2022/2023
Collection 18

The Men in the Mountains

1937; Bee, Virginia, USA

My great-great-grandpa Samuel Patton Edwards, Senior, was born in 1879. He lived in the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia. He was a horseback postman and owned a tobacco farm in the mountains. Between 1903 and 1929 Samuel and his wife had ten children. They had a small home on Sage Mountain. Their two youngest children were my great-great-uncle June (short for “Junior”) and my great-grandpa Gene. This story is about these two brothers.

When June and Gene were eleven and eight years old, their parents passed away. Many of the older siblings had already moved out of the house, which left Gene and June to fend for themselves. The boys often had to skip school to find food and run the farm. They were very poor and usually had to hunt for their food. They would eat things like squirrels, raccoons, opossums, and rabbits.

One day Gene and June skipped school to find food. Their older sister Eura (YER-uh) was their teacher at the one-room schoolhouse five miles away. Gene and June went to hunt for squirrels and decided to split up to cover more ground. BOOM! Gene heard a gunshot and jumped; he thought his older brother must have already found dinner. Then he heard June’s frantic screaming. Gene ran straight toward June, following the screams. He found June lying in the rocky terrain, gushing blood. He realized that June must have accidentally shot himself, and his life was in jeopardy.

Gene knew he had to be strong and brave for his brother, so he picked June up and tried his best to carry him back toward the house. Eventually Gene couldn’t take it any longer; June was too heavy and was gushing too much blood. Gene laid June under a shade tree and promised him that he would be back with help as soon as possible.

Gene ran five miles into town to find Eura. He knew she had a car and could help by driving June to the nearest hospital. He explained that June had accidentally shot himself in the stomach while they were hunting for food. Eura immediately canceled the rest of the school day and sent all the students home. Eura and Gene jumped into her car and headed back to Sage Mountain. They loaded June into the car and drove as fast as they could to the nearest hospital, which was very far away.

June had to stay thirty-three days in the hospital. He explained to the doctors that the gun was leaning on a rock ledge and slipped, firing at his stomach. The shot left thirteen holes in his intestines. June eventually recovered but spent the rest of his life on the farm. He continued to run the tobacco farm for money. He never married or had kids. He died in August 2009 from heart issues and Alzheimer’s disease. He is buried in the cemetery located on the farm where he grew up.

Matthew Pierce; Missouri, USA

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