Champ Ferguson

Champ Ferguson. Confederate Partisan of the Cumberlands. Samuel "Champ" Ferguson was the most notorious Confederate guerilla leader in the Upper Cumberland mountains. In 1861, he formed a company and began attacking Unionist partisans. Such irregular forces were common on both sides during the war, especially in areas where opinion was divided between Unionists and secessionists. They protected the property of civilians on their own side while looting and killing those on the opposing side, and harassed enemy troops and supply lines., In official military correspondence, Ferguson held the rank of captain although he usually operated independently. At other times, however, he acted in concert with regular forces. In 1862, Gen. E. Kirby Smith authorized him to raise a cavalry company and operate along the volatile Kentucky-Tennessee border. That same year, Ferguson guided Gen. John Hunt Morgan's first Kentucky raid. In August 1864, Ferguson served in Georgia under Gen. Joseph Wheeler to harass Union Gen. William T. Sherman's army during the March to the Sea. That fall, Ferguson fought in the Battle of Saltville, Virginia, and was later charged with involvement in the massacre of U.S. Colored Troops prisoners., Ferguson surrendered to Federal authorities in May 1865, supposing he would be treated as a Confederate soldier and paroled. Instead, he was tried in Nashville for war crimes including 53 murders, was convicted of many of them, and was hanged on October 20, 1865. He is buried in White County near Sparta. Capt. Heinrich H. Wirz, commander of the notorious Andersonville prison camp, was the only other Confederate prisoner was executed.