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Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Love's Swift Kick


Teddy Roosevelt once said 'no man is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his body, to risk his well-being, to risk his life, in a great cause.' This is a story of the time Elijah went the distance for love. I can't say it was his first love, but as you will come to realize, it will no doubt forever be one of his most memorable.

As president, Teddy Roosevelt's slogan was'speak softly and carry a big stick.' Perhaps Elijah should have carried a big stick during his first grade year at school. I remember well the day he came home from school and announced that he had a girlfriend. I also remember a few weeks later when he came home and said "I tried to break up her, but she kicked me in the shin, so I decided to stay with her." He pulled up his pant leg and showed me the bruise. I guess he thought 'it is better to be unhappy than have a bruised shin.' So, his first grade courtship with the girl, if you can call it that, continued. Twice more, it happened. He would try to break up with the girl, but always with the same result: a kick to the shin. I was ready to report the incident to the school or even call the girls parents, but he talked me out of it, saying he had a plan. So, being curious as to how he would handle it, I suggested he wear shin guards to school and just decided to let it be.

I think it was Mark Twain who said courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear.' It takes a mighty big man to overcome the things he is scared of...even a little girls swift kick to the shin. I didn't hear anything else from Elijah about his predicament until the very last day of school. It was on that day that Elijah walked the girl to her bus and then continued on to his bus, which was parked about 40 feet away. He waited until he was the last person to board and, just before he did, he turned to her screamed, "I'M BREAKING UP WITH YOU!" He hopped on his bus just as the door closed, and, turning to look, saw her standing there stomping the ground with the very same foot she had used to kick him. Elijah's plan had worked. He had broken up with the girl and had escaped without another bruised shin. I said, "What about when you go back to school next fall? She will beat you to a bloody pulp. He was convinced that over the summer she would forget him, which she did.

His successful breakup with the girl who had worn his shins out gave Elijah a new found courage like he had never had before. I think that summer was one of the best he ever had.

Oh, the joys of growing up, the experiences, the unforgettable moments, the memories we make and later come to cherish. I often wonder if looking for love is worth a bruised shin. It's hard to say, really. I guess it all depends on how desperate you are. Maybe a bruised shin is worth forgetting about love. Elijah would say yes, it is worth it.

Saturday, February 11, 2017

Protecting and Preserving The Peace During The Civil War Was A Family Affair


"Tinker Dave Beaty was born 200 years ago this Feb. 19th, in 1817. During the civil war, he formed a company, known as Independent Scouts, to protect the residents of Poplar and Buffalo coves in Fentress County, then Overton County, from Confederate Guerillas and troops, who were raiding the local population. This company, which sometimes consisted of as many as one hundred men, was officially recognized by the federal government and received into the service of the Union army on January 5, 1862.

The Independent Scouts' job was to act as scouts and combat Confederate guerrillas who came through their area. They were not paid, which by definition made them guerillas, but were supplied with arms and ammunition by the Federal authorities. Each man was required to furnish his own horse and equipment.

For me, David Beaty's Independent Scouts was a family affair. Tinker Dave's father, George, was my 4th great-grandfather. His sister, Matilda, married John Boles, a former state representative and state senator, who became captain of the independent scouts. They were my 3rd great-grandparents. Their son, George Boles, my 2nd great-grandfather, was also a member of the Independent scouts, as was his father-in-law, David Smith, my 3rd great-grandfather, along his sons, Asa and Ahijah Smith.

In 1863, a skirmish between the independent scouts and Confederates under Captain Hutchinson reportedly happened near George Boles' place in what is now Pickett County. Captain Hutchinson was killed and three of his men were wounded.

In 1864, the Independent scouts engaged Confederate Colonel John Hughes' company and Champ Ferguson in a skirmish as they came into Fentress on a foraging expedition. It reportedly happened in the Buffalo Cove Area near the home of John Boles. The independent scouts, being greatly outnumbered, were forced to retreat, causing them to fall behind some of their men. Thomas Culver, Jop Moody and Tinker Dave's young son, Thomas, were captured. Culver and Moody were killed and Thomas would also have been killed had it not been for two Boles women, who begged for his life. Several Confederates were wounded.

On February 1, 1863, Confederate guerillas rode up to David Smith's home on the East fork of Big Indian creek looking for his son, Asa, who was not at home. David and another son, Ahijah, were both killed. They are buried at Doogan Smith Cemetery, which is across from the house where they were killed. Asa Smith died in 1920. He is buried at Elias Bowden Cemetery in Fentress County.

John Boles died in 1869. Matilda died in 1903. They are buried at Bolestown Cemetery, near Boatland. George Boles died in 1941 and is buried at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Clinton County.

It has been written that Tinker Dave Beaty was as ruthless and vicious in his defense of the Union as Champ Ferguson was of the Confederacy. Beaty and his Independent Scouts probably killed as many men as Ferguson and his men did, if not more, but because the Confederacy lost the war, Ferguson became the monstrous criminal and was hanged for his actions, while Beaty became ‘the celebrated Union scout.’ The same deeds that made a man a criminal could have made him a hero if his side won.

Tinker Dave Beaty died on Aug. 22, 1876. He and his father, George, are buried at Beaty-Lacy Cemetery on Tinker Dave's farm at Boatland.

I like to think that George Boles was acquainted with Elijah Koger, but there no account of that. Elijah lived at Oak Grove in Clinton County and George lived at Poplar Cove in Fentress County (Overton). After the war, they would be connected by marriage. While members of the Boles family were bust protecting the citizens of Fentress County (Overton County), Elijah Koger was busy doing the same as a member of the Clinton County home guard, a group of residents who had been trained in warfare at Camp Dick Robinson in Garrard County but were not officially brought into the service of the Union army. Koger went a step further with his commitment and it eventually cost him his life.

Elijah Koger was my 3rd great-grandfather. Fifty years after the Civil War, in 1915, his granddaughter, Nannie, married George Boles' son, Ahijha (Hige) Boles.

The guerilla warfare that took place along the Kentucky-Tennessee border, which Tinker Dave Beaty, Champ Ferguson and others were responsible for, was taking its toll on the citizens who lived in the Upper Cumberland area along the Tennessee-Kentucky border. Murder, theft and arson were commonplace.

In 1862, Union and Confederate factions of the Upper Cumberlands attempted to reach a peaceful compromise. A peace conference was held at Monroe in Overton County. The parties agreed not to raid into the adjoining counties. However, the compromise was dead before it began. Within hours, Ferguson and his men killed four Overton County men on the way back to Clinton County, and Confederate J. W. McHenry raided into Clinton County. They blamed it on a lack of communication by the peace officals, but many of those men who attended the conference were later murdered.

Elijah Koger was part of a group of home guardsmen who kept watch over Clinton County and he was one of the men who were chosen to repesent the Union at the Monroe Compromise.

On the morning of Sunday, June 1, 1862, Koger arose from his bed and headed out to the spring with his wife, Nancy, beside him. Shots rang out as a band of men appeared suddenly out of nowhere. Nancy screamed fo Elijah to run. As he tried to flee, Ferguson overtook him and shot him. Koger threw up his arms and said something, but Nancy could not make out his words because the couple's children were screaming. Shots continued to ring out as Elijah ran toward a fence some fifty yards from the home in the Oak Grove community. With Ferguson and nine other men following him, Elijah reached the fence and when he tried to cross it, Ferguson rode up close to him and shot him one more time. By the time Nancy reached the fence, the couple's 11-year-old daughter, Sarah, was holding her daddy in her arms. She was covered in blood. When Nancy reached Elijah, he gasped once, but never spoke. He had been shot more than 30 times. Nancy knelt beside her slain husband's body as Ferguson and his outlaw gang ransacked the Koger home.

The reason Elijah Koger was so involved in peace-keeping efforts during the civil war begins with his wife's brother, William Frogge, my 3rd great-uncle. He has the distinction of officially being the first person murdered by Champ Ferguson during the war. It happened on Nov. 1, 1861.

When he rode up to the Frogge cabin, Esther Frogge suspected no ill will. After all, she had known Ferguson since childhood. She offered him a seat and an apple. He refused both and sought out her husband, who lay ill in his bed. Champ asked William about his health. Frogge responded, “I am very sick. I had the measles and have had a relapse.”

Champ accused Frogge of having contracted the measles while visiting Camp Dick Robinson. Frogge vehemently denied that, but Ferguson drew his pistol anyway and shot Frogge twice, killing him. He then ransacked the cabin.

Ironically, the next to last person murdered by Champ Ferguson during the civil war was my 4th great-uncle, Martin Van Buren Duvall. Van was the uncle of Elijah Koger's wife, Nancy. It happened on April 26, 1865, seventeen days after Lee surrendered to Grant. Duvall was on furlough from the army and was at his brothers home, in sight of Oak Grove Cemetery, when he saw Champ Ferguson riding up to the residence. Van tried to run but Ferguson chased him down and shot him dead. He murdered his last victim, John H. Hurt, the next day."

My 78 RPM Disks (1905-1924)

1. Albert Campbell - Dreaming (3701). Steve Porter - Flanagan At The Vocal Teacher's (3705). Standard Talking Machine Company 1907. 2. ...