Bummer has related family history regarding the border state clashes between civilians and raiders during the Civil War in Missouri and Tennessee. Both Union sympathizers and Pro-Confederate raiders participated in this bloodshed, these activities eventually evolved into acts of nothing more than terror, lawlessness and murder.
The infamous bands of raiders in Missouri included William Quantrill, William T. Anderson and followers, the James and Younger brothers. The bloody deeds of these cutthroats has been well documented and publicized. Books, movies and some documentaries have, in many instances, glorified their exploits, but in reality, criminals of this ilk were nothing more than social misfits and psychopaths. Bummer believes that they used the Civil War as an excuse to kill, pillage and plunder.
Another guerrilla, Champ Ferguson, terrorized the Tennessee/Kentucky border before and during the Civil War. This raider claimed to be a Confederate Officer, but that statement could never be validated. Ferguson was paranoid, quick-tempered and “never killed anyone, who wasn’t trying to kill him.” Champ Ferguson terrorized the Appalachian border and didn’t discriminate in his wrath, he would kill, ruthlessly, whether necessary or not. Described as a product of his environment and time, when local feuds and grudges led to violence, he claimed to have killed 53 men and was not arrested until May of 1865. He was one of the few Confederate combatants that stood trial after the war. Ferguson was found guilty of 23 counts of murder, out of the 53 he was charged with and was hung on October 20, 1865.
Champ Ferguson, upon hearing the verdict, addressed the court;
“I am yet and will die a Rebel … I killed a good many men, of course, but I never killed a man who I did not know was seeking my life. … I had always heard that the Federals would not take me prisoner, but would shoot me down wherever they found me. That is what made me kill more than I otherwise would have done. I repeat that I die a Rebel out-and-out, and my last request is that my body be removed to White County, Tennessee, and be buried in good Rebel soil.”
Bummer has read that Champ Ferguson is a mythical, martyred, hero to many neo-confederates. They believe that Clint Eastwood’s movie, The Outlaw Josie Wales, is loosely based on the life of Ferguson, when in reality the movie reflects the novel, Gone to Texas, by Asa(aka Forrest) Carter.
Bummer
So is he buried in White County? I grew up in a neighboring county about 20-30 miles from there.
Louis,
He is buried in White County>
Bummer