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Confederate army from the mountain section of our good county by the name
of John Wesley Richards, a stalwart fellow of thirty, who for three years
was a brave and courageous soldier; but after lying in the bloody trenches
of Petersburg eight and one-half months, during which time he was wounded,
he became disheartened and, forsaking all rights and interest in the
Confederacy, shouldered his musket and, taking a dozen of his comrades
with him, set out to fight his way home, and were successful in reaching
home about the time General Lee surrendered, so they were not molested.
Besides the right to hold Negro slaves, there was another right dearer to
the people of upper Cleveland, viz, the right to convert their sour apples
into brandy and their corn into whiskey, infringed upon by the Yankee
government. After the surviving remnants of the Confederate army came
home, and the shirkers came in from the bushes, all of the little copper
stills started up for a joyful time, and public sentiment was so strongly
against Federal interference that they were not molested much for two or
three years. Our hero, John Wesley Richards, after his long, arduous
campaigns in the war, felt that he was entitled to a season of rest and
recreation, with plenty of refreshments thrown in to boot. So he got on a
long and continuous spree, and went to the bad, until his wife had to
divorce him and turn him out to "root hog or die." Then, after a while, he
began to rally and reform; and a grand, speculative idea striking him, he
traded his faithful squirrel dog and his old shot gun for a warrantee deed
for one hundred acres of land in the upright region of Cleveland County.
Then, as Wesley began to prosper, he found himself in need of a one-horse
wagon, called in these parts a "carryall"; and learning that J. S. Groves,
a big merchant at Shelby, kept wagons to sell for cash and on time, Wesley
wended his way to Shelby and, looking over Mr. Groves' wagons, said he
would like to have the running works of a one-horse wagon, but did not
have the cash to pay down. Mr. Groves said that was all right; if he could
give him a good paper he could have the wagon. John Wesley said he could
give him a mortgage on one hundred acres of land. Mr. Groves said that
would do. The papers were fixed up, the wagon delivered and John Wesley
went on his way home rejoicing. The next fall Mr. Groves notified him that
his note was due and they would expect him down soon to s