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Thomas D. Mays, an assistant professor of history at Humboldt State University, is the author of The Saltville Massacre and the editor of Let Us Meet in Heaven: The Civil War Letters of James Michael Barr, 5th South Carolina Cavalry.
Ask a Civil War buff to name a Confederate guerrilla and you'll
probably hear the names of Trans-Mississippi warriors William
Clarke Quantrill, William "Bloody Bill" Anderson or Frank and Jesse
James. But, as historian and author Thomas Mays correctly notes,
Kentucky native Champ Ferguson "needs to be added to this bloody
pantheon of America's outlaws."Ironically, Ferguson was practically
a household name at the time of his death in 1865. He faded into
obscurity as more famous "western" figures like Quantrill and
Anderson took center stage. Now, Thomas Mays has once again brought
Ferguson to national attention in his fascinating study of Champ's
bloody, brutal and private civil war.The Cumberland Highlands
(specifically the Kentucky-Tennessee border just west of Cumberland
Gap) became an area where foraging raids and reprisals against
civilians became commonplace during the Civil War. The region split
not along the lines of antebellum feuds, but largely due to prewar
political and economic alliances.Some of Ferguson's prewar enemies
became his allies and long-time friends became adversaries. Even
families were divided -- Champ Ferguson, a Democrat and
slaveholder, went to war against his brother James, a debt-ridden
Whig. Ferguson actually began his bloody career in this region when
he killed a man in an altercation in 1858. Still facing that murder
charge when the war began, the pro-Southern Ferguson did not become
a guerrilla fighter until he was apprehended by and escaped from a
party of Union Home Guards. He then began targeting Union
sympathizers in the region, arguing that he needed to eliminate
pro-Northern friends, acquaintances and relatives before they came
for him. By the time of his arrest in May 1865, Ferguson was
suspected of killing 53 men. After a lengthy trial, he was
convicted of most of the charges against him and was sentenced to
death. He stoically went to the gallows in October 1865.Mays does
an excellent job of documenting Ferguson's brutal reign of terror.
He does his best both to explain Ferguson's motives and place him
in a larger regional context. Champ was not a stereotypical
guerrilla. He had a habit of attacking non-military "targets of
opportunity," which did little to aid the Confederacy, and may in
fact helped weaken support for the cause. His relatively small
number of men rarely operated under the authority of a Confederate
commander. Ferguson's actions did not keep substantial numbers of
Federal troops tied to the area. He was not averse to killing
noncombatants, the unarmed, sick and wounded, white and black. But
May argues that Champ was not simply a psychopathic killer -- he
was rather "a product of the highland frontier culture" that
advocated a concept of total war against soldiers and
noncombatants.This study of Champ Ferguson is a shocking read, even
if you're well-schooled in the literature of Civil War guerrillas.
But once I started, I found myself unable to stop following Champ
and his neighbors as they carried on their ruthless killing spree.
If you're tired of hearing about dashing and romantic Civil War
figures, or even the famous Missouri partisans, have a look at the
well-written and -researched tale of Cumberland Blood.--Jeff
Patrick "Civil War News" (4/10/2009 12:00:00 AM)
"In this lean, crisply written yet thorough exploration of Champ
Ferguson's life, Thomas D. Mays helps us better understand both the
man and the terrible nature of guerrilla warfare."--Daniel E.
Sutherland, editor of Guerrillas, Unionists, and Violence on the
Confederate Home Front"Cumberland Blood is riveting reading--a
fascinating study of an important and often overlooked facet of the
Civil War. It's a must-read book for anyone who wants to understand
the conflict in the border states."--Steven E. Woodworth, author of
Decision in the Heartland: The Civil War in the West
"Cumberland Blood is a thorough and unvarnished account of the
atrocities committed by Champ Ferguson, one of the most infamous
pro-Confederate guerrilla fighters of the Civil War. Thomas Mays
recounts Ferguson's bloody exploits and debunks the myths that
others have used to justify Ferguson's crimes. In the process, Mays
provides a valuable and unromanticized view of the bushwhacking
violence that plagued the Cumberland region."--Michael A. Ross,
author of Justice of Shattered Dreams: Samuel Freeman Miller and
the Supreme Court during the Civil War Era
"Few figures exhibit the bitterness and hatred that the American
Civil War could generate as well as the notorious Tennessee
guerrilla Champ Ferguson. Thomas D. Mays neither glorifies nor
vilifies his subject; rather, he shows that to Ferguson scouting
for Confederate cavalry, carrying off Federal stock, killing Union
supporters, and shooting captured Federal troops were all part of
the same war. Cumberland Blood reveals the American Civil War in
its most personal, raw, and disturbing form."--Noel C. Fisher,
author of War at Every Door: Partisan Politics andGuerrilla
Violence in East Tennessee, 1860-1869
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