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Grooms Tune Because of the remoteness of Cataloochee and the surrounding mountains, it was the perfect place for those not wanting to fight, for whatever reason, to hide out. It was the duty of Captain Albert Teague, CSA, to find these outliers and turn them in to the officials. Captain Teague and his home guard, who were a pretty bad lot, began stealing and killing in under the guise of looking for outliers. They did not care if their victims were pro Union or pro-Confederate, soldier or citizen. Teague had captured three men who were hiding out trying to avoid conscription into service. They were: George Grooms, Anderson Grooms and a man named Caldwell. The men were bound and marched over Mt. Sterling and down the Cataloochee side of the mountain for 7-8 miles. As the story goes, one of the Grooms men had a fiddle that he managed to carry over the mountain. When the raiders and their prisoners stopped, he was asked to play a tune on his fiddle. He chose Bonapart's Retreat, a slow, sad tune. Upon completion of the tune, the three prisoners were shot. Teague and his men left the prisoners where they fell and rode away. A while later, Eliza Grooms (relation unknown) and other family members found their bodies and took they home. The three are buried in the community graveyard on Big Creek. Years after this incident, Bonapart's Retreat was called Grooms Tune by those who knew this tragic story. (top) Cataloochee Confederates | Kirk's Raiders The Early Years | The Civil War Years | Post Civil War | The End
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© 2001, Cataloochee - A Valley & It's People