Appalucia
Appalucia
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About Appalucia
Taken from their Facebook: Raw county music & hillbilly liberty pickin' steeped in carolina moonshine / punk rock for folks that can't pay their power bill. Direct descendents from the original German settlers of the early 1800s in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. They were simple, yet skilled laborers, from poor families that came to America for a new life that consisted of basic pleasures, hard work, and living off of the rich and fertile Southern land. As the secession from the Union by the Southern states began, the Appalachian settlers knew that North Carolina would be forced to withdraw from the United States and fight for a war to sustain, among other things, slavery laws. They wanted no part in it, for the mountain colonists were too poor to afford slaves in the first place, and these proud people held allegiance to none other than their own. In fear of losing the land they'd worked so hard for, they began the Appalachia/Lucia Militia or the APPALUCIA Militia. They set up post on the mountain ridges to survey each valley below, and throughout the foothills. Whenever any company of soldiers, be they Confederate or Union, would try to pass by, the Appalucia Militiamen would ambush, forcing them to either die or retreat in hopes of finding a new passage. Eventually, both sides of this Civil War would call this area the "Cohee Trail" and avoid it at all cost. At that time, we had won our war! Meanwhile, one of the main pastimes of the people was music, having barn dances or congregations of musicians in the hollers, at the harvest festivals, or on the porches of their homes (when they weren't fighting to defend them). They began writing spiritual songs reflecting their ways of hard time living and the worship of a more down home and simple God, as opposed to the more traditional Christian Religion. In turn, these songs have been passed down generation to generation by those original settlers who later became known, and will always be remembered as the Appalucia Militia! Enjoy. The Tuckaseegee Thoroughfare Prompted by the burning of several homesteads by invading forces (whether they were Confederate or Union has never been determined), the Appalucia Militiamen were put on constant watch along main trade routes which had become vital arteries of supply for both sides of the conflict (who were attempting to avoid the Piedmont and Coastal regions where most of the battles were taking place). The Militia's objective was simple, "Kill anyone you don't recognize. If they aren't your neighbor, they aren't welcome." Several military platoons were taken out through this method of meticulous patience, followed by a ferocious ambush. On one occassion, a wounded Private was set free to return and tell his commanding officer of the peril awaiting any who dared set foot on the Cohee Trail or its tributaries, but there were no reports of others being spared in this manner during the time. After nearly two months of intense defensive maneuvers resulting in several bloody clashes, the traffic on these roads started to die down. The strategy of the Appalucia Militia appeared to be working. A few days later, just when the men on gaurd were beginning to feel they could relax, the signal came from the lookout on a nearby ridge that a group of armed men were advancing up the trail. The Militiamen uncharacteristically hesitated before firing upon them (perhaps due to their strange appearance), which turned out to be a wise decision. The group was a band of Tuckaseegee Indians that had been forced from their homes in the Piedmont where the fighting had left their villages in ruins, to seek refuge in the mountains. Equally fed up with the "white man's war," this group had set out in search of the Appalucia Militia, whom they had heard legends of, and wished to offer their services and allegiance to their cause. After several meetings, the Militiamen agreed by a unanimous vote that they would be welcomed into the ranks. This also proved to be a wise choice, for on their way up the Cohee Trail, the Tuckaseegees had seen several military outfits using a trail further to the south that they believed had been made to bypass the notorious ambushes along the Cohee. That night, a squadron of Militiamen along with several Tuckaseegee volunteers set up posts throughout the new trail and waited. Over the course of the next few weeks, numerous soldiers lost their lives to the Appalucia Militia, and their supply carts, which they had given their lives to protect, were taken and used to help rebuild the homes for those who had lost theirs' to the raids, and to erect a new village for the Native recruits. Alongside the Cohee Trail, this 'Tuckaseegee Thoroughfare' as it became known, held a vicious reputation for housing bands of roaming savages, both white and red, that would destroy any army that tried to move along it. Deserters Be Not Welcome In September 1886, Jefferson Davis was forced to admit that two-thirds of the Confederate Army had deserted. It seemed that a large majority of those deserters had tried to find solace along the Cohee Trail. We were proud people who would rather die than to desert our cause, so we took no sympathy in those who would. There was a particular instance in early December of '86 when a group of roughly twenty deserters had set up camp right outside of our community. Our scout had spotted them about twenty miles prior to the campsite they were now occupying, and our Militiamen were ready. We followed them in the shadows, concealing our presence. It was a cold winter and the landscape had been painted white with snow. We sent about sixty Militiamen to take care of our unwanted guests. We waited until nightfall when they were asleep. About five men went in to take whatever equipment and weapons they had, while the others completely surrounded the campsite. When all the goods were gathered they smothered the fires and blasted a shot unto the heavens. That was the signal for the enclosing circle of Militiamen to come forward and to awake the cowards. By that time they had wisely surrendered. We took our hostages boots and ordered them to march away through the snow and warn any other men trying to hide to carefully consider a new trail. We don't know if they survived long enough to actually tell anyone of their ordeal... We never saw another deserter after that.
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