Champ Ferguson and the Squirrel Auction

 During the War Between the States, the Calfkiller River Valley became a breeding ground for guerrilla activity. Some neighbors depended on Confederate guerrilla leader Capt. Champ Ferguson for protection, and some neighbors depended upon Federal soldiers patrolling out of Sparta. Either way, it was a dangerous time.

When Capt. Ferguson and his Independent Scouts went out on raids into the surrounding counties, they would bring back stores of “confiscated” items, including livestock, smoked hams, bushels of corn, and whatever else was not well hidden. He would bring it all back to the Calfkiller Valley and sell it at auction down in Bradley Cove.

At the announcement of one auction, a neighboring man decided to attend. As he was preparing to leave, he drank a little bit more than he should have, put his two pearl-handled pistols in his belt, and headed off. 

On his way to the auction, he killed a squirrel and took it along to the auction. By the time he arrived, the man was feeling his liquor. As the auction got underway, the man told Capt. Ferguson that he wanted him to auction off his dead squirrel. Everyone laughed at the proposal. Capt. Ferguson kept putting him off. When the man became quite obnoxious about it, Capt. Ferguson threatened to throw him out of the crowd. 

The man, full of drunken bravery, stepped back, opened his coat, exposing the two pearl-handled pistols. Capt. Ferguson finally had enough. He took the squirrel from the man, held it by the tail, and commenced beating it over the intoxicated man’s head until the squirrel was in pieces and the man was unconscious. Some of the crowd carried him away to sober up.

The auction went on with Ferguson selling chickens, cows, geese, and corn. No squirrels allowed!