Champ Ferguson

Hi, I'm Holly and I'm Haley. Welcome to Mountain Mysteries Tales from Appalachia. Hi, I'm Haley, Extra Churn Butter. We're live.

I'm keeping that in. Please do. That's amazing. Okay, let me find my notes.

There they are. Okay, welcome back. Hi. Oh my gosh.

I love it. Listen, Haley. Yeah, okay. What's up?

I got my boobs done. Did you? Not a job. I was going to say that is unfortunate.

You're wearing a big switcher so I can't tell if they're any more perky than usual. Oh, heck no. They're late on my stomach because of the speed and I'm wearing a bra, underwire. Wow.

Listen, time, a child, like all the things. It changes you. It changes you. It changes you majorly.

Yes, yes. Gravity takes over. No, I actually went to go get my mammogram and this is part of my PSA. Okay, I get your mammogram.

Get your mammogram. So at 40 is your baseline. I've actually had many. But so I went for my annual and I walked in and I was there to get blood work and I would be coming back later that day to get my mammogram.

And so I said, I'm here for my blood work. Now, I had not showered. I had dropped my son off. I had so many things to do that day that I just hadn't showered.

I knew I would showered later and come back and get my boobs smushed. And so she said to me, she said, well, you know, I know the mammogram ladies back there would like to leave early. So if you would like to just go ahead and get it done now, we can do it all now. And I leaned in and I was like, excuse me.

She's like, yes. I haven't showered. So I'm not really sure what stentions are coming off of me. So I don't know if they want to be all up in this.

And she said, oh, it's OK. They smelled way worse than you. And I was like, all right. I mean, I don't know if that's a compliment.

Right. Or like you, you just smell a little bad, right? Not like bad, bad. Not like homeless bad, but like, yeah, just a little bad.

Yeah. Yeah. So I was like, OK. And so they took me back and they plopped it on there and they got different pictures of different angles.

For those of you who have ever done it, so my mom says it is the most painful thing that she's experienced. She said it is just so painful. She just hates it. She'd rather have a root canal.

Oh my god. I do not find that to be true. I find it slightly uncomfortable. It lasts two seconds and you're done.

Yeah. Like it's this mushroom. This mushroom. And then afterwards you do kind of, you know, they don't, you kind of do feel tender.

Yeah, but nothing ridiculous, nothing crazy. I think my mom's a drama queen. I believe that. But she also is very heavy-chested.

So I don't know if the heavier chest you are. Like the more they got a mash. Yeah. Maybe.

And the more it hurts. Yeah. I'm not really sure. I think I have to have one before I'm 40.

Is it one? I've got history on both sides. So I don't know when I'll have to have mine done. But they've talked like I'll probably hit one done early.

I had my first one at 36. Yeah. I also went and had my paps me recently. Good job.

I think we talked about that. We did. It was it was a journey. Yeah.

Because it was a different doctor than my normal doctor. And that's always uncomfortable. Yeah. Well, this is actually the doctor who delivered me.

That's really uncomfortable. It was the one who did it. And like my doctor, my normal doctor is so like calm and like talks you through everything and like you're in the stirrups, which is very like exposing. Yeah.

It's a very vulnerable position to be in. And so she'll like gently touch on my thigh and she's like, okay, she's like, I'm going to do the the speculum and the swab and the thing and all that. Like check on you. And this doctor was like just straight in there.

No wording. I was like, whoa. No, no. Wow.

Yeah. But she was like, which is like funny to me because she's, you know, she was very much like, okay, here we go. And just like talk the whole time. And I was like, this is out there.

Like, oh my God. But she was so fast. She was like in out. Wow.

I mean, you know, it's a little violating. It can be. I the question is like, which way do you prefer? I don't know.

Now that I've had the fast and quick way. Not I've had the quickie. I don't know which I prefer. I mean, I the quickie, at least she was still talking to you.

It wasn't like she didn't say a word to you. Right. I mean, you know, did she buy you a drink after? No.

She didn't ask me how my mom was. That's weird. As it was. I've seen her vagina too.

Yeah. You know, your mom needs to come in for her pap smear. Please encourage her. Yeah, no.

Oh, weird. That's really weird. But here's your PSA to get your mammogram and pap smear, ladies. So I have to get a pap smear.

Oh, I need to get that. I hate it so much. So mind it. So of all the doctors, I will go to the dentist.

I will go to my mammogram. I will go to the primary care. I'll do anything. But the pap smear.

I do not want to go get a pap smear. Oh, no, I would rather do that every day than go to the dentist. Heck no. Like I need to put the dentist every day.

Go into the dentist. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it.

So I'm like, yup. Like that's no big deal. Like the pap smear to me is like whatever. Nope.

Nope. I hate the pap smear. I dread it so much. And I think, yes, I absolutely dread it.

Interesting. So I like being in control. And I think that this is a very, being very vulnerable and. Very not in control.

In thinking about it, I do like the quick. I think I benefit more from the quick than the like, no, I'm going to start cranking. You're like freaking crank it. Yeah, just get a done.

Do it. Yeah. No, she's, I mean, she was fast. I mean, we were in an out and like, I mean, I don't even know.

It was fast. It took me more time to get undressed. Yes. Then it did for the whole thing.

Well, and do you always try and hide to run underwear under your clothes? Like you don't have them? I can't remember what I did this time. I always think about that.

But I can't remember what I did this last time. So I tend to be the one who's like, yeah, I was abroad. I just hang it from the hook. Like, yeah, take a look at this bad boy.

But the underwear, I'm like, oh, we must not forbid she knows that I wear underpants. Underpants. You're underwear. Yeah.

It's weird. Yeah. I mean, because you are just sitting there and naked and afraid. Pretty much your paper gown.

That is accurate. That is accurate. Opens in the front. You have to mash on your top tops.

Yeah. To make sure there's no lumps or bumps. Well, and they also, they also check under your arms for, you know, lymphocytes. Yeah.

Lymph nodes. Lymph nodes. Yeah. No weights.

Whatever. Whatever. And so I laugh hysterically because I am so ticklish. Oh my gosh.

That even when they were doing my mammogram, she's like, you just got her gloves on. She's trying to like lift it up. And she's almost like tickling me. I just started giggling.

And she's like, oh, I'm sorry, honey. Did I hurt you? And I was like, pfft. No.

I'm just so ticklish. That's funny. And so anytime they start feeling under my arms, I just start laughing. And like around my boobs.

But downtown, I don't tend to laugh. I'm like, are you done yet? And I've said this in many scenarios. And multiple times.

Good times. So there's your PSA. Get your lady bits checked out. That's right.

And if you're a man, get your man bits checked out. I don't think they go to go later in life though. I think it's 40. Right?

Is it 40 for them? I don't really know. But I can say that at the pediatrician, annual physicals, they do look at my son's man bits. Boy bits.

Yeah. Yeah. So they check and make sure. Okay.

Yeah. So get your stuff looked at. Get it looked at. Get it looked at by a professional.

Don't think it's fair that us women have to take the brunt of so much invasive. It's a lot. It's a lot. It is a lot.

It's a lot. We are put through hell. Yeah. We don't want cancer.

So we don't want cancer. We don't want cancer. We have to. So invasive.

Yeah. All right. What you got? What you got?

Kine Dookie. Isn't it about that guy? It sure is not. Okay.

So you know I was on like this historic kick. I do recall. Yeah. So I have another historic story.

Oh, not as far back. We're just going to the 1800s this time. Oh, you know, that's not the 1620. Not the 1620s.

Okay. So we are going to talk about Champ Ferguson. Okay. Never was a Confederate gorilla during the American Civil War.

Oh my gosh. So he was arrested. The law. Not in a gash aggression.

Sorry. He was arrested. It tried and executed for war crimes. Wow.

Pretty crazy for the Civil War. Okay. So let's talk about him. So he was born in Clinton County, Kentucky, which is on the Tennessee border.

He is the oldest of 10 children. Good Lord. Yeah. But she had to pop out a lot back then.

Because half die. Half of them were going to die. Yeah. So this area, it was known as the Kentucky Highlands and it had more families who were, you know, farmers and generally owned very few slaves.

Yeah. Because they were too poor to mostly. So like his father, he became a farmer, but also earned quite the reputation for violence, even before the American Civil War. Wow.

What a legend. Right. Yeah. He became a slave owner.

Oh, in the 18th century. Yeah. In the 1850s. That's not great.

Not great. Yeah. On August 12th of 1858, there was an altercation that came about between Ferguson and the Evans brothers, Floyd and Alexander. And it resulted in the death of one of the Evans cousins, James Reed, and acting constable of Fintress County, Tennessee, and the near death of Floyd Evans.

So he killed two people and injured one. Great. And one was a constable. So not great.

Yeah. Both men were stabbed repeatedly by Ferguson as he attempted to flee mob justice. How? Yeah.

Which apparently, Tennesseeans admit to inflict on Ferguson after cornering him on their side of the border. So he just was this real bad dude. Y'all, we know Tennessee. They're going to get you.

Yeah. So he was getting, trying to get away from these guys, ended up stabbing two people to death and injuring a third. Wow. Yeah.

In the 1850s, Ferguson moved with his wife and family to the calf killer river valley in white countertop. Yeah. Not a great, not a great time. No, no, not for calves, at least.

Yeah, definitely. So let's talk about his journey in the Civil War. Great. Yeah.

So during civil war, East Tennessee opposed succession from the Union, which is the same kind of Western North Carolina as well. The establishment in the region, for instance, was the free and independent state of Scott was an example of this. So, you know, that was going to be, it was a movement where they were trying to build their own country. Right.

Pretty much the seed from the United States and the, like all of it, like they want to say it would be part of the Union or the Confederacy. They wanted to be their own thing. Yes. Which is really unaffiliated with anybody else.

We don't want any of this. We're just going to go hang out over here. It's kind of what it obviously didn't work. No.

Right. But you need money and resources. Right. That's not an abundance here.

No. So if you're in the South, you ended up having to be with the Confederacy, even if you didn't agree because Union wasn't going to support you. Right. It would have been on your own.

Yeah. So, yeah. And like it was your premature entire state or nothing. Exactly.

It wasn't like this little pocket. So, like this area would have been classified more as like Union sympathizers within a Confederate state. Exactly. Which is pretty interesting.

So the remainder of Tennessee didn't want to do this whole we're on our own thing. So, and they had more slaveholders, particularly in areas of West Tennessee. And so supported the Confederacy. The historic division made East Tennessee a target of informal engagements by both sides.

So Confederate troops fought with local partisans, which took place far from the front. So like, Tennessee Confederate soldiers are coming after these people who wanted to be part of this free independent state. Because they're like, you're a traitor. Yeah.

And the Union was like, well, we are fighting you because we are not with us. So, like if you're not with us, you're against us pretty much. So they were just kind of in a pretty bad spot. Talk about vulnerable.

Yeah. And like right. And like stir ups with their legs hanging spread out. Yeah.

Ready for that swab. Well, and they're like right in the middle too. So like the Mason Dickson line, like they're pretty close to it. So it's not like this wasn't like deep Confederacy.

Right. So, yeah, so it wasn't great. So from 1862, Tennessee was occupied by Union troops, which continued, you know, these tensions and divisions amongst the Tennessee people. The mountains terrain and lack of law enforcement during the war gave guerrilla fighters and other irregular military groups significant freedom of action.

So there's not really anybody there to control what's going on. So everybody that was out there was kind of like they're lawless. Right. And they're able to kind of break away in these little factions.

And if they don't like what their commander is telling them, they're like, we don't listen to you. And there's really no one there to stop them. Yeah. So they're able to walk or anything.

Right. They're able to kind of take off into the mountains and do whatever the heck they want, which is pretty crazy. So there were several incidents that were recorded of guerrilla and revenge attacks, especially on the Cumberland plateau, which is this area that's part of the southern part of Appalachia. And it includes much of Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee portions of Northern Alabama and North with Georgia.

So it's like kind of the part before you get into the mountains of like Western North Carolina and it extends up into Kentucky. So like now the Blue Ridge Mountains, everybody else pretty much until you get to like the upper parts of Virginia and all that. So just that little sliver. Families apparently were often pretty divided.

One of Chant Ferguson's brothers fought as a member of the Union's first Kentucky Calvary and was killed in action. So fought for the Union, which is pretty interesting. So early in the war, Ferguson organized a guerrilla company and began attacking any civilians that he believed supported the Union. Many local vendettas were prosecuted in occupied Tennessee under the guise of war.

His men cooperated with Confederate military units led by General John Hunt Morgan and Major General Joseph Wie. When they were in the area and some evidence indicates that General Morgan commissioned Ferguson as a captain of partisan rangers. Ferguson's men were seldom subject to military discipline and often violated the normal rules of war, which is kind of crazy to think that like war has rules. But like it does.

Everything has to or it be chaos. Yeah, like I mean, there's kind of these both spoken and unspoken rules when it comes to wars, which is kind of crazy to think about. But there are and he was violating lots of them. So there were several stories about Ferguson's alleged sadism, which includes tales that he occasionally would decapitate his prisoners and would roll their heads down the hillside.

Um, yeah, not great. Wow. Like a bowling ball. That feels very like, he would have been back in the day the one running the guillotine.

Yeah, and enjoying it. Yes. Yeah. Your head shall be in a bucket.

Yeah, of course he was from the South of you. Your head shall be in a bucket. Yeah. He was also said to be willing to kill elderly and bedridden men, which is like, what's very against the code of war?

Like you just don't do that. You don't do the period. That's not even a code of war. You just won't kill anybody.

You don't kill anybody. Right. Good lord. But yeah, it's like early doctor Kaborkian.

Don't worry. I got this. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Not great. Wow. So apparently he was once arrested by Confederate authorities in charge of murdering a government official and was imprisoned for two months in with Phil Virginia.

However, the charges couldn't be proved. So he was eventually released. Side note. I love with Phil.

Second of all, two months. Two months. Wow. So he held him there while they were trying to figure out.

And you're like, oh, you know what? We can't actually prove any of this. So bye. People have been hanged for much less than that.

Oh yeah. That's crazy. So when the war ended, Ferguson disbanded all of his men and he returned home to his farm. As soon as the Union troops learned of his return, they arrested him and took him back to Nashville, where he was tried by military court for 53 murders.

Oh my gosh. He was a civil war Syrian military. Yeah. His trial attracted national attention and soon became a pretty major media event for as much as a media event as the 1800s can newspapers.

Greatly. One of Ferguson's main adversaries on the Union side was David Tinker, Dave Beatty. They called him Tinker Dave. I love that.

Interesting. I call my son Tinker. That's really funny. It's very cute.

Well, apparently this guy testified against him. Good. Yeah. So just Ferguson had led a guerrilla band against any real or presumed unionist.

Beatty had led a guerrilla band against any real or presumed Confederates. Of course. So both did their best to ambush and kill the other. Fantastic.

Ferguson acknowledged that his band had killed many of the victims, named, and said he had killed over 100 men himself. And he insisted though that his conduct was simply part of his duty as a soldier. So then it gets into this like, real weird. It also, well, I mean he's a guerrilla guy, but like it also does bring into question when you are a soldier in war.

I haven't heard a lot of people say, you know, I mean there's that defending your country and stuff, but like, are you truly proud of taking someone's life? Right. Like is there a sense of pride in that? Like I killed 100 of them.

Like is it that or? Right. I don't know because most of the veterans I've met have significant PTSD and significant guilt while still being proud of serving their country. Yeah.

It's a really tough thing. Sorry. No, don't be. Oh, I loved.

Okay. So there was a pretty notorious incident, which kind of I think sealed the deal here. Oh no. So apparently Ferguson and his guerrilla bands involvement in killing wounded union men and prisoners after the Battle of Saltville.

Good grief. Yeah. The victims were members of the all-black, the United States-colored Calvary and their white officers. Ferguson and his men were charged with murdering the wounded in their hospital beds.

Only the arrival of Thomas's Legion of Cherokee Indians and Highlanders had prevented the complete slaughter of prisoners. This guy is the sadist. Yeah. I mean plain and simple.

Yeah. So as soon as Ferguson learned that regular confederates had arrived, he left with his men. Which kind of goes to show that you're not acting on behalf of the Confederacy if you are running away once they arrive. You're running away and you're only targeting the ones who are basically unable to defend themselves.

Right. Yeah. Like, so therefore you are a coward. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So there's a quote here. After he was found guilty and sentenced to hang on October 10th, 1865, he made the statement.

He's a quote, I am yet and will die a rebel. I killed a good many men, of course, but I never killed a man. I did not know was seeking my life. I had always heard that the Federals would not take me prisoner but would shoot me down wherever they found me.

That is what made me kill more than I otherwise would have done. I repeat that I die a rebel out and out and my last request is that my body be removed to White County, Tennessee and be buried in good rebel soil. I'm sorry. How were the people lying in their hospital beds trying to kill you?

They probably weren't. This was just his way to rationalize his behavior. Yeah. So he was hanged on October 20th of 1865.

Good. He was one of only three men to be tried convicted and executed for war crimes during the Civil War. Which is beautiful. I don't think he put his body on Northern soil.

I really do. So the others that were executed were Captain Henry Wires, who was the commandant of the infamous Andersonville prison in Georgia. Which was horrible. Yeah.

Horrible. And Henry C. McGrouder, who was a Confederate girl of fighter who was convicted of eight murders. Great.

Ferguson was buried in a comb grave in the France Cemetery north of Sparta in White County, Tennessee. Dang it. Yeah. After his execution, Ferguson's statements to the National Dispatch were published.

The New York Climes classified his letter as a confession. So that statement that he made. Yeah. He admitted to killing at least ten people.

Ferguson claimed nine of the men were killed in self-defense. He believed that one was committing murders in robbing private houses so he murdered him. He also stated that he had been convicted of the murders of several men who were killed by other members of his group. He denied some of the charges, including the killing of those twelve soldiers in Saltville.

And said that many of the men he was accused of killing had died in battle or been killed by bands other than his own. Ferguson felt that his trial had been either just nor fair, knowing that he would be sentenced to death. He questioned the reliability of all but two of the witnesses. But they still convicted and hung him.

I mean, so it's kind of like saying, yeah, I mean, I did kill a bunch of people but I didn't kill as many as you did. Right. But then you said in your statement that you killed a hundred people. Yeah.

So what is it? Right. Yeah. You know what?

I think they made a good decision. Yeah. And I'm sure the truth lies somewhere in the middle there. It always does.

Yeah. But yeah. So he was 43 years old when he died. Wow.

So, but yeah, he was convicted of war crimes. Holy moly. So he loved only three people to ever be tried and convicted. And it is interesting that his own brother was a union supporter.

It was. Yeah. But you know, the war was brother against brother. It was.

I mean, it divided families as war tends to. Yeah. Pretty crazy. Good grief.

Wow. Well, thank you for sharing this. You were so well. I feel like war crimes to put you in the warm holiday spirit.

Y'all, we are six days away. Whoo. Six days away from Christmas. I hope Santa comes to visit you.

Haley, have you been a naughty girl or a good girl? I don't want to answer that. She's getting cold for Christmas. She's getting cold.

You know what though? Get her a book about cold. I will be thrilled. Yeah.

Yeah. All right. We wish you a Merry Christmas. Oh, please send us an email.

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Haley searching for us. I am. How about the good one? I'm going to go ahead and talk to you about the first time.

Let's do Maria Kentucky. Yes. Home of Gloria College. Yes.

Yes. Did you know I wasn't aware of this until several years ago that you basically, that you work? Yeah. I didn't realize that.

Yeah. A teacher I had that's now a good friend of mine graduated from Maria. And I have a student now who has just received a pretty impressive scholarship from Maria. So, someone that we worked with, her parents met at Maria and she had told me that.

And that's where I'd first heard it. Yeah. It's a really neat program. It's like a work college.

It's a really great program. So, if you're interested in, especially like agriculture, things like that. It's a great program. Absolutely.

Well, y'all, we wanted to tell you that next week due to Christmas, we won't be airing a new episode. We will be able to get together to record just because it's the holidays. So, we will be off next week, but we will follow up in the new year, a new episode. That's right.

2025 will be a new episode. Yeah. So, we're taking our, you know, taking a break. Our Christmas break.

Yes. And we're enjoying it as we hope you all do too. Yeah. So, Merry Christmas.

Happy. Happy Hanukkah. Happy New Year. Happy New Year.

All the things. All the things. Yeah. Yeah.

Enjoy. Yes. And let us know what you got for Christmas. Yeah.

Please, some good. All right. Bye. Bye.