was fast making his style of single wing football a legend. Since UT also had a good law school he had accepted their offer of a partial scholarship and had been content the last two seasons to see only limited playing time. He did get into just about every game for several plays and would be the starting

Reviews for The Massacre at Noe Creek

[amanda0bookbuzz · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great Work Of Historical FictionFacts mixed with fiction, author FA Shepherd has written a wonderful set of stories in the Massacre at Noe Creek.