In the fall of 1865, the United States Army executed Confederate guerrilla Champ Ferguson for his role in murdering fifty-three loyal citizens of Kentucky and Tennessee during the Civil War.
Mc Knight concludes that Ferguson, and other irregular warriors operating during the Civil War, saw the conflict as far more of a personal battle than a political one..
An impeccably researched biography, Confederate Outlaw offers an abundance of insight into Ferguson\'s wartime motivations, actions, and tactics, and also describes borderland loyalties, guerrilla operations, and military retribution.
Mc Knight\'s study deftly separates the myths from reality and weaves a thoughtful, captivating, and accurate portrait of the Confederacy\'s most celebrated guerrilla.
Numerous authors resurrected and romanticized his story for popular audiences, and even Hollywood used Ferguson\'s life to create the composite role played by Clint Eastwood in The Outlaw Josey Wales.
Widespread rumors endured of his last-minute escape from justice, and over time, the borderland terrorist emerged as a folk hero for many southerners.
Ferguson\'s continued popularity demonstrates that his bloody legend did not die on the gallows.
As a result, he killed prewar comrades as well as longtime adversaries without regret, all the while knowing that he might one day face his own brother, who served as a Union scout.
He believed that friends were friends and enemies were enemies -- no middle ground existed.
In his analysis, Mc Knight maintains that Ferguson fought the war on personal terms and with an Old Testament mentality regarding the righteousness of his cause.
Mc Knight demonstrates how such a simple judgment ignores the complexity of this legendary character.
In Confederate Outlaw: Champ Ferguson and the Civil War in Appalachia, biographer Brian D.
Long remembered as the most unforgiving and inglorious warrior of the Confederacy, Ferguson has often been dismissed by historians as a cold-blooded killer.
In the fall of 1865, the United States Army executed Confederate guerrilla Champ Ferguson for his role in murdering fifty-three loyal citizens of Kentucky and Tennessee during the Civil War
