Tecumseh
Live your life that the fear of death
can never enter your heart.
Trouble no one about his religion.
Respect others in their views
and demand that they respect yours.
Love your life, perfect your life,
beautify all things in your life.
Seek to make your life long
and of service to your people.
Prepare a noble death song for the day
when you go over the great divide.
Always give a word or sign of salute when meeting
or passing a friend, or even a stranger, if in a lonely place.
Show respect to all people, but grovel to none.
When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light,
for your life, for your strength.
Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living.
If you see no reason to give thanks,
the fault lies in yourself.
Touch not the poisonous firewater that makes
wise ones turn to fools and robs their spirit of its vision.
When your time comes to die, be not like those
whose hearts are filled with fear of death,
so that when their time comes they weep and pray
for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way.
Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home.
Tecumseh- Shawnee
Monday, January 23, 2012
Private Health Insurance vs. Government Program
V. International Comparisons vs. Net Cost of Private Health Insurance and 12 Government Program The Nor is the situation improving. Despite a decade of experimenting with managed care in the The The . O Prescription drugs remain the fastest growing health care item, and increased use of costly specialty drugs. In recent history, increases in prescription drug costs have outpaced other categories of health care spending, rising rapidly throughout the latter half of the 1990s and early 2000s (see Figure 1). [1] While the rate of growth in spending has slowed somewhat, it is projected to exceed the growth rates for hospital care and other professional services in 2010 and through 2019. [2] http:/  Average Annual Percentage Increase in Selected National Health Expenditures, 1996-2008/www.kaiseredu.org/~/media/Images/EDU/Issue%20Modules/Prescription_Drugcosts.jpg?w=600&h=381&as=1http://www.kaiseredu.org/~/media/Images/EDU/Issue%20Modules/Prescription_Drugcosts.jpg?w=600&h=381&as=1Figure 1 Average Annual Percentage Increase in Selected National Health Expenditures, 1996-2008 Net Cost of Private Health Insurance and 12 Government Program Administration, (in billions) 1970–2012 |
Billions |
1970 1980 1993 2002* 2012* |
*Projected Source: Levit et al., “Trends in |
 |
. The California CALPERS public employees health benefits program, for example, recently experienced a 26 percent premium increase.1 In 2003, premiums in the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program are up 15 percent.
It is important, though, to distinguish between increases in health insurance premiums and the underlying increase in the cost of providing health care.
One of the most significant contributors to recent spending growth is health care price inflation.
. Because of increasing prices, new drugs coming on the market, and more prescriptions being written, spending on prescription drugs is growing faster than all other services (Exhibit 4). Increased spending on prescription drugs accounted for about one-third of overall spending growth in 1999, and about one-fourth of spending growth in 200212.
14 Hospital care represents one-third of personal health care spending and contributed about half of the total increase in 2001 spending. Most of that increase occurred in the outpatient department.15 Hospitals are labor-intensive institutions. In tight labor markets, hiring and retaining nurses and other skilled personnel in short supply puts upward pressure on wages. Once the economy recovers, upward pressure on wages could cause an even greater resurgence in hospital costs. Managed care may have succeeded in reducing hospital admissions and shortening lengths of hospital stays in the mid-1990s, but those were one-time savings.
Private insurance is the dominant mode of health coverage for the working-age population, while public programs cover elderly and disabled individuals as well as certain low-income populations, especially children and pregnant women. Administrative costs for private insurance include marketing, sales commissions, profits and reserves, as well as the cost of enrolling individuals and paying claims. Government programs, by contrast, do not incur marketing and sales expenses and do not require premiums high enough to generate profits and reserves. Medicare enrollment is stable, typically |
IV. Public vs. Private Sector Spending Growth Most health care in the The public sector has been growing faster than the private sector in the last few years (9.4% vs. 8.2% in 2001), but these numbers reflect changes in enrollments as well as use, prices, administrative costs, and other factors. For example, Medicaid rolls grew 8.5 percent in 2001 as a result of the new SCHIP program covering low-income children, Medicaid expansions to some of their parents, and a weakening economy that brought more low-income persons onto the rolls (Exhibit 15). Without this increase in Medicaid enrollment, the numbers of uninsured would have been even greater than what they were. But it meant also that Medicaid spending overall went up 10.8 percent, placing a squeeze on both federal and state budgets. 25 Levit et al. Private health insurance experienced a similar growth in 2001 (10.5%), but enrollment declined sharply rather than increased. Private insurance expenditures rose because of increased use of services and higher provider payments, insurance profits, and administrative costs. Responding to the weakening economy and double-digit premium increases, employers cut back the share of premiums they paid or dropped coverage altogether. Many employees found they could not pay their increased share. Because they lacked insurance, some consumers may have forgone care. Despite the higher administrative expenses of private insurance and the higher payment rates to providers, the belief that private insurance is more “efficient” is strongly entrenched. However, a recent study comparing the growth in per-enrollee payments for comparable services in Medicare and private insurance found that Medicare outperformed private insurance over the long term26 (Exhibit 16). Following the implementation of the hospital prospective payment system in 1984, Medicare per enrollee spending has moved slower than employer-based insurance. The physician fee schedule, implemented in 1992, also contributed to lower spending. In 2002, Medicare fees were about 77 to 79 percent of private rates; physician program participation, however, reached about 90 percent of physicians in the same year.27 The implementation of the newer prospective payment systems for nursing homes, home health care, and the hospital outpatient department are expected to continue to have a dampening effect on spending. A newly released study projects that in 2003, Medicare per-enrollee costs will have risen at about one-third the rate of employer premiums and less than one-third that of the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program (FEHBP) (Exhibit 17). Administrative costs in FEHBP are estimated at nearly three to six times those in Medicare.28 26 Christina Boccuti and Marilyn Moon, “Comparing Medicare and Private Insurers: Growth Rates in Spending Over Three Decades,” Health Affairs (March/April 2003): 230-237. 27 Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy. March 2003. 28 Mark Merlis, The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program: Program Design, Recent Performance, and Implications for Medicare Reform. Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, |
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
Top Justice officials connected to mortgage banks
Insight:
By Scot J. Paltrow | Reuters – 15 hours agoRELATED CONTENT
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(Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer, head of the Justice Department's criminal division, were partners for years at a Washington law firm that represented a Who's Who of big banks and other companies at the center of alleged foreclosure fraud, a Reuters inquiry shows.
The firm, Covington & Burling, is one of Washington's biggest white shoe law firms. Law professors and other federal ethics experts said that federal conflict of interest rules required Holder and Breuer to recuse themselves from any Justice Department decisions relating to law firm clients they personally had done work for.
Both the Justice Department and Covington declined to say if either official had personally worked on matters for the big mortgage industry clients. Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said Holder and Breuer had complied fully with conflict of interest regulations, but she declined to say if they had recused themselves from any matters related to the former clients.
Reuters reported in December that under Holder and Breuer, the Justice Department hasn't brought any criminal cases against big banks or other companies involved in mortgage servicing, even though copious evidence has surfaced of apparent criminal violations in foreclosure cases.
The evidence, including records from federal and state courts and local clerks' offices around the country, shows widespread forgery, perjury, obstruction of justice, and illegal foreclosures on the homes of thousands of active-duty military personnel.
In recent weeks the Justice Department has come under renewed pressure from members of Congress, state and local officials and homeowners' lawyers to open a wide-ranging criminal investigation of mortgage servicers, the biggest of which have been Covington clients. So far Justice officials haven't responded publicly to any of the requests.
While Holder and Breuer were partners at Covington, the firm's clients included the four largest U.S. banks - Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo & Co - as well as at least one other bank that is among the 10 largest mortgage servicers.
DEFENDER OF FREDDIE
Servicers perform routine mortgage maintenance tasks, including filing foreclosures, on behalf of mortgage owners, usually groups of investors who bought mortgage-backed securities.
Covington represented Freddie Mac, one of the nation's biggest issuers of mortgage backed securities, in enforcement investigations by federal financial regulators.
A particular concern by those pressing for an investigation is Covington's involvement with Virginia-based MERS Corp, which runs a vast computerized registry of mortgages. Little known before the mortgage crisis hit, MERS, which stands for Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, has been at the center of complaints about false or erroneous mortgage documents.
Court records show that Covington, in the late 1990s, provided legal opinion letters needed to create MERS on behalf of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and several other large banks. It was meant to speed up registration and transfers of mortgages. By 2010, MERS claimed to own about half of all mortgages in the U.S. -- roughly 60 million loans.
But evidence in numerous state and federal court cases around the country has shown that MERS authorized thousands of bank employees to sign their names as MERS officials. The banks allegedly drew up fake mortgage assignments, making it appear falsely that they had standing to file foreclosures, and then had their own employees sign the documents as MERS "vice presidents" or "assistant secretaries."
Covington in 2004 also wrote a crucial opinion letter commissioned by MERS, providing legal justification for its electronic registry. MERS spokeswoman Karmela Lejarde declined to comment on Covington legal work done for MERS.
It isn't known to what extent if any Covington has continued to represent the banks and other mortgage firms since Holder and Breuer left. Covington declined to respond to questions from Reuters. A Covington spokeswoman said the firm had no comment.
Several lawyers for homeowners have said that even if Holder and Breuer haven't violated any ethics rules, their ties to Covington create an impression of bias toward the firms' clients, especially in the absence of any prosecutions by the Justice Department.
O. Max Gardner III, a lawyer who trains other attorneys to represent homeowners in bankruptcy court foreclosure actions, said he attributes the Justice Department's reluctance to prosecute the banks or their executives to the Obama White House's view that it might harm the economy.
But he said that the background of Holder and Breuer at Covington -- and their failure to act on foreclosure fraud or publicly recuse themselves -- "doesn't pass the smell test."
Federal ethics regulations generally require new government officials to recuse themselves for one year from involvement in matters involving clients they personally had represented at their former law firms.
President Obama imposed additional restrictions on appointees that essentially extended the ban to two years. For Holder, that ban would have expired in February 2011, and in April for Breuer. Rules also require officials to avoid creating the appearance of a conflict.
Schmaler, the Justice Department spokeswoman, said in an e-mail that "The Attorney General and Assistant Attorney General Breuer have conformed with all financial, legal and ethical obligations under law as well as additional ethical standards set by the Obama Administration."
She said they "routinely consult" the department's ethics officials for guidance. Without offering specifics, Schmaler said they "have recused themselves from matters as required by the law."
Senior government officials often move to big Washington law firms, and lawyers from those firms often move into government posts. But records show that in recent years the traffic between the Justice Department and Covington & Burling has been particularly heavy. In 2010, Holder's deputy chief of staff, John Garland, returned to Covington, as did Steven Fagell, who was Breuer's deputy chief of staff in the criminal division.
The firm has on its web site a page listing its attorneys who are former federal government officials. Covington lists 22 from the Justice Department, and 12 from U.S. Attorneys offices, the Justice Department's local federal prosecutors' offices around the country.
As Reuters reported in 2011, public records show large numbers of mortgage promissory notes with apparently forged endorsements that were submitted as evidence to courts.
There also is evidence of almost routine manufacturing of false mortgage assignments, documents that transfer ownership of mortgages between banks or to groups of investors. In foreclosure actions in courts mortgage assignments are required to show that a bank has the legal right to foreclose.
In an interview in late 2011, Raymond Brescia, a visiting professor at Yale Law School who has written about foreclosure practices said, "I think it's difficult to find a fraud of this size on the U.S. court system in U.S. history."
Holder has resisted calls for a criminal investigation since October 2010, when evidence of widespread "robo-signing" first surfaced. That involved mortgage servicer employees falsely signing and swearing to massive numbers of affidavits and other foreclosure documents that they had never read or checked for accuracy.
Recent calls for a wide-ranging criminal investigation of the mortgage servicing industry have come from members of Congress, including Senator Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., state officials, and county clerks. In recent months clerks from around the country have examined mortgage and foreclosure records filed with them and reported finding high percentages of apparently fraudulent documents.
On Wednesday, John O'Brien Jr., register of deeds in Salem, Mass., announced that he had sent 31,897 allegedly fraudulent foreclosure-related documents to Holder. O'Brien said he asked for a criminal investigation of servicers and their law firms that had filed the documents because they "show a pattern of fraud," forgery and false notarizations.
(Reporting By Scot J. Paltrow, editing by Blake Morrison)
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Ted NUGENT: God Bless BP
NUGENT: God bless BP
Oil company has made amends for Gulf oil spill
Not so long ago, BP was the goat of big business in the eyes of many people for the disastrous April 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Conservationists such as myself who also recognize that big business, including big oil, is what fuels our economy, have had our radar finely tuned to the efforts and progress of healing the Gulf’s environment and economy since the spill.
The results have been nothing short of amazing in such a short amount of time since the disaster. The Gulf’s economy has rebounded dramatically, and it appears the environment is well on its way to a healthy recovery. We owe a huge debt of gratitude for the herculean efforts of BP for this.
BP has spent well in excess of $20 billion cleaning up the Gulf and compensating its residents for the damage of the spill. BP undoubtedly will spend billions more in the coming years. The corporation’s stewardship and successful efforts to restore the Gulf make one of the greatest stories not being told.
In less than two years from the spill, the seafood from the Gulf is safe to eat, the majority of beaches are pristine, tourism is on the rebound, wildlife is flourishing, health hazards have been reduced dramatically, and small businesses are recovering.
This is not to imply that everything is perfect in the Gulf. It isn’t. Much more work needs to be done. What it does imply is that in less than two years after one of the greatest man-made environmental calamities, tremendous strides forward, spearheaded by BP, have proved quite effective at reducing the ugly stain of the spill.
The lessons learned from the oil spill are being implemented to prevent future oil spills. But we must remember that drilling for energy, the lifeblood of our economy and quality of life overall, is always a risky business that is complicated and made even more risky when oil companies drill in deep water.
As Americans, we want our energy prices to be as affordable as possible. No one wants gas prices at the pump to rise, as we know this leads to higher prices for a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread. We also want our air, water and soil to be clean. There’s the conundrum, the Catch 22. We want to have our cake and eat it, too. We would do well to remember this each time we fill up or turn on a light switch.
The future of automobile transportation may be with alternative energy, such as battery power or hydrogen fuel cells, but efficient applications of those energy technologies are decades away, realistically. Until then, the roughly 250 million cars on the road in America will be reliant on oil, and that requires risky drilling, processing and transporting.
Big business, especially big oil, rarely gets a public acknowledgment of thanks or nod of approval for its corporate stewardship, conservation efforts and vision. BP deserves our thanks for what it has done in the Gulf so far and what it already has pledged to do in the future.
Thanks, BP. Keep up the good work. The Gulf needs you. America needs you.
Ted Nugent is an American rock ‘n’ roll, sporting and political activist icon. He is the author of “Ted, White, and Blue: The Nugent Manifesto” and “God, Guns & Rock ‘N’ Roll” (Regnery Publishing)
Sunday, January 15, 2012
The Killing of James Patterson: Civil War Accounts, by Marlitta Perkins
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Known as Patterson Creek today
Toward the end of the Civil War, shots rang out in Osborne’s Little Holler, near Flat Gap in Johnson County, Kentucky. The victim of this shooting was James T. Patterson, a former 2nd Lieutenant in Co. K, 5th KY Mounted Infantry, CSA.
Who was Patterson and what led up to this incident? He was born circa 1827 in Tennessee, possibly in Hawkins County. Nothing is known about his parents and his early years are shrouded in mystery. Before he reached the age of 20, Patterson married Nancy Chase, who was the daughter of Ambrose and Sarah Chase of Ryecove, Scott County, Virginia. 12 years Patterson’s senior, Nancy had been previously married for a brief time to Canaday Carter, who had died within a few short months after their marriage in 1838.
About 1847, the Pattersons moved to Greenup County, Kentucky, where James may have found work in one of the local furnaces. A number of Nancy Patterson’s family members had made the move from Scott County, Virginia to Greenup as well. Only a few households away, two of Nancy’s nephews, William and Henry P. Estep, were living with Edward Osborne.
In 1850, the family included three young children, James, age 9, Serena, age 7 and Francis Melvin, age 4. The Pattersons remained in Greenup until 1853, when they moved to Johnson County, Kentucky. Three years later, on October 27, 1856, Patterson bought a 40 acre farm on Osborne's Little Creek of Mudlick Creek from James E. Williams for $40. It was here where Patterson settled with his family. During the same year, Patterson and his nephew William Estep had 160 acres surveyed at Osborne Branch in Johnson County, KY, not far from Andrew J. Osborne’s residence. In 1857, Patterson added another 50 acre tract to his land holdings which was located on Mud Lick. He farmed, grew corn, and kept a cow and hog – things were progressing well for the Patterson family.
Near where James T. Patterson settled
When the Civil War broke out in 1861, James T. Patterson was still in possession of his 40 acre property, the value of which had increased $25 over the past four years, possibly by improvements made to the land. As before, the family kept a cow and hog. Corn was planted and raised and by early fall, 18 bushels of corn were harvested which would help sustain the family during the coming winter months.
During this time, Kentucky ended her neutrality and sided with the Union. Patterson, whose heart was with the South, knew it was time to act and made the decision to join the Confederate Army. Accompanied by Henry P. Estep, Patterson made his way to Prestonsburg and joined Captain Andrew J. May's Company, 5th KY Mounted Infantry. He was sworn into the service at West Liberty in Morgan County, KY, on October 21, 1861. Only two days later, the 2nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, part of General "Bull" Nelson's Union force, captured the town and sent May's men fleeing back to Prestonsburg. On November 8, 1861, Captain A. J. May’s men took position on the heights above the narrows of Ivy Creek and awaited the federal forces under Gen. Nelson who were moving up the Big Sandy Valley in order to clear out any Confederate troops. When the Federals discovered and began shelling May’s position, Nelson ordered a regiment up the mountain to attack, and the Confederate line erupted with fire. Eventually outflanked, the Confederates withdrew from their position and escaped. This became known as the Battle of Ivy Mountain.
On Nov. 17, 1861, Captain May was promoted to Lieutenant -Colonel of the 5th KY Infantry. His company became Company A, under the command of Capt. Mynheir. On December 14, 1861, at Camp Recovery, on Middle Creek in Floyd Co. KY, Patterson joined Co. K, 5th KY Mounted Infantry and was elected 2nd Lieutenant. The company was commanded by Captain Daniel Blevins and many of his men, such as Tandy Jones and William Seagraves, Jones’ brother-in-law, as well as his own brother-in-law Andrew J. Osborne, were recruits from Flat Gap and surrounding areas.
On January 10, 1862, the 5th KY Infantry participated in the Battle of Middle Creek. Defeated by Colonel James A. Garfield, future president of the United States, the 5th KY Infantry, as part of General Humphrey Marshall’s force, withdrew to Virginia in early February, after a brief stay at Whitesburg, Letcher County, KY. On May 16 and 17, 1862, the 5th KY Infantry was engaged in the Battle of Princeton, present day West Virginia. Subsequently, the regiment returned to their camp on the William Peery farm, east of Jeffersonville (now Tazewell), in Tazewell County, VA.
Change was in the air. It was here that Patterson decided to leave the Confederate army, perhaps as a direct reaction to General Humphrey Marshall’s decision to resign his command on May 22, 1862. Marshall’s adjutant E. O. Guerrant noted that the Kentuckians in Marshall’s brigade declined to reorganize. Additionally, changes had taken place in the 5th KY Infantry and Capt. Blevins’ and Capt. Ratcliff’s companies were consolidated. Consequently, James T. Patterson tendered his resignation on May 25, 1862. It was recommended and accepted by Gen. Humphrey Marshall three days later.
By June 6, 1862, Patterson was on his way home to Johnson County, with more than $300 pay in his pocket. During 1862, the Johnson County tax lists show that Patterson’s property decreased by 15 acres and was now valued at $25, which may indicate that Patterson began disposing of his property and was ready to pull up stakes and leave Kentucky. Nevertheless, the family planted and raised another crop of corn and managed to harvest 12 bushels.
Much of Patterson’s subsequent actions during the war remain a matter of speculation. He and his family disappeared entirely from the tax lists in 1863 and thereafter. It appears that Patterson and his family went back to Virginia, quite possibly Rye Cove, sometime after the 1862 harvesting season was over. This may have occurred before the winter set in or in the spring of 1863, when an increase in Union patrols were making it unsafe to remain in Eastern Kentucky. It may have been the final blow when, on April 3, 1863, Henry P. Estep was arrested at his home by William Sparks of the 14th KY Infantry, who also lived in the Flat Gap area. Estep was taken under guard to Union headquarters at Louisa, Lawrence County, KY and charged with being a spy.
While in Virginia, Nancy Patterson gave birth to another child, Martha J., in 1863. At some point, however, the family returned to Johnson County and Patterson is rumored to have joined or formed his own irregular local Confederate home guard unit at Flat Gap. In late 1864, as the war was seemingly turning in favor of the Union and things were beginning to look rather bleak for the Confederates, several members of Patterson’s unit deserted and changed their sympathies toward the Union.
One of these men was Tandy Jones who had served with Patterson in Captain Blevins’ company of the 5th KY Infantry. The company rolls indicate that he deserted his unit on January 9, 1862 and may have been accompanied by his brother-in-law William Seagraves. Jones, who was not in arms, was arrested on Jan. 10, 1862, by the 14th KY Infantry under command of Col. Laban T. Moore, the day of the Battle of Middle Creek and promptly forwarded to Camp Chase. Federal troops caught up with Seagraves at a later date and, after being taken to Camp Buell, Colonel James A. Garfield's headquarters at Paintsville, Johnson County, KY, he was conveyed to Camp Chase as well. On April 8, 1862, by order from General James A. Garfield, Jones and Seagraves were discharged from Camp Chase after taking the oath of allegiance on April 7, 1862.
By all appearances, Jones kept the terms of his oath and never served officially in another Confederate unit although it is rumored that he temporarily joined Sid Cook’s 7th Confederate Cavalry and subsequently, by all indications, was a member of Patterson’s home guard unit.
If Jones, indeed, changed his allegiance in favor of the Union it may have been partially motivated by the fact that his brother served in the 14th KY Infantry, ironically the very unit that arrested him at Middle Creek. Another contributing factor may have been that he lived in a more Union dominated area at Flat Gap. No less than 17 Union soldiers, all members of Co. D, 14th KY Infantry, lived in his neighborhood, including William Sparks, as well as John Wesley Witten who was a member of the Capitol Guards, a State unit primarily engaged in pursuing bushwackers and guerrillas.
At any rate, Tandy Jones’ decision to join the Union side angered many of his former Confederate comrades. A concerted effort was made to keep him in line. A group of about 15 men led by Hayden Ferguson of Morgan County, a lieutenant in Co. F, 5th KY Infantry, (and a nephew of John T. Williams, Captain of Co. A, 2nd KY Mounted Rifles) decided to arrest Private Jones for desertion. The group went to the top of the hill above Jones' house and found him as he was returning from a nearby sulfur spring. While in the army, Jones contracted dysentery and, believing that drinking water from a sulfur spring would cure his disease. Jones made an effort to escape and crossed a rail fence. When he had reached the top, he was shot in the back where his gallowses crossed. He died instantly. Among those who participated in this incident, aside from Lt. Hayden Ferguson, were James T. Patterson, Andrew J. Osborne and William (Will) Jayne. The names of the other participants have remained unknown to this day.
Tandy Jones’ death created a disturbance among his family, friends and neighbors, as well as among some of the members of the home guard unit, the effects of which could be felt for years after. According to one local historian, the emotional temperature arose to such a great magnitude that a group was organized "for the purpose of safety and to execute the executor."
The first target was James Patterson. According to accounts, one afternoon, a stranger arrived at Flat Gap and inquired in the community as to where “Mr. Patterson” lived.
Patterson was up the hollow near his home on the south west side of the hill, skinning bark from a hickory tree to make shoe laces when the man appeared. According to a second account, he was accompanied by a group of men who confronted Patterson, with full intensions of torturing him to death. Weapons were drawn and Patterson pleaded for forgiveness and mercy and begged for his life. In disgust they shot him and left Patterson for dead.
Despite being gravely wounded, Patterson was still able to move. In desperation to survive, he made his way down Wolfpen Branch where he was found by some of his soldier comrades and conveyed by sled to the house of Ferdinand Ferguson. Blood stains on the porch bore a visible testimony of the violent incident for many years later. Incidentally, Ferguson was Lt. Hayden Ferguson’s uncle and his wife a sister of Captain John T. Williams. For the time being, Patterson was in a safe place.
The bloodshed continued. A few days after the assault on Patterson, three strange men passed by the house of Andrew J. Osborne and shot him while he was working in his garden. It is believed by some that his death was directly related to his involvement in the killing of Tandy Jones and was an act of revenge.
According to local lore that has been passed down in the Flat Gap area, Patterson died three days after the attack, despite efforts to save him, and was buried in an unmarked grave on the ridge back of Beech Branch overlooking both Laurel Creeks. From that day on until the present date, Osborne's Little Hollow became known as Patterson's Creek. Patterson's wife Nancy and her children immediately departed Johnson County and returned to Ryecove, Scott Co. VA. They were escorted by Ephraim Salyer, who lived on Jack's Creek, near Flat Gap.
Surprisingly, James Patterson’s story does not end here, however. Subsequent records show that Patterson in fact survived the attack on his life or that his son James was the victim of mistaken identity and was shot on that fateful day at Osborne's Little Hollow instead of his father and later died. No records exist of him after the Civil War.
Whatever the case may be, James T. Patterson was very much alive. On August 30, 1866, he married Olly (Olivia) Scarbury, a daughter of David Scarbury (Scarborough/Scarberry) and Sarah Mullins. The ceremony took place at the house of Olly’s brother-in-law, William Fraley and his wife Sarah, in Lawrence County, KY.
Shortly after the wedding, the couple left Kentucky and moved to Hawkins County, TN. By 1870, their place of residence was in the 5th District, New Canton Post Office. The household included two young daughters, Sarah Ann, age 3, and Laura Alice, age 1, both born in Tennessee, as well as Martha J., Patterson, who was seven years old by now. Patterson’s second marriage, as well as the fact that Martha was living with James and his new wife, may indicate that Nancy had died since the incidence at Osborn's Little Hollow. After 1870, James Patterson disappears from the records without a trace, suggesting he may have died before reaching 50 years of age.
Subsequently, his wife Olivia married an unknown Thompson, but this union was short lived. By 1878, Olivia had returned to Lawrence County, KY, where she tied the knot for the third time, with John Jordan, on April 14, 1878. Her two daughters Sarah Ann and (Laura) Alice Patterson were listed as Jordan’s stepdaughters in the 1880 census.
Sadly, the fate of Nancy and James Patterson’s children James, Serena, Francis Melvin, and Martha J. remain up to this day, unknown.
Article compiled, researched and written by Marlitta H. Perkins © 2012
Images © 2012
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