The Massacre at Noe Creek

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…… 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. You mean we may have the same great grandfather? That’s exactly what I told my Mom Jenny said. It can’t be Jim said, that’s just too much of a coincidence. Even if it’s so, what would that make us, third or fourth cousins three or four times removed. That’s hardly any kin at all, and besides, it doesn’t make any difference. we love each other, that’s all that really matters. That’s all that Jenny wanted to hear. She threw herself in Jim’s arms and covered him with kisses. Later as they were laying in bed they became aware of a lot of noise coming from the street. Looking out the window they saw people just wondering around, talking and yelling. They quickly got dressed and went down to see what was going on. What’s happened Jim said no one in particular. Haven’t you heard? The Japs bombed Pearl Harbor this morning.