mountain heritage The Gilmer County Genealogical Society, Inc. June 1, 2014 Volume 2, Issue 2 Revolutionaryasdf Express Rider In this quarterly issue: Revolutionary Express 1-2 BY ANITA NEWSOM NAIL Rider ~ Descendant of James Blair + Elizabeth Powell In Focus: Tails Creek 3 School The Devil or the Deep 4- James “Jimmy” Blair was born 06 Mar 1761 in Blue Sea 11 (Augusta) Virginia. In What We Wore Back 12 1778, when James was When 17, he enlisted in the Revolutionary Ancestor 13 American Revolution in (Burke) North Fairley Holden and the 14 Holden Boys Carolina. He served as an orderly, ensign, sergeant, Last Quarter Highlights 15 and Indian scout. Among The Wall That Heals 16 others, he fought in The A Veterans Day Request 17 King’s Mountain, Battle of Sumter’s Defeat, http://www.oldgloryprints.com/Kings%20Mountain.htm The Battle of Ramsour’s New Books in the 17 Mill, and served as a spy Genealogy Research in The Raft Swamp Campaign. At 19, he was badly wounded while serving as an Center “Express Rider” alerting the patriots that Ferguson was approaching. The First Families of Gilmer 18 gathering of The Kings’ County Mountain Men was President’s Desk 18 made possible by Bulletin Board 19 sending these riders in all directions to notify Thank You 19 patriots of the place of rendezvous. This seven stanza poem, The Ride of the Rebel, written by John Trotwood Moore, describes James “Jimmy” http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/data/ as an historic horseback photogallery/2013/110863/3b7b15bb7fa719ab9143aacb4125d4be.jpg courier. asdf Backwoods Girl. Edward ——————————————————— Eggleston, A First Book In See Revolutionary Express Rider, Page 2 American History, 1889. Page 2 The Gilmer County Genealogical Society, Inc. Revolutionary Express Rider Continued from Page 1 The moon rose up to see it, The Ride of the Rebel And the great red-yellow eye The race of the rebel, wilderness run – Of the morning star new lustre took Hark to the time and when – As the game boy galloped by. The race for a nation just begun The lurking savage hid in his path, In the scattered homes of men, The Tory lay in his road – You will find it not on the gilded page He swam the river with a ball in his breast To the pampered steed of fame, And gained the fort at the ford. You will find it not in this hireling age Where they run for money and shame, And Shelby came, and Williams, But on King’s Mountain’s starlit stage And Cleveland, and Sevier, ‘Twill live in deathless name. Fifteen hundred rifles In the morning answered – “Here!” Over the border the British came, And Ferguson was routed Their jackets red as the sun, With all his Tory clan; City and hamlet had felt the flame The rebels rushed their crested heights From the flash of the Red Coat’s gun. And took them to a man, Over the border Ferguson rode – They turned the tide of war that day, He never rode back again, Which, turning, swept the land For Jimmy Blair his horse bestrode Of every British musket, And galloped with might and main. Of every Tory band. To Cleveland and to Campbell’s tent, The race of the rebel, wilderness run – O’er hill and o’er valley he sped, Hark to the time and when – And he roused the patriots as he went The race for a nation just begun As Gabriel will rouse the dead: In the scattered homes of men, “Go! for your country’s life!” he said For Fame that day rode horse of gray And away like a ghost he was gone, And Glory guided the rein – Riding from morn to midnight deep, The purse? Our glorious country – say, From midnight on to the morn – Will it ever be run again? O, never was a race like that, Since gallant steed was born! - John Trotwood Moore Page 3 The Gilmer County Genealogical Society, Inc. In Focus: Tails Creek School This photograph is from the collection of Mattie Abercrombie Hood, and was submitted by Patricia Hyatt Henson. Students at Tails Creek School pose beside their school building in the 1950s. 1st row: Mary Nell Corbin, Edna Barnes, Herman Corbin, Morris Barnes, Billy Quarles, Jimmy Davenport, Ruth Hyatt, Wilma Davis, Shirley Burgess 2nd row: Girl Davis, Herman Abercrombie, James McClure, Rosa Lee Burgess, Rosalee Abercrombie, Boy Davis, Joe Corbin, Ollie Barnes, Girthalee Corbin, Earl Barnes, Donald McClure, Bryan Parks (School Superintendent) 3rd row: Boy Dotson, Johnny Hyatt, Leonard Abercrombie, Earl Corbin, Betty Jane Quarles, Mattilene Abercrombie, Jeff Hampton (Teacher) Page 4 The Gilmer County Genealogical Society, Inc. The Devil or the Deep Blue Sea BY LAUREL BRENDA COCHRAN Eston G. Collins, of Fannin County, GA, told the following story in an interview 11 May 2014 to relay his World War II experience. He served in the 743rd Tank Battalion, C Company, which was attached to the 1st Infantry Division, 29th Regiment, at Normandy and then to the 30th Infantry for the big push into France, Holland, Belgium, and Germany. June 6, 2014 marks the 70th anniversary of D-Day, when American and Allied armed forces launched the Operation Overlord, one of the largest invasions in military history, Eston G. Collins at 18 on heavily fortified Normandy Beach in German-held France. This invasion led to the liberation of Europe from Nazi Germany and changed the course of history. We honor and thank Mr. Collins and all of the brave soldiers, sailors and airmen who served in that great conflict against tyranny. 1943: Eston Collins was drafted into the Army on June 3rd. By November, he had completed basic training at Fort Riley, KS, and was assigned to the 759th Tank Battalion (light tank outfit) as an assistant driver. He later became a gunner. Tank battalions served as infantry support and were attached to infantry units as needed. His tank had a five man crew: commander, gunner, loader, radio operator, and driver. In early November, Collins was transported from New York to England on the Queen Elizabeth. The luxury liner had been refitted as a troopship for war with battleship grey paint and increased passenger http:// capacity from 5,000 to 15,000 troops. www.bensavelkoul.nl/743rd _tank_battalion.htm 1944: In England, during March, he transferred to http://www.cebudanderson.com/ the 743rd Tank Battalion and was put to work waterproofing the seams and stepelton.htm joints of the amphibious heavy Sherman tanks. His tank was number 13. “We knew something was up, but didn’t know what. We were just getting ready. A month before D-Day, our unit was sequestered in a marshy area and we fitted our tanks with heavy canvas screening that contained inflatable chambers to allow them to float, then ran a test by going out on the English Channel for a dry run to see if the screens would float the tanks. The idea was for the landing craft tank (LCT) to put the tanks out about 100 yards off shore on D-Day and have them come ashore on their own. You know how young boys are. .they don’t try to figure out much, they just do what they are told. I’ve said a lot of times that the Army knew what they were doing when they drafted young boys because they just had enough sense to do what they were told without thinking for themselves. I was a gunner in our five man tank.” ——————————————————— See The Devil or the Deep Blue Sea, Page 5 Page 5 The Gilmer County Genealogical Society, Inc. The Devil or the Deep Blue Sea Continued from Page 4 D-Day arrived on June 6th. General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Order of the Day was a letter to the soldiers, sailors, and airmen in the invasion. It read, in part, “You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade. .Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened. He will fight savagely. .I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!” DD Sherman Tank With Flotation Screen Lowered http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DD_tank At dawn that morning, the Allies began the assault on the heavily fortified beaches of Normandy: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. The sea was extremely rough. The 741st Tank Battalion, A Company, was slated to go ashore first, but they began sinking as the water came over the canvas on their tanks. Realizing this, Collin’s commander ordered the LCTs to bring the 743rd Tank Battalion, C Company, closer to the beach. For this reason, his unit landed only about 20 yards off of the beach. The beaches were reinforced with concrete pillboxes and gun emplacements to house machine guns, antitank guns and light artillery. Mines and antitank obstacles were planted on the beaches while underwater obstacles and mines were planted in the water just off shore. Collins, was with the lead unit (743rd Tank Battalion, C Company) in support of the 1st Infantry Division that stormed Omaha Beach at 6 a.m. “Before we could land, our invasion forces came under heavy fire from the German gun emplacements above the beach. It was a big, big beach. The infantry and all of the other outfits were coming in to the beach which was full of soldiers. We drove our tank back and forth. We couldn’t sit still or the tank would get knocked out, so we went back and forth while firing at the enemy to protect our troops, but we had to be careful not to run over the wounded and dead soldiers.