Confederate Soldier Stories

ON THIS PAGE...we will soon have stories of Confederate Soliders from the area.

This is my good friend Hal. I took this picture on his birthday. I think he likes to be in pictures.

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Use this template for any additional information you need such as products, pictures, fan clubs, links or just more information It's important to change the content on your site and make updates to the information that you display. Doing this will help you to get more return visitors.

CHASING OLD CHAMP

By Dale Welch
Hilltop Express
  Yankee troops, based out of Sparta and headed by Col. William B. Stokes , had two battles with Confederate guerrilla Champ Ferguson and Col. John M. Hughes in March, 1864. The first was at Dug Hill, costing the Yankees about 14 men.
  The second day, Col. Stokes had sent out forces to collect the dead federal soldiers. Capt. Joseph Blackburn was sent the next day to engage with the rebels. About the same place as the first battle, they found Champ Ferguson and his men waiting for them. Words and bullets were exchanged. As  one Yankee recalled, Champ and his men came running at them on their horses “yelling like wildmen.”
  This time, the Yankess saw Champ sink down on his saddle and turn his horse, running up into the mountains and up a narrow hollow. The Yankees quickly returned to Sparta.
  A couple of days later, Col. Stokes was at his headquarters in the upper story of a building on the northeast corner of the square in Sparta. “Well, well,” Stokes said to some of his men. “I think Old Champ was wounded in that spot with Blackburn and the boys. If he was, he’s hid out in the bluffs up here on the Calfkiller. There’s an old doctor up there who knows where he is.”
  A plan was devised to take 50 Yankee soldiers up to Dr. Tom Moore’s house. Col. Stokes told them not to kill the doctor, but to tell him he would be hanged if he didn’t tell. “But don’t hang him till he is dead,” Stokes said. “ but he must tell where Champ is.”
  The soldiers found the doctor, and they recalled that he gave up without much coaxing. The doctor confessed that he had located Champ about three miles up  stream of the Calfkiller from the doctor’s house, at the top of a high peak of the mountain.
  The Yankees headed out and about one mile from the foot of the hill they saw two men run out of a house where the Widow Scott lived on a farm in England’s Cove. They didn’t fire any shots at the fleeing men because they didn’t want to alert Ferguson.
  In less than five minutes, the Yankees dismounted at the foot of the hill. Some were detailed to hold the horses. The rest of the Yankees wound their way through thick brush to the top.
 At the top of the bluff, they found Mrs. Ferguson. Just under where she was standing, they discovered a very nice dry and comfortable room and rock house that nature had formed. In the room was bright fire buring. Wood was plenty in the cave and rock house. They also found plenty of meat and flour, a coffee pot and a lot of rags that they had been using to dress Champs wounds – but no Champ.
  When asked, Mrs. Ferguson told them Champ had left for Kentucky that morning. The Yankees scoffed at the answer, knowing she wouldn’t tell the truth.
  The Yankees figured that Champ had several men with him. Weighing between 200 and 250 lbs., they figured there were enough of his men to carry him off very fast after being alerted by the two men who had ran from the Widow Scott’s house.
  They left Mrs. Ferguson standing with her coffee pot in hand. She figured they would take it if she didn’t snatch it up.

This is my good friend Hal. I took this picture on his birthday. I think he likes to be in pictures.

This is my good friend Hal. I took this picture on his birthday. I think he likes to be in pictures.