Author of book on Champ Ferguson

Brian D. McKnight author of “Confederate Outlaw: Champ Ferguson and the Civil War in Appalachia” will be speaking at the Clinton County Public Library this Saturday morning, August 10 at 10:00 a.m.

Long a topic of discussion in Clinton County, Champ Ferguson has many descendants still living in Albany and surrounding areas. The discussion surrounding Champ Ferguson seems to be whether or not he was a hero or a criminal. Brian McKnight’s book answers that question with research to confirm it. The book is one of the most important, in-depth contributions to our understanding of the Civil War in Appalachia.

In the fall of 1865, the United States Army executed Confederate guerilla Champ Ferguson for his role in the murdering of fifty-three loyal citizens of Kentucky and Tennessee during the Civil War. 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 Confederate Outlaw, McKnight demonstrates how such a simple judgement ignores the complexity of this legendary character.

McKnight maintains that Ferguson fought the war on personal terms and with an Old Testament mentality regarding the righteousness of his cause. He believed that friends were friends and enemies were enemies — no middle ground existed. 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.

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. McKnight offers 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.

Brian McKnight is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise. He has won the James I Robertson Literary Prize in 2007 and was the winner of the 2012 Tennessee History Book Award.

Join in the discussion this Saturday morning at 10 a.m. at the Clinton County Public Library when Brian McKnight relates stories and discusses Champ Ferguson.