John Shehan

John Shehan was apparently one of the men killed in what became known as the Polk Massacre on December 30, 1864, when Home Guards (a loosely knit group of Confederate soldiers), upon the request of request of Dr. Columbus Mills, arrested a group of men in Columbus whom they suspected of being involved in an attack on Mills' home the previous month. No evidence was produced, and no trial was held. The arrested men were told they would be taken to Asheville for trial but instead were executed by this vigilante firing squad near Houston Road outside Columbus and left in the woods. Other men killed were F. A. "Frank" Weaver, B. F. "Dock" Hampton, and Sam Hunter (whose father Peyton Hunter and brother Charles Hunter had been shot to death the previous day).