USA > Tennessee > Fentress County > History of Fentress County, Tennessee > Part 5
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THE OLD HOME OF MARK TWAIN'S ANCESTORS.
Name
Age
Enlisted
John Looper
.34.
7/10/62
Emison Looper
.39
7/20/62
Zach Lord
Nathaniel Mullinix
12/15/61
William Mannon
12/ 1/61
John L. Narramore
20. 2/18/63
James L. Narramore
24.
7/16/63
Rejected
Andrew Owen
28.
12/15/61
Robt. Renfree
39.
3/ 7/63
Sol Ringley
22.
1/ 3/62
Wm. H. Ringley
21.
2/20/62
John Ragon
12/15/61
William Sells
38 12/15/61
Sam Sells
28 12/15/61
William Smith
22. 1/25/62
Thos. Stephens 21. 5/11/63
Stephen F. Walker.
27.
6/ 3/62
George Walker
18 6/10/62
Peter Weaver
23. 2/24/62
John Weaver
19. 3/30/62
Pleasant Weaver
21. 2/24/62
Jesse L. Wright
19
5/ 6/63
Isaac White 18 8/30/63
Micager York
4/10/63
John W. Gordon, 2d Lieut. 6/19/63
Joseph H. Wright. 12/15/61
Abner Davidson 12/15/61
David C. Beaty
12/15/61
Wm. R. Beaty .12/15/61
John Gawney
12/15/61
Died June 27, 1862
John Holbert 12/15/61
Thomas King
7/16/63
Andrew Poor
3/10/62
James M. Robbins
12/15/61
James S. Scarborough.
Tollett Barger
3/10/62
Alfred Barger
3/10/62
B. F. Elliot. .
3/10/62
John Y. Hix. 3/10/62
Jesse Hix 3/10/62
John Holloway 3/10/62
William Patton 3/10/62
Henry Liles 3/10/62
William Ragon 12/15/61
Not mustered in
Discharged
for
dis-
ease, 1862
Died Jan. 19, 1862
Died Feb. 17, 1862
Died March 12, 1862
Died March 16, 1862 Died Feb. 20, 1864
Died May 20, 1862
Died April 6, 1862
Died March 5, 1863
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HISTORY OF FENTRESS COUNTY, TENNESSEE,
MILLSAPS COMPANY.
Name
Age
Enlisted
Capt. Mitchell R. Millsaps
8/10/61
Lieut. Ezra H. Duncan.
3/29/62
A. L. Barger
18
Jonathan A. Beaty
28.
10/11/61
Wm. H. Beaty
20. 4/11/63
Jacob Cooper
30.
10/11/61
Council Cooper
27.
.10/11/61
Jas. R. Davis
24.
4/16/63
Eli Eastridge
24. 3/25/63
Daniel Garrett
27. 3/25/63
Preston O. Holloway
.27. 5/12/63
Henry Hoover 28. 10/11/61
Benjamin S. Jack
6/ 4/63
Henry Langley 18. 5/12/63
Nathan J. Melton
.20. 3/ 7/62
Sampson Mullinix
18. 2/ 1/62
J. C. Regan
6/16/63
Not mustered in
John Scott 18. 5/28/63
Jas. Shannon
6/ 3/63
Wm. R. Silvey. 26. 4/16/63
Joseph Stonecipher 18. 6/30/63
Jas. Ellis 20. 12/31/62
Killed at Rogersville
Powhatan Stringfield 19. 5/ 3/63
Wm. Wright 28. 10/ 1/62
Sam W. Goddard. 19. 3/20/63
Thomas Winningham
6/10/63
-
All of this company except four were mustered in June 5, 1863, in Kentucky. Joseph Stonecipher was mustered into the regular command June 30, 1863; P. Stringfield, on May 3, 1863; Thos. Winningham, June 10, 1863, and Wm. Wright on March 11, 1864. This company was attached to the Second Tennessee Mounted Infantry, according to information at hand, and surrendered with the regiment at Rogersville, Ten- nessee, November 6, 1863, and were placed in Confederate prisons. Honeycutt's company was mustered in at the same time, served in the same regiment, and shared the same fate, being captured at Rogersville by the Confederate General Jones.
George Roberson 18. 5/16/63
Garrett Hall, Sr
55. 10/10/61
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THE OLD HOME OF MARK TWAIN'S ANCESTORS.
What is known as "Battery B" was raised by Capt. R. C. Crawford at Lexington, Ky., and defeated a body of Confed- erates at Jamestown, Tenn., under S. P. Carter, according to U. S. A. Adjt. Gen.'s report, made in 1866.
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HISTORY OF FENTRESS COUNTY, TENNESSEE,
CHAPTER XVII
CRUEL DEEDS.
T HE old people of this section know what is meant by war. Its heavy hand rested in full force throughout the whole mountain country. There is scarcely a public road in this section that has not been marked by the blood of a soldier.
If there is such a thing as the fortunes of war it certainly meant nothing to this county. Fentress and adjoining coun- ties furnished a field for marauding bands. It is probable that there is not another section of the Union where the hardships of war were greater, and where greater deeds of cruelty were perpetrated.
This territory furnished both officers and men to both the Union and the Confederate armies. Others remained at home and attempted to protect themselves. This section was on the border between the free and slave states. Fentress County had but few slaves and the bitterest feelings were engendered on the day that the election on secession was held. Fighting and bloodshed occurred on the election grounds, and as a mat- ter of course, the feeling grew more bitter when the war came on. Civil government was suspended. Political rivals became opposing military leaders in the war, and the people arrayed themselves on one side or the other. In some cases father was against son, and brother against brother. Thus the people were divided. When a man belonging to one side was killed the other side was anxious to retaliate. For every deed of cruelty the perpetrators had their excuse at the time. After the smoke of battle has cleared away the cruel features only are remembered and told. Both sides have their stories. Here are some of them :
A little boy was permitted by his mother to go to a neigh- bors and spend the night. His father and several of his rela- tives were in the army. The next morning some men came by. One of them called him out and shot and killed him. His mother grieved as long as she lived for her boy, whom she said
FENTRESS COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL
HOOD SCHOOL FENTRESS CO.
A PASSING RELIC
GOOTMEYER SCHOOL HOUSE FENTRESS CO.
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THE OLD HOME OF MARK TWAIN'S ANCESTORS.
left home happy, "With a bright, clean face, and his hair nicely combed." Next morning she saw him stained with his life blood, cold in death.
A NEGRO MURDERED.
Some soldiers passed a blacksmith shop and ordered their horses shod. An ignorant negro did not please them by some of his conduct. One of the men coolly and deliberately shot him down like a dog. While the negro was in the death strug- gle his assailant picked up a sledge hammer and crushed his skull, at the same time cursing him.
PRISONERS KILLED.
In a little skirmish one man said to another, calling him by name, "I will surrender to you, I know you will not kill me," at the same time holding up his hands in token of submission. The other cruelly answered, "Just see if I don't," as he delib- erately took aim and shot the helpless soldier dead.
In another instance a small band came upon two men in turning the bend in a road. The two men dropped their guns and threw up their hands imploringly. While in this position they were shot to death without a chance for defense. The parties who did this were afterwards tried for the offense, in the Federal Court, and acquitted. It appeared that they had been ordered to kill the men at sight, which explained their strange act.
Some regular soldiers surrendered and were put to death for no other known reason than that they were on the "other side."
SAVED BY SUPERSTITION.
A boy was stood up by the roadside as a target for cruel bullets. Three times the leader snapped his pistol at the back of the boy's tender head, when the leader turned to his men and said: "Boys, it is not right to kill this boy, my pistol never was known to snap before." He then turned his pistol from the boy, so the story goes, and it fired as usual. So the boy was released.
4
50
HISTORY OF FENTRESS COUNTY, TENNESSEE,
A VICTIM OF REVENGE.
A boy was standing at the fence in front of his home talking with some soldiers. One of them asked him who he was. He misunderstood the soldier and gave the name of a hated leader of the opposing side to that of the soldier, and before an ex- planation could be made the helpless boy was shot to death by the cruel, heartless wretch.
A FAMILY MURDERED.
Four men-a father and his two sons and a brother-the father having been discharged from the army, being over age, another in the bed suffering with the fever, others attending him, were attacked by a small armed force and all murdered. No resistance was offered. The wife and mother of the mur- dered ones returned home and found them scattered about, all dead.
For years and years after the war this poor palsied woman would talk of this tragedy and cry.
Many other stories of this kind are told in this section, but you will agree that these are sufficient to show how far the spirit of revenge led people astray during the fratricidal strife from 1861 to 1865.
These tragedies are remembered with sadness instead of bitterness toward the offenders. These sacrifices, for such they were, are regarded as a necessary result of conditions that ex- isted which were beyond human control.
The border warfare in Kansas and Nebraska over slavery in the fifties, furnishes a parallel, probably on a larger scale, but there was enough here to sadden every heart, and has no doubt softened the hearts of many. Now this section is filled with as neighbor-loving people as can be found anywhere.
CALVIN LOGSTON.
In 1868 a family, consisting of the grandmother, her daugh- ter, and three grandchildren, the oldest of whom was about eight years old, lived in Fentress County. On one day in No- vember the two women and the second child were found in
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THE OLD HOME OF MARK TWAIN'S ANCESTORS.
their house murdered. The oldest child had been struck in the head with an ax, but finally recovered. The youngest child, an infant, was found unhurt. Calvin Logston and two women were indicted for the murder. Logston was tried and con- victed, and sentenced to death by hanging. The case was ap- pealed to the Supreme Court and a new trial was granted. The case was then transferred to Overton County and Logston was again convicted, principally on the testimony of the eight- year-old boy. The case was again appealed, but was this time confirmed by the Supreme Court and the sentence carried out. He was buried in the Jamestown cemetery, in low ground. Water stands upon the grave in winter.
52
HISTORY OF FENTRESS COUNTY, TENNESSEE,
CHAPTER XVIII
FENTRESS COUNTY IN OTHER WARS.
THE INDIAN WARS.
J ESSE COBB, and perhaps others, fought under Jackson at the Horseshoe Bend in Alabama in 1814. The horseshoe is formed by a bend in the Tallapoosa River. It was called Tohopeka by the Indians. Here the Indians, after a series of defeats, made their final stand, believing that this spot was protected by the Great Spirit, and hence could not be taken by the whites (having been so taught by their prophets), they fortified themselves in this natural stronghold.
Jackson cut a road through a dense forest, known as Hickory Ground, leading from the Coosa River to the Tallapoosa.
After reaching the Indian fortifications a desperate battle took place. Eight or nine hundred warriors were killed. Among them lay the Indian warrior and prophet, Monahoe, who had claimed to be proof against the white man's bullet. It is said that he carried a drum and incited the Indians by its rattle, and his incantations, to deeds of cruelty and to reckless butcheries. Jackson had forty-nine killed and one hundred and fifty-four wounded. Sam Houston received three severe wounds in this battle. The Indians fought desperately, refus- ing to surrender. Only about twenty of their number escaped. This battle ended the Creek War. Weatherford, the educated half-breed chief, soon afterwards surrendered to Jackson.
In 1836 Tennessee was called upon to furnish two thousand soldiers for the Florida War. Four thousand offered their serv- ices. The Middle Tennesseans were commanded by Gen Robert Armstrong. Wm. B. McDonald, whose widow, Mrs. Mary Ellen McDonald, lives at Jamestown, served through this war. George S. Kington and George Tinch also served in this war.
John Sevier, from whom some of our people have descended, has the honor of having done more than any other man in achieving the final peace with the Cherokees and the Chicka-
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THE OLD HOME OF MARK TWAIN'S ANCESTORS.
maugas in East Tennessee. His services are familiar history and it is unnecessary to recite them here. This is also true of James Robertson, who has relatives in this county.
John Palser Conatser, Andrew Beaty, Nathaniel Evans, Choate, - Young and Thomas Buck, ancestors of a great number of people in our county, were among the first settlers at Watauga and doubtless participated in the Indian wars in that region.
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HISTORY OF FENTRESS COUNTY, TENNESSEE,
CHAPTER XIX
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
W E are so far removed from the Revolution that it is difficult to ascertain just how many of our immediate ancestors took part in this immortal struggle. How- ever, we find among them Andrew Beaty, the great grand- father of Hon. C. Beaty; Benjamin Davis, from whom W. A. Beaty and others claim ancestry; John Palser Conatser, the grandfather of Uncle Hickory Conatser; David Gentry, the grandfather of John Gentry, and John Smith the great-great grandfather of the author of this history.
Family tradition relates that John Smith was blown up in a gunpowder explosion in the battle of Charleston and severely wounded. It is also related that Andrew Beaty was bitten by a rattlesnake at the battle of King's Mountain.
Andrew Beaty, Benjamin Davis and John Palser Conatser, fought at Kings Mountain, October 7, 1780. Here a part of Cornwallis' force, under Ferguson, was captured, and the plan of the British to take a state a time was thus frustrated. This battle is generally regarded as the beginning of the end of British rule in the Thirteen Colonies.
WAR OF 1812.
As will be seen by reference to the personal sketches, rela- tives and ancestors of our citizens did service in the War of 1812. William I. Beaty, Elias Bowden, Wm. Gentry, Thomas Cooper, David Collier, and perhaps others, were with Jackson at the battle of New Orleans, January 8, 1815.
Packenham, who was trained under Wellington, led his army against Jackson with almost incredible loss, when compared with that of Jackson, the British loss being over two thousand, while the Americans had only thirteen killed. The battle was won mainly by Tennessee and Kentucky rifllemen, who had but little military training. The British were probably the
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THE OLD HOME OF MARK TWAIN'S ANCESTORS.
best trained soldiers in the world, and it is said had never known defeat. These facts made the victory more wonderful, although it was an unnecessary battle, the treaty of peace hav- ing been signed more than two weeks before. A ship was.then bringing the glad news of peace, but it came too late.
The fame of Jackson and his Tennesseans spread every- where, and the hero of the battle became a national character.
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HISTORY OF FENTRESS COUNTY, TENNESSEE,
CHAPTER XX
THE MEXICAN WAR.
F ENTRESS COUNTY furnished its full share of volun- teers in the war between the United States and Mexico. Among those who served in this war were Bates Bledsoe, Stephens, a son of David Stephens, John Quincy McGhee, John Cobb, Scott Bledsoe, Riar York, J. F. Adkins, Daniel Sin- gleton, James York and James Edwards.
Bates Bledsoe and - Stephens were killed during the war. McGhee died at San Antonio, Texas. G. B. McGhee, editor. Golden Age, Livingston, Tenn., a nephew of J. Q. McGhee, has in his possession a gold watch that was purchased by J. Q. in the city of Mexico while he was a soldier during the occupancy of that city by the Americans.
A company was made up in Overton County by J. R. Cope- land, in which some Fentress countains were enlisted, but this company was not accepted, as it was not needed. President Polk called for a limited number of soldiers. Tennessee's por- tion was 2,800. Nearly 30,000 offered their services, over ten times the number called for.
The soldiers from this section went from here to New Or- leans, and from there by water to Vera Cruz, and then with Scott to Mexico, taking part in the many victories along the way. The most important engagements were Vera Cruz, March 23, 1847; Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Cherubusco, Chapul- tepec and Mexico City, which was occupied by the Americans, September 13, 1847.
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR, 1898.
After the sinking of the battleship Maine, February, 1898, many young men from this county volunteered their services to the United States in the war which followed.
Among those who took part in this war the following names have been gathered : James L. Buck, Marion Wright, Wayne J.
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THE OLD HOME OF MARK TWAIN'S ANCESTORS.
Johnson, Charles Johnson, John Johnson, Wheeler Johnson, Joseph N. Johnson, D. M. Smith, Sim Linder, Flem Boles, Jno. K. Beaty, David Hardin Beaty, Cullen Robertson, Fayette York, Oliver Stephens, Monroe Stephens, William Stephens, Thomas Price and Capt. E. M. Shelley.
All did service in Cuba, except Capt. Shelley, who was cap- tain of a Kentucky company, which was held on the southern border of the United States.
Marion Wright, James Buck and the five Johnson boys (all sons of Dr. P. E. Johnson, now of Rockwood), after serving in Cuba were sent to the Philippines and took part in many skir- mishes with the Filipinos before Aguanaldo's surrender.
Wheeler and John Johnson and Marion Wright are still in the Philippines, all having entered business there.
Sim Linder died of pneumonia, 1914. John K. Beaty, who was corporal of his company, died a few years after his return home. Oliver and Monroe Stephens died soon after they returned.
The principal service rendered by this company was in as- sisting Cuba to regain its normal condition. Many of the peo- ple were starving and had to be fed by the United States. The usual disorder following a civil war, with its suffering, pre- vailed all over the island.
Company H, Capt. Cordell Hull's company, to which most of the Fentress County boys belonged, was stationed at Trinidad, on the southern coast of Cuba. The following, gathered from letters written for the author by Wheeler W. Johnson and D. M. Smith, while stationed there, 1899, will furnish some informa- tion in regard to the company and to the conditions in Cuba at the time :
Most of the volunteers from Fentress County were under Capt. Cordell Hull in Company H. A few, however, were under Capt. John W. Staples. Those under Hull were recruited at Jamestown.
Company H, of the fourth regiment of Tennessee volunteers, was commanded by Captain Hull. The regiment was under the command of Col. Leroy Brown. It was first stationed at Knox- ville, Tenn., remaining there from June 18 to November 28,
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HISTORY OF FENTRESS COUNTY, TENNESSEE,
1898, when the regiment, under orders from the war depart- ment, boarded the train for Savannah, Ga., enroute to Cuba. They reached Savannah and went aboard the transport Man- itoba on December 1st. After a voyage of six days, covering fourteen hundred miles, they reached the southern coast of Cuba. The voyage was one of intense interest to most of the regiment. Few of them had ever seen the ocean. They were very much interested in the three Spanish men-of-war they saw on the coast of Cuba, having been wrecked by Senior Offi- cer Schley, acting in the absence of Admiral Sampson, as the ships attempted to make their escape from the harbor in Santiago.
The regiment was landed at the old Spanish city of Trinidad, on the southern coast of Cuba, and assigned to garrison duty at that place.
The sanitary condition of the city was terrible. Dead and decaying animals and filth of every kind filled the streets. The buzzards flew unmolested about the streets and gathered food, sometimes coming into the mess kits of the soldiers for food. About two years before the United States declared war against Spain the Spaniards had issued a concentration order, by which the Cubans under arms were to come into the cities and give up their arms. These cities had been enclosed by high wire fences, and were further protected by block houses. No one was allowed to leave these enclosed places. Here they were held prisoners and furnished with very little food. Thus they were slowly but surely starved to death at our very door. Many died every day. It was common for the starving Cubans to eat from the swill pails of the American soldiers. Trinidad, under these conditions, in two years had decreased from about thirty to about ten thousand. The great work of the fourth regiment and of other United States soldiers at this time was to bring relief to these stricken people. Shortly after they reached Trinidad the United States issued rations for the Cubans, and the great work of humanity began. When the regiment left Cuba on March 25, 1899, the condition of the city and of the whole island had much improved and suffering soon ended.
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THE OLD HOME OF MARK TWAIN'S ANCESTORS.
The good ship Dixie brought the regiment to Savannah, where they were safely landed. On May 6, 1899, they were mustered out of service. Some of the regiment had given up their lives in Cuba, others came home with injured health to die. Among them was John K. Beaty, Corporal in Company H, and Oliver Stephens, Sim Linder and Monroe Stephens, all of whom served their country faithfully, and are worthy to be remembered as heroes of the Spanish-American War.
FENTRESS COUNTY IN THE PHILIPPINES.
On May 8, 1899, after serving with fourth regiment in Cuba, I enlisted in the regular army and was assigned to Company "M", Sixth U. S. Infantry, and on May 22, 1899, the regiment, commanded by Col. Charles Miner, went aboard the U. S. A. transport Sherman for service in the Philippine Islands, where we arrived on June 18, 1899. After several days of impatient waiting in Manila Bay we received orders to proceed to the islands of Panay, Negros, and Cebu. On July 4, 1899, we went ashore for the first time in one month and twelve days.
After landing we took an active part in suppressing the in- surrection, which continued for about two years, until the cap- ture of Aguanaldo, the insurrecto chief, which was accom- plished on the island of Luzon, near what is now the "Summer Capital" of the Philippines, known as Boguio.
The insurrection was not, perhaps, what a great many peo- ple think it was. The fighting was not severe, yet we had many engagements of a small nature. But considering the fact that we were so far away from home, and in a strange land, and the hard marching through the mud and water-of which there was an abundance-and contending with the mosquitoes-of which there were also an abundance-poor food and bad water, and the hardships in general, service in the Philippines was no child's play.
After Aguanaldo was captured the backbone of the insur- rection was broken, civil government was established through- out the archipelago in the latter part of 1902. Then the Moro people were to deal with, which required an expedition, in
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HISTORY OF FENTRESS COUNTY, TENNESSEE,
which I served. From the latter part of 1903 to the early part of 1905, there was ever-and-anon trouble and some fighting.
The trouble with the Moros was confined to the island of Mindanao and Jolo. As I served about fourteen years in the islands it was my good fortune to take a part in about all the fighting that took place in the islands against the insurrectos, which were the Filipinos, 1899 to 1902, and the Moros, 1899 to 1914.
In May, 1902, the first trouble of any consequence, I believe, took place at Lake Lanao, Mindanas, with some severe fighting, and has been going on more or less all the time since that date. Then, in what is known in the Cottabatto Valley, on the same island, the Moros gave the American authorities some trouble.
In 1904 an expedition was sent against hostile tribes of Moros and about 34% of the company to which I belonged were killed, and in the engagement I was slightly wounded.
In 1911-1913 some severe fighting took place on the Island of Jolo, at what is known as Bud Dajo and Bagsak, in which my brother, John L. Johnson, took a part, and in which several American soldiers lost their lives. At the time I left the Is- lands, a retired soldier (October 9, 1915), all was peace and tranquility, with a few minor exceptions.
Under American rule general prosperity exists and the Is- lands are blessed with good public schools and the people ap- pear to be very well satisfied.
WHEELER W. JOHNSON, A native of Fentress County.
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THE OLD HOME OF MARK TWAIN'S ANCESTORS.
CHAPTER XXI
THE INDIANS.
T HE Indians lived in this section when the white people first came here. An Indian trace passed through the county and through Jamestown, and from Jamestown eastwardly along the divide between Yellow and White Oak creeks. There are places where it can be seen at this time. This was no doubt used by the Cherokees in going from East Tennessee to the Cumberland River regions, where the Shaw- nees once lived.
It is probable that Indian villages were at one time located on Yellow Creek, and possibly at Jamestown. On the farms of James Conatser and B. R. Stockton, there are evidences of the fact that Indians have spent much time in that region. Under bluffs on these farms there are immense piles of ashes, in which have been found many Indian relics, and more than a dozen skeletons, or the bones, rather, of more than a dozen Indians. The photograph in this book is from skulls and relics taken from under a bluff on the Conatser farm. The disfigured jaw of one, and the broken leg of another, show the hardships undergone by these Indians in their lifetime. The jaw appears to have been shot, the shot bursting off half the under jaw and passing through the mouth and cleaving off the upper jaw of the other side even with the palate, leaving no teeth in either jaw. It had healed perfectly, the jaw being perfectly smooth. The leg of the other had also knit together in good shape and was practically the same length of the other.
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