Guerrilla Activities
During the Civil War, East Tennessee, a mostly mountainous region, was divided over secession from the Union. The terrain and lack of law enforcement due to the war gave guerrilla fighters and irregular military groups significant freedom in the region. There are substantial numbers of recorded incidents of guerrilla and revenge attacks, especially on the Cumberland Plateau. Even families were often divided. One of Champ Ferguson's brothers was killed as a member of the Union's 1st Kentucky Cavalry.
At the start of the war, Ferguson organized a unit and started attacking civilians believed to support the Union. Occasionally, his guerrilla band cooperated with Confederate military units led by Brig. Gen. John Hunt Morgan and Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler. Some evidence indicates Ferguson was actually made a captain of partisan rangers by Morgan. However, Ferguson's men were seldom subject to military discipline and frequently violated the normal rules of warfare.
There are legends of Ferguson's alleged sadism, including stories that he decapitated prisoners and rolled their heads down hillsides and was willing to kill elderly and bedridden men. He was once arrested by Confederate authorities for the murder of a government official and was detained for two months in Wytheville, Virginia, though he was finally released.
Read more about this topic: Champ Ferguson
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