Cumberland Blood: Champ Ferguson's Civil War

4. “Clean as you go, you aught to have shot them”

50 4 ) “Clean as you go, you aught to have shot them” EIGHTEEN SIXTY-TWO BEGAN IN KENTUCKY WITH THE Confederate armies being driven from the state. As the front moved south, Union men in Tennessee began to form independent companies to counter the threat presented by Ferguson and the Confederate guerrillas. As the Union and Confederate armies concentrated prior to the major battle of Shiloh, the neglected border area of Kentucky and Tennessee continued to be a scene of bitter partisan conflict. And Ferguson emerged as one of its most vicious practitioners. Eastern Kentucky was central to Confederate general Albert Sidney Johnston’s plan to defend his department.His greatest problem, however, was Tennessee editor-turned-Confederate-general Felix Zollicoffer.Zollicoffer was blatantly incompetent and unfit for military command.In other words he was like most other political generals in the first year of the war. Perhaps if Zollicoffer had survived to learn from his errors, he might have developed some skill.As it was, his actions cost him his life, his army, and eastern Kentucky. 51 “You aught to have shot them” The Federals, on the other hand, had placed one of their most competent military commanders in eastern Kentucky, the Virginia native and loyal West Point graduate, George H. Thomas. After organizing and training Federal volunteers at Camp Dick Robinson, Thomas was anxious to test Zollicoffer’s mettle. Confederate general George B. Crittenden took over Zollicoffer’s department in November 1861, and after surveying the situation ordered Zollicoffer to pull back from his dangerously exposed position near Fishing Creek, to the south side of the Cumberland River. But by the time Crittenden arrived to take personal command in January, Zollicoffer still had not completed the move. With the river now in flood stage and the enemy on the move, Crittenden’s command was forced to remain north of the river. Out of desperation Crittenden went on the offensive.On 19 January 1862,four thousand Confederate troops met Thomas’s army in a battle known variously as Mill Springs,Logan’s Cross Roads,Fishing Creek, Somerset, and Beech Grove. At first the battle went well for the Rebels. But as Zollicoffer’s men were driving Thomas’s cavalry back,the nearsighted Confederate general rode into the enemy lines and ordered a Federal colonel to stop firing at his own men.Zollicoffer was wearing his Confederate uniform under a white overcoat. The Yankees recognized him as a Rebel, and Colonel Speed S. Fry of the 4th Kentucky Infantry (U.S.) mortally wounded him. Although the Confederates were momentarily confused by Zollicoffer’s death, Crittenden soon brought up support and renewed the attack. But the Confederates were exhausted. They had been forced to march the entire night through knee-deep mud, and what little fight they had left was quickly spent as Thomas arrived with fresh Federal troops. Thomas soon swept the Confederate left and then the entire line. It became a rout, as the Rebels fell back to the river. Crittenden managed to find some boats and got most of his men safely across, but he lost his baggage train and artillery. The Federals captured twelve guns and more than 150 wagons, along with one thousand horses and mules. While the battlefield casualties were light, much of Crittenden’s army simply melted away after the battle. Thomas had secured eastern Kentucky for the Union and opened the way into central Tennessee. 52 “You aught to have shot them” Although Ferguson did not participate in the battle (he was spotted about one hundred miles away in Sparta, Tennessee, the day of the fight), the result of the contest affected him by drastically changing the situation along the border. With the Rebel army in disarray, Unionists in central Tennessee became bold. They began to form their own independent companies to counter the activities of Ferguson, Bledsoe, and several other detached Rebel units. As Confederate losses mounted in the spring of 1862, the border war widened to include Union companies of “scouts” from Tennessee who joined with the Kentucky Union Home Guard to fight the Confederates. The war was now a deadly localized feud between Rebel and Yankee guerrilla bands. It was truly personal. Most of the men on each side had known each other for years and many were related. Both groups struggled to clear their areas of “disloyal” elements and to punish their former friends...