Appalucia Militia

The Appalucia militia were a group of German Americans in North Carolina who, during the American Civil War, maintained neutrality by warding off bands of soldiers from both sides of the conflict.
History
The militia comprised 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 a war to sustain, among other things, slavery. 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 posts 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, either killing them or forcing them to retreat in hopes of finding a new passage. Eventually, both sides of the 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!

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