Early Life and Origins of Confederate Stance
Ferguson was born in Clinton County, Kentucky, on the Tennessee border, the oldest of ten children. Like his father, he became a farmer. Ferguson earned a reputation for violence. Reportedly, in 1858, he led a group of men who tied Sheriff James Read of Fentress County, Tennessee to a tree. Ferguson then rode his horse around the tree, hacking at Read repeatedly with a sword until he was dead. He is also claimed to have stabbed a man named Evans at a camp meeting. Evans survived. In the 1850s, Ferguson moved with his wife and family to the Calfkiller River Valley in White County, Tennessee.
For reasons not clear, Ferguson developed a passionate hatred for the Union cause. One tradition claims that Union soldiers raped his wife and daughter. Another belief is that he held grudges against a number of local Union men. Ferguson himself would claim that Confederate officials had promised him they would overlook his previous behaviour if he supported the southern war effort.
Read more about this topic: Champ Ferguson
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