Notes and Queries

NOTES AND QUERIES Edited by Boyd B. Stutler 517 Main Street Charleston 2, West Virginia This department is designed as an open forum for researchers into Civil War themes and for readers of Cttni War History in general. It is open for questions on, and discussions of, all phases of the Great Conflict and its personnel. Also, notes on newly-discovered or little-known sidelights of the war are welcomed. Address Notes and Queries Editor. ANSWERS No. 85—A Reported Pseudo General Gilbert at Perryville: Dr. Hamdton Tapp, University of Kentucky, who is chairman of the Kentucky Civil War Centennial Commission and a noted authority on the battle of Perryville, provides an answer to the question raised by Edmund G. Love (March, 1962) about a false General Gdbert who botched bis part in the engagement. Says Dr. Tapp: T have no information regarding a General Gdbert other than that concerning Major General Charles C. Gdbert, who was quite legitimate ,' and performed satisfactorily at Perryville. The rumors regarding General Gilbert were probably caused by two reasons: the fact that he was raised by Buell from perhaps a major to major general, and the fact that a great deal of jealousy and animosity existed. It does seem strange, of course, that Buell passed up Phil Sheridan, R. P. Mitchell, and several other qualified men. Buell, however, realized that he had few high officer friends other than Kenruckians. "My impression is that General Buell, immediately following the death of General Nelson, raised his friend Gdbert from major to brevet major general. It may be recalled that General Buell and General Nelson were very close friends, and that Governor Morton, of Indiana, Secretary of War Stanton, and General Halleck seemed to be intent upon getting General Buell removed from command. It is true that many of Buell's officers did not like him. Buell was a Democrat and had served, I believe, in the War Department under Democratic President Buchanan. 437 438BOYDB. STUTLER Tt is true that many officers in Buell's army resented the appointment of Gilbert to command Nelson's corps. However, my impression is that Gilbert performed quite well on the field at Perryville. After he learned that a battle was in progress, he quickly ordered General Schoepf to go to the aid of Sheridan's left and General Mitchell to protect Sheridan's right. Both executions were done successfully, and Sheridan was then able to aid McCook's crippled right. My impression is that the stories about the shooting of Gilbert's horse by one of his own men and about Gilbert's fleeing in fright cannot be substantiated. ( Please refer to Gilbert's article On the Field at Perryville' in Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, III, 52-60.)" No. 87—Champ Ferguson's Private War: In answer to the query of Peggy S. Horton ( March, 1962) about the lolling of a Federal Captain Smith, a wounded prisoner, in a hospital at Emory, Virginia, by Champ Ferguson, Bob Womack, Middle Tennessee State College, Murfreesboro, supplies the following answer: "The murder of Captain Smith can be verified in at least two places. One is the book by Bromfield Ridley called either Ridley's Journal or Battles and Sketches of the Army of Tennessee. The otiier book that verifies this incident is Champ Ferguson by Thurman Sensing. Both are scarce books, but should be available in larger libraries. Another book that probably relates the incident is Chevaliers in Dixie, recently republished by McCowat-Mercer Press, Jackson, Tennessee. There is a theory that this Captain Smith was Champ's brother whom he had vowed to kill if he ever found him. A Confederate physician, Dr. Murphree, of Murfreesboro, stopped Champ's initial attempt to kill Smith but the guerrilla later climbed through a window and accomplished his objective. "When you speak of Champ Ferguson you're speaking of the shootenest , cuttenest, chokenest Reb of them all. He is buried not far from where I write, and to make sure he didn't get out they leaned two giant rocks over his grave. His was indeed a private war in which he wrote the rules, and these varied from victim to victim...