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Massacre at Conley Branch

By Michael Conley | The News Herald

Published: July 13, 2008

"The rumor of my death has been greatly exaggerated."

Yes, it's true, I did "die" back in July of 1991, forever young at the age of 39. (That's Jack Benny's age, isn't it?) But before I get to my untimely death, I need to give you some background info.

Rumor became fact when it was revealed that a major motion picture would be filmed in Western North Carolina. The movie would be the fifth or sixth version of the classic novel by James Fenimore Cooper's. The setting was during the French and Indian War. The year was 1757.

A Los Angeles-based film production company, Forward Pass Productions, had recently opened an Asheville office and would be having a casting call at Asheville-Buncombe Technical College. Later on, an additional casting call would be held at CoMMA in Morganton.

On April 27, 1991, which was a rainy and wet day, several hundred people waited in line at CoMMA to get a chance to be an extra in the movie, "The Last of the Mohicans," which part of was being filmed in Burke County. Linville Falls and Lake James being the main areas.

By the end of the day, nearly 1,000 people showed up, including yours truly. Each person at the casting call was given an application. Men were told to be willing to shave facial hair off and to grow their hair longer. Men of that period of time wore their hair in a queue or pigtail.

Each person was told that they would be called as needed. Filming was to begin in the middle of June. Meanwhile, what was being called the largest set ever erected east of the Mississippi River, was being built on a bluff overlooking the Linville Access on Lake James.

The fort was called Fort William Henry. It was a massive fort built out of timber. It was said that more than 2 million board feet of lumber was used in its construction. There actually was a Ft. William Henry. It is located in New York north of Albany at the south end of Lake George.

Each of us at some time in our lives, perhaps wish that one day that we might have a chance to be in the movies. My chance came in the middle of a hot July. I was leaving the house one day when the phone rang. I came close to ignoring it, but, on second thought, why not?

I answered the phone and the woman politely asked if I was still interested in appearing in the movie. Yes! I answered. She then told me where to go the next day.

I had to be onsite by 6 p.m. to be fitted for my costume. At first, I would be a member of the Colonial Militia. My costume by the way, was mostly made out of wool. The director wanted realism and he got it. Back then most clothing was made out of wool.

For several days, the scenes which I was to be in were at the fort. These scenes were filmed at night. We were taken to a holding area, had a chance to eat and told it might be close to midnight before we were needed on the set.

For $50 a day, hundreds of extras toiled, sweated and for the most part, had the times of our lives.

The director had us go through each scene, on average, 20 times before he was satisfied.

Wearing those wool outfits in that heat and humidity did leave us sometimes dehydrated. Filming for the night scenes would stop near dawn each morning. I'd come home to rest and be back by 6 p.m. each afternoon.

Nineteen years ago on another hot July day, I was drafted into the U.S. Army. On a July in 1991 I was drafted for a second time - into the British Army. But this tour of duty would be for only one day. I had to undergo a quick 10-minute boot camp to learn how to march British style and how to carry my firelock (rifle).

I often thought that in the movie's setting of the year 1757, how the British were allies and the French and the Indians were our enemies and how that would change 20 years later. The one scene that I can see myself clearly was as a British soldier marching away in defeat during the fort's surrender.

After a few days off, the scene and location changed. North of Marion, about eight miles in a quiet little valley, just off US 221, filming began on the final betrayal and ambush scene. This time I had to be on set by 5 a.m. each day for nearly a week. I was again dressed as a colonial.

When the director Michael Mann called action on that first practice, nothing could have prepared me for that eery feeling that when those 300 plus Indians attacked us from the woods. I knew then that was what Custer might have felt. You had to be there to feel the utter fright that we all had felt.

Over and over again we went through by now the usual routine of falling to the ground and being massacred again and again. We all got to know that ground pretty good. I've seen myself in the midst the action of this exciting scene and each time I have watched it I still get goose bumps.

Afterwards, I looked on a map of McDowell County. I found the location of this climactic scene. And surprising to me, the little creek which was nearby was called Conley Branch. How ironic I thought that I should die, if only in a movie, in a little valley that some of my ancestors may have settled.

I doubt that local history ever recorded the event of such a as the Massacre at Conley Branch, but it did give birth to the title of this column. The director always wanted realism and to have a Conley die (if only in the movie) took realism to a new level.

The times I spent during the filming of this movie gave me insight into the problems and the fun in making a major motion picture.

It was for me, one of the best experiences that I ever lived. And given the chance to be in the movies again, I'd be there. I did get to meet Daniel Day-Lewis and get his autograph along with Dale Dye's, who was in charge of training the British soldiers.

So, it's time to again to watch "The Last of the Mohicans" aka the Massacre at Conley Branch. Did anyone bring any popcorn?

Dedicated in honor of the hundreds that made this movie such a hit.