Cumberland Blood: Champ Ferguson's Civil War

Introduction

1 ) Introduction THE TIME HAD COME FOR CHAMP FERGUSON TO DIE. The Nashville weather had been cold in the days leading up to 20 October 1865, the date set for the execution. That morning the State Penitentiary on the corner of Stonewall and Church Streets resembled a circus. More than three hundred citizens had obtained passes to view the execution, and by ten in the morning throngs of others attempted to enter the yard. A large contingent of soldiers prevented the crowd from invading the prison. Parts of the 16th United States Colored Infantry lined the prison yard walls, while others formed a square around the gallows. The spectators and soldiers watched and waited as the executioners made final preparations to the scaffold and ropes.1 In the prison, as Ferguson emerged from his cell, the Union Commandant, Colonel William Rufus Shafter, paused to allow him to say good-bye to his wife and daughter. His wife, Martha, and sixteen-year-old daughter, Ann, had arrived the day before and had spent the night with their condemned loved one. An observer 2 Introduction admitted, “it was a painful scene, and brought tears to the eyes of all who witnessed it.” Martha Ferguson quietly took her husband’s hand and gazed into his eyes. After a moment, she turned away and burst into tears. Next, Ann, who had become a lovely young woman with large dark eyes, fell into her father’s arms. There she remained for about a minute without speaking. Witnesses were forced to turn away with tears in their eyes as the Fergusons said their final adieus. At last it was time. As the ladies left, young Ann cried out, “Farewell, my poor, poor papa!” The two women were then escorted to a house adjoining the prison to wait.2 The guards then prepared Ferguson for the execution. Ferguson hated the thought of being shackled, and when he noticed that one of guards held some rope, he asked, “Must I be tied?” Yes, he was told, it was the custom. The guards then tied his arms behind his back at the elbows and also tied his wrists together. They asked if he was comfortable, and after shifting his arms, Ferguson replied that he was. He then inquired why his feet had not been tied too, and the executioner replied that he would do that on the scaffold. The military guard then formed files on each side of him and marched down the prison hallway into the yard.3 Outside, a curious rumor circulated—that Ferguson had been granted a reprieve. His unlikely savior, Prison Warden Andrew Johnson Jr., was the president’s nephew. The warden had grown fond of his condemned prisoner and traveled to Washington to see his uncle and plead Ferguson’s case. As the time approached for the execution, the word spread that President Andrew Johnson had commuted Ferguson’s sentence to life; he would not hang.4 In reality, things had not gone Ferguson’s way in Washington. He had caused trouble for Andrew Johnson for the entire war. As wartime governor of Tennessee, Johnson had had to deal with the pleas of the families and friends of Ferguson’s victims. In the last few months the national press had closely followed the trials of Henry Wirz, who ran the notorious Confederate prison camp at Andersonville , Georgia, and Ferguson. To commute the sentence would be politically dangerous to Johnson, since such an act would likely send the Radical Republicans in Congress to new heights of rage. The president also recalled that Ferguson had once placed a $2,000 3 Introduction bounty on his head. That was too much. Johnson declared that he would “let the law take its course.” Ferguson would hang.5 The grim procession emerged from the building and marched across the yard to the gallows. Ferguson held his head up and scrutinized the spectators. His attention then turned to the gallows. The raised platform stood five feet above the ground. Two beams held the crossbar that supported the noose over a three-foot-square trapdoor. The trapdoor was held in place by a rope that when cut, would drop from under the body. The guards had also placed Ferguson’s coffin directly in front of the gallows. It was made of cherry and was lined and trimmed in “good style.”6 A witness was impressed with Ferguson’s...