{⋆★⋆} BG Ferguson, Samuel W.

Samuel Wragg Ferguson
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Brig. General Ferguson.jpg


Born: November 3, 1834

Birth Place: Charleston, South Carolina

Father: Colonel James Ferguson 1784 – 1874
(Buried: Saint Phillips Episcopal Church, Charleston, South Carolina)​

Mother: Abigail Ann Barker 1810 – 1867

Wife: Catherine “Kate” Lee 1841 – 1928
(Buried: Beauvoir Confederate Cemetery, Biloxi, Mississippi)​

Children:

James DuGue Ferguson 1865 – 1937​
(Buried: Beauvoir Confederate Cemetery, Biloxi, Mississippi)​
Nathalie Ferguson Gayer 1869 – 1940​
(Buried: Knollwood Cemetery, Mayfield Heights, Ohio)​
Harry Lee Ferguson 1873 – 1955​
(Buried: Corozal American Cemetery, Panama City, Panama)​
Percy Ferguson 1877 – 1956​
(Buried: Beauvoir Confederate Cemetery, Biloxi, Mississippi)​

Education:

Attended West Point Military Academy (Left before Graduating)​

Occupation before War:

1857 – 1861: Served in the United States Army, rising to Lt.​

Civil War Career:

1861: Captain in the Provisional Army of South Carolina​
1861: Aide to General Beauregard during Fort Sumter​
1862: Staff officer during the Battle of Shiloh​
1862: Lt. Colonel of 28th​ Mississippi Cavalry Regiment​
1863: Participated in the Vicksburg, Mississippi Campaign​
1863 – 1865: Brigadier General of Confederate Army, Cavalry​
1865: Escort for President Jefferson Davis thru South Carolina​

Occupation after War:
Attorney in the State of Mississippi​
President of United States Board of Mississippi River Commissioners​
Secretary & Treasurer of Mississippi Levee Board​
Civil Engineer in Charleston South Carolina​

Died: February 3, 1917

Place of Death: Jackson, Mississippi

Age at time of Death: 82 years old

Burial Place: Greenwood Cemetery, Jackson, Mississippi
 
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Samuel Wragg Ferguson, graduated from West Point Military Academy in the Class of 1857, graduating eighteenth overall in his class of thirty-eight cadets. Ben McCulloch, the famous Texas Ranger, was one of the Board of Visitors during the graduation and had grown fond of Ferguson, and just days later he took him to the Whitehouse, at Washington, D.C. and introduced him to President James Buchanan, Vice President John C. Breckinridge, as well as other cabinet members. During this same trip Sam Ferguson was also introduced for the first time to the 23rd Secretary of War, Jefferson Finis Davis. Sam Ferguson entered the U.S. Army, as a 2nd Lieutenant, and upon graduation from West Point he had heard rumors of an expedition which would be leaving very soon for Utah, to be conducted against the Mormons. Wanting to participate in the expedition, he requested to be assigned with the 2nd Dragoons, under the command of Col. Phillip St. George Cook, which was one of the regiments selected for the expedition. His request was granted and he was ordered to report to his new regiment within ten days, as a 2nd Lieutenant, reporting to Captain Frederick Steele`s Company, with whom he participated in the Mormon Expedition from 1857-1858. During which time, he operated at Fort Leavenworth, Fort Kearney, Fort Riley, Fort Laramie, Fort Bridger, Provo City and Salt Lake City.

In November 1858 Sam Ferguson was informed that he was being reassigned from the 2nd Dragoons to the 1st Dragoons, and was ordered to join his new regiment, at his current rank of 2nd Lieutenant, at Fort Walla-Walla, Washington Territory. Here he remained, performing garrison duty, until about 27 Dec 1860, when receiving news of Lincoln`s election win and hearing of the secession of South Carolina, he immediately resigned his commission from the U.S. Army and went home. On 31 Mar 1861, at Charleston, he enlisted and accepted a commission as Captain of infantry in the Regular Army of South Carolina. A few days later, General P.G.T. Beauregard, being placed in command of all the Confederate forces at Charleston and its environs, selected Captains Samuel Wragg Ferguson and Stephen D. Lee as his Aides-de-Camp.

Here is an interesting irony to Sam Ferguson`s story. When the siege and bombardment of Fort Sumter was under way, General Beauregard, several times, sent both Captains Sam Ferguson and Stephen D. Lee to negotiate the surrender of Fort Sumter with Major Robert Anderson, the U.S. Commandant of the Fort. It was Capt. Sam Ferguson who eventually received the formal surrender and the keys of Fort Sumter from Major Anderson. Capt. Sam Ferguson was then ordered to lower the U.S. Flag which had been flying in Fort Sumter and hoist up in its place the Confederate banner, being the Confederate First National Flag (although the S.C. Palmetto Flag was hoisted on the ramparts first). As well as post the Confederate guard in and around the Fort. This was the first time that the Confederate First National Flag was hoisted over a U.S. Military Installation won in battle, which provoked Lincoln to declare war and begin to recruit 75,000 volunteers, with which to build his army, in preparation for the hostilities which would very soon break out across our great nation. Here is the irony, just days after participating in the bombardment of Fort Sumter, Sam Ferguson drew from the U.S. Paymaster at Charleston, who was on his way out of the city, his last pay for two months service in the U.S. Army, which was owed him before he resigned his 2nd Lieutenant commission, slightly less than four months before.

Here is another bit of interesting information, in July 1914 Sam Ferguson was recognized by the Federal government to be the last living officer of 255 graduates of West Point Military Academy, who served as officers in the U.S. Army and resigned their commissions to enlist in the Confederate States Army. Congress had only recently repealed punitive legislation, which it initially passed into law just after the close of the Civil War, which imposed penalties on West Point graduates who served in the Confederate army. Samuel Wragg Ferguson was the only one still living who qualified for direct payments for their actual service, which they called longevity pay, with the heirs of the other 254 officers who qualified for the payment receiving their part of the lump sum of money, being a total of $174,000 having been set aside in the bill for that purpose.

Note: Regarding the introduction between Sam Ferguson, President James Buchanan, Vice President John C. Breckinridge and Jefferson Davis, this would have been in early March 1857, either the day of or days after his Inauguration (4 Mar 1857), and either before Jefferson Davis` position was filled by John B. Floyd, the incoming 24th Secretary of War, or days after as Davis was preparing to return to Mississippi. Jefferson Davis had been the Secretary of War during the previous administration, that being President Franklin Pierce from 1853-1857. The Mormon Expedition was conducted between March 1857-July 1858. This was the first time that Sam Ferguson met both Jefferson Davis and John C. Breckinridge, but during the Civil War he developed very close relationships with both men, and in the case of Davis they went on to remain close friends, spending much time together after the war until Davis died, on 6 Dec 1889, of acute bronchitis while visiting New Orleans. Sam Ferguson was one of the pall bearers at Jefferson Davis` funeral, as was Stephen D. Lee, where his body was temporarily interred at New Orleans’s Metairie Cemetery. Less than three and one half years later, from 27-31 May 1893, Sam Ferguson, Stephen D. Lee and others, along with the Davis family, escorted the exhumed remains of Jefferson Davis, from New Orleans to Richmond, VA., to be reposed at Hollywood Cemetery, where his remains rest to this day.
 
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Ferguson was the Secretary and Treasurer of the Mississippi Levee Board. In 1894 $20,000 to $40.000 mysteriously disappeared from this board.He suddenly moved to Charleston later that year and then to Ecuador for many years.
 
Ferguson was the Secretary and Treasurer of the Mississippi Levee Board. In 1894 $20,000 to $40.000 mysteriously disappeared from this board.He suddenly moved to Charleston later that year and then to Ecuador for many years.
Sam Ferguson always denied that he took any money from the board and blamed the bookkeeper and corrupt bankers for the discrepancy. He sold everything that he and his wife Kate owned to pay back the sum that went missing, which was satisfactory to the committee. That is why he was never charged with the discrepancy, and also why he soon returned to Charleston. He later moved to Quito, Ecuador because he was given an opportunity from some of his wife Kate`s family, who had contracts with that government as a railroad engineer. Sam Ferguson took advantage of the opportunity and went, gaining much valuable experience as an Engineer which he could later use on his resume. This allowed him to establish himself in the industry and provided him with a source of income upon returning back to the U. S., after being away for a few years designing and building railroads in Ecuador.

Basically, in July 1894, the Mississippi River Levee Commission discovered the sum of $39,130 to be missing, over the span of a few years, and could not be accounted for, which resulted in Sam Ferguson resigning his position and proposing to turn over to the Board of Mississippi Levee Commissioners, all of his real and personal property. This included "Ditchley Plantation," which encompassed 1,400 acres of land and a large two-story plantation home in Washington county, MS., in which Greenville was located. In addition, he turned over all farming implements at the plantation (wagons, plows, tools, &c.), fifty mules and the current crop, then growing in the ground. Sam Ferguson also turned over another house and lots, which he owned in the city of Greenville. This proposition was intended to pay back the sum that went missing, and then some, which seemed to satisfy his "debt."

Sam and Kate Lee Ferguson then relocated back to his native Charleston, S.C., for several years, where he studied civil engineering. When the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898, Sam Ferguson offered his military services to the 25th President of the United States, William McKinley, who thanked him but respectfully refused his offer on the basis of his advanced age and physical condition. He then relocated from Charleston, S.C. to Quito, Ecuador where he was hired as an Engineer and won a contract to construct one of the major railroads there, the line from Guayaquil to Quito, which he completed. By October 1900 Sam Ferguson returned from Ecuador and with-in a certain amount of time had gained employment as an Engineer for the City of Biloxi, MS. on the coast, where he worked in that capacity for some years. In 1908, General Ferguson completed the first detailed city map of Biloxi. It took 19 months to survey and cost about $2,500. The map was 15 1/2 feet long and almost 6 feet in width.

Sam Ferguson returned to Greenville, MS., in poor health circa 1914, where he spent the last few years of his life. On 3 Feb 1917, Samuel Wragg Ferguson was the last of 31 Generals produced from Mississippi during the Civil War to have died. He was the last surviving General Officer produced in Mississippi during the Civil War for 7 years before his death. Of the 31 Generals that Mississippi produced only 24 survived the War. He died at Jackson, MS., where he was laid to rest.
 
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Brig. General Samuel Wragg Ferguson (1834-1917):

Confederate States Army Military Service:

As General P.G.T. Beauregard`s Aide-de-camp, then Capt. Sam Ferguson personally accepted the surrender of Fort Sumter from Major Robert Anderson, which initiated the Civil War to commence, he then ordered the U.S. Flag to be lowered at Fort Sumter and for the first time in history he gave the order for the Confederate First National Flag to be raised in its place. This being the first time that the Confederate Flag was hoisted and raised in victory to fly over a captured Federal installation won in battle during the war. It was this event that caused Lincoln to declare war on the Confederacy and begin recruiting 75,000 soldiers to strengthen the U.S. Army as the country prepared itself for war.

Sam Ferguson, soon fought at the battle of First Manassas (Bull Run), which was the first major conventional battle of the Civil War involving infantry, artillery and cavalry from both armies. In September 1861, Ferguson was present at the headquarters of General Joseph E. Johnston when the design for the Confederate Battle Flag was adopted, and after Hetty, Jenny and Constance Cary sewed the first three Confederate Battle Flags, Ferguson was there to see them presented to Generals Joseph E. Johnston, P.G.T. Beauregard and Earl Van Dorn at a ceremony on 28 Nov 1861 at Centreville, Virginia. This being just 25 miles south of Washington, D.C. and 2 miles north of Manasses where the Battle of Bull Run was fought. The design was from P.G.T. Beauregard and Senator William Porcher Miles. According to Ferguson these first three Confederate Battle Flags were cut and sewn from silk gowns belonging to the Misses Cary.

Ferguson went on to fight at Shiloh, Farmington and Corinth. Then he participated in the Vicksburg Campaign. Where Sam Ferguson was given command of a large portion of the Yazoo Delta up in northern Mississippi. There he operated against Federal shipping on the Mississippi river and opposed a Federal foray into the Mississippi river delta, at which point he attacked Admiral Porter and General Sherman in Little Deer Creek at the head of Rolling Fork and compelled them to abandon their expedition with their gunboats. It was here during this time that he met and married Catherine "Kate" Lee, a cousin of General Robert E. Lee and Fitzhugh Lee. After Vicksburg fell, he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General, and was given command of his own cavalry brigade, which was headquartered in the northern Mississippi prairie country at Prairie Mount, just 5 miles north-west of Okolona. It was at this time that my 3rd Great Grandfather, who served and fought with the 2nd Alabama Cavalry, was placed under his command as part of that brigade and remained faithfully with him until the close of the war.

Ferguson then conducted numerous predatory raids, along with General`s Stephen D. Lee, Nathan B. Forrest, and James R. Chalmers, against Federal forces throughout northern Mississippi, northern Alabama and west Tennessee. He then opposed Sherman`s March to Chattanooga, then he screened and carried Maj. General Nathan B. Forrest through the Federal lines, into middle Tennessee to raise his last cavalry division of the war. He then conducted numerous raids along the M&C R.R. in west Tennessee and along the M&O R.R. in northern Mississippi. He then opposed Sherman`s Meridian Campaign from the Big Black River to Meridian and back, at which point he was briefly sent back up to northern Mississippi to reinforce Maj. General Nathan B. Forrest during the battle of Okolona. Days later he was ordered back towards Canton, to intercept Sherman`s army on their return to Vicksburg after destroying Meridian, where they caught up to him as his army was crossing the Pearl River and fought them daily until they crossed the Big Black River, about a week later. After which Sam Ferguson rested his command at Canton, MS. and was soon sent into central and north Alabama to hunt and chase down Confederate deserters and Alabama Unionists from their hiding places in the woods and caves, who were trying to cross the Union lines and take the oath of enlistment into the U.S. Army.

Ferguson was then sent into Georgia, to cover the retreat of Johnston`s Army of Tennessee, as it was forced to constantly withdraw and fall back southward from Dalton to Atlanta. At which point he was engaged in numerous daily fights and skirmishes against Sherman`s army, to prevent him from out flanking Johnston`s Army of Tennessee and being able to get behind him to cut off his retreat to Atlanta. A few of those being the battles of Rome Crossroads, Woodlands, Kingston, New Hope Church, Dallas, Adairsville, Kennesaw Mountain, Marietta, Smyrna, Nick-a-jack Creek and the Chattahoochee River. It was at this time that Ferguson`s brigade, for the first time, was ordered to dismount and take up positions in the trenches and from behind breastworks, fighting alongside the infantry, for days at a time in some instances, while remounting and fighting cavalry charges when required to keep the enemy from outflanking their position.

Ferguson then fought more bloody battles and engaged in more daily skirmishes, in and around Atlanta, for several months against Sherman`s army. Some of those being the battles of Peach Tree Creek, Bald Mountain, Decatur, Atlanta, Jonesboro and Lovejoy`s Station, in addition to fighting against Sherman`s cavalry far in the rear of the Confederate army, for miles along the four railroads which connected through Atlanta, as Sherman was attacking Hood`s supply and communication lines. Specifically, during this time he opposed and fought against the cavalries belonging to Generals Stoneman, McCook and Kilpatrick in their efforts to destroy the railroads around Atlanta.

Ferguson and his cavalry brigade were the very last Confederate troops to leave Atlanta when it fell, he was ordered there to thinly occupy the trenches in an effort to screen Hood`s evacuation, to prevent it from being found out too soon, and to supervise the surrender of the city when that action would be required. Ferguson`s brigade was left behind to destroy the munitions and Confederate equipment which could not be removed during the evacuation, and he was given strict orders from General Hood to defend Atlanta to the last man until everything of military importance could be destroyed in Atlanta. After blowing up Hood`s ordnance trains on the night of 1 Sep 1864, along with the Atlanta train depot, Ferguson and his cavalry brigade were the last Confederate troops to leave Atlanta, around noon of 2 Sep 1864, as Mayor Calhoun moved out on the Marietta Road to surrender the Gate City to a portion of General Slocum`s command.

After the fall of Atlanta, Sam Ferguson and his brigade conducted countless raids in and around Atlanta as well as in North Georgia and East Alabama. When General John Bell Hood took the Army of Tennessee into Tennessee, heading for Kentucky, he ordered Generals Wheeler and Ferguson back to Atlanta to keep an eye on Sherman. In a matter of days, Sherman burned Atlanta and initiated his "March to the Sea," from Atlanta to Savannah. The only ones available to oppose Sherman`s destructive march, were Wheeler and Ferguson. Sam Ferguson operated at the rear and on the left and right flanks of Sherman`s army, harassing him the whole distance to Savannah, while Wheeler got out ahead of him and opposed his vanguard. After much fighting, when they reached Savannah, Ferguson was ordered to dismount his command and fill in the weak areas of Lt. General William Hardee`s trench lines and breastworks around the city. After an 11-day siege, Ferguson was ordered to remount his command and perform a rear-guard action covering the retreat of Lt. General Hardee`s command as they vacated the city, once again Ferguson was left behind to ensure the safety of those retreating and were the very last Confederate troops to leave that city, just like at Atlanta.

Soon enough Sam Ferguson was operating in South and North Carolina fighting against General Stoneman during his famous raids into North Carolina, at this time, mid-March 1865, Sam Ferguson`s childhood home of "Dockon," which was located on the Cooper river a few miles north of Old Charleston, was burned and his parents victimized by USCT regulators who were being protected under the U.S. Army to wreak havoc on their former plantations and owners, one of those being Colonel James Ferguson, the father of Sam Ferguson. Soon, Sam Ferguson and his cavalry brigade was ordered by President Jefferson Davis to meet him at Greensboro, N.C., and become part of his personal escort and bodyguard in his flight from North Carolina to Georgia, which he did. Sam Ferguson was one of the last 6 Confederate Generals with a command to attend the Last Confederate General Officer Meeting and War Council, which was held at Abbeville, S.C., on 2 May 1865, with President Davis and what was left of his Confederate cabinet. It was at this time that Jefferson Davis, his remaining Confederate Cabinet and the last six Confederate Generals with commands left in the field east of the Mississippi river, came to the conclusion to disband the Confederacy, which they did. Later that night they continued their march to Washington, Georgia, where they arrived on 3 May 1865. After President Davis decided to go on with a much smaller bodyguard of only 75 men, Sam Ferguson was ordered to disband his command and send his men home, which he did on the early morning of 5 May 1865.

I believe Sam Ferguson to be one of the more important Generals of the Civil War, and the only one to have participated at the very beginning and end of the hostilities; personally receiving the surrender of Fort Sumter from Major Robert Anderson, being selected as the first to raise the Confederate Flag over captured territory during the war, being present when the first three Confederate battle Flags were presented to Johnston, Beauregard and Van Dorn, being the last Confederate force to leave Atlanta and Savannah just before both were surrendered, as well as being with President Jefferson Davis at the very end of the hostilities, as part of his personal escort and bodyguard, during his flight from justice from North Carolina to Georgia. At which time, Sam Ferguson was one of the last six generals, with commands still in the field, in attendance when they disbanded the Confederacy, during the Last Confederate War Council and Cabinet Meeting, held at Abbeville, S.C. on 2 May 1865. Sam Ferguson`s cavalry brigade was one of the last commands in the field, east of the Mississippi river to disband at Washington, GA. on 5 May 1865, as they parted ways with President Jefferson Davis. Just five days later, Davis was captured at Irwinville, Georgia on 10 May 1865, and the Civil War was brought to a close. There really should have been much much more written about Sam Ferguson after the war, than there was. Having said that, I have still found a plethora of information regarding his service and his life after the war.

Samuel Wragg Ferguson (1910 photo used in his Obituary in 1917) profile (2a).jpg
 
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Samuel Wragg Ferguson
:CSA1stNat:View attachment 380128

Born: November 3, 1834

Birth Place: Charleston, South Carolina

Father: Colonel James Ferguson 1784 – 1874
(Buried: Saint Phillips Episcopal Church, Charleston, South Carolina)​

Mother: Abigail Ann Barker 1810 – 1867

Wife: Catherine “Kate” Lee 1841 – 1928
(Buried: Beauvoir Confederate Cemetery, Biloxi, Mississippi)​

Children:

James DuGue Ferguson 1865 – 1937​
(Buried: Beauvoir Confederate Cemetery, Biloxi, Mississippi)​
Nathalie Ferguson Gayer 1869 – 1940​
(Buried: Knollwood Cemetery, Mayfield Heights, Ohio)​
Harry Lee Ferguson 1873 – 1955​
(Buried: Corozal American Cemetery, Panama City, Panama)​
Percy Ferguson 1877 – 1956​
(Buried: Beauvoir Confederate Cemetery, Biloxi, Mississippi)​

Education:

Attended West Point Military Academy (Left before Graduating)​

Occupation before War:

1857 – 1861: Served in the United States Army, rising to Lt.​

Civil War Career:

1861: Captain in the Provisional Army of South Carolina​
1861: Aide to General Beauregard during Fort Sumter​
1862: Staff officer during the Battle of Shiloh​
1862: Lt. Colonel of 28th​ Mississippi Cavalry Regiment​
1863: Participated in the Vicksburg, Mississippi Campaign​
1863 – 1865: Brigadier General of Confederate Army, Cavalry​
1865: Escort for President Jefferson Davis thru South Carolina​

Occupation after War:
Attorney in the State of Mississippi​
President of United States Board of Mississippi River Commissioners​
Secretary & Treasurer of Mississippi Levee Board​
Civil Engineer in Charleston South Carolina​

Died: February 3, 1917

Place of Death: Jackson, Mississippi

Age at time of Death: 82 years old

Burial Place: Greenwood Cemetery, Jackson, Mississippi
Although there is a VA stone with his name on it in Greenwood Cemetery, it is a cenotaph, not a tombstone.
The location of his exact grave is unknown. It was probably within the area of many graves of the Confederate dead.
 
This may or may not have been already stated,but his Promotion to Major General in 1864 was protested by Gen. Wheeler. Ferguson was not only overlooked for promotion but his field commands no longer had any real significance.
 
This may or may not have been already stated,but his Promotion to Major General in 1864 was protested by Gen. Wheeler. Ferguson was not only overlooked for promotion but his field commands no longer had any real significance.
Maj. General Joseph Wheeler nominated and supported William Hicks Jackson and General P.G.T Beauregard nominated and supported Sam Ferguson for the promotion to Major General. There was a lot of politics being played by both sides to get their chosen nominee promoted. Jefferson Davis told Ferguson that he had been chosen for the promotion but because he and his cabinet were then in flight from justice during the last weeks and days of the war, there was no time to make the promotion official. So therefore, the highest rank attained by Ferguson "officially" was Brig. General.

In Ferguson`s Confederate Soldiers Pension Application, on 15 Aug 1916, he wrote the following when asked about his rank and grade in the Confederate Army:

"I was promoted as a Colonel, then a Brig. General, then a Major General... I was made a Major General three months before the close of the war. My commission was delayed in reaching me and I continued to serve as a Brig. General... President Davis appointed me a Major General three months before the close of the war, although I never served as a Major General for the reasons above stated... I escorted President Davis to safety at the close of the war. I attended the last council of war ever held by Davis... I received (an) Honorable Discharge from President Jefferson Davis himself."

Several of Ferguson`s close friends who served on the staff of Jefferson Davis told him just before the close of the war, that they had seen the approved promotion papers on Davis `desk, which had been signed, and offered him their congratulations regarding his promotion.

Sam Ferguson accused Wheeler of politicizing his support of Jackson over him, to the point that he suspected his brigade was being singled out and punished by Wheeler, in an effort to make it look like Ferguson could not lead and therefore should not be considered for the promotion to Major General. This is more than evident in quite a few of the letters written by Wheeler to higher ranking generals in early 1865, speaking ill of Ferguson regarding his nomination and then in the same letters praising Jackson to the rooftops. Reading the letters, it was more than obvious that Wheeler did have an agenda. We should remember that Wharton, Forrest, Armstrong and Martin also had serious issues serving under Wheeler but were all able to get out from under his command, so Ferguson`s grievances were not an isolated incident.

During the same time, Ferguson wrote quite a few letters of his own, in several of them, he wrote somewhat harshly of Wheeler, more-so of Ferguson expressing his feelings on how he felt that he was being treated unfairly by Wheeler, who would send him out on one wild goose chase after the next, basically just marching his brigade in large meaningless circles for no apparent reason. On one such account, from 23 Jan-14 Feb 1865, Wheeler ordered Ferguson from South Carolina into Georgia to the mouth of the Altamaha River (where it comes into the Oconee River), where there was no enemy, and none expected with-in 150 miles. This wasted march idled Ferguson`s brigade for more than three weeks, before finally being ordered to return to South Carolina by General P.G.T. Beauregard, who had not known where Ferguson was initially or for what purpose Wheeler had sent him. Ferguson later stated that this caused much dissatisfaction among his ranks, as the men felt that they were being singled out and marched from one end of the country to the other, to serve no purpose, which led some to desert because they felt that they could be of more use to their families at home more-so than out chasing down ghosts which never made an appearance.

With all that happened between them, Ferguson remained respectful of Wheeler after the war, and stated so to the well-respected archivist and historian from Mississippi, Mr. Dunbar Rowland, in an interview in 1904 and again in 1912. He stated that he had the friendliest feelings towards General Wheeler and was then defending him against the allegations made against Wheeler regarding the actions of some of his men during Sherman`s March to the Sea, where some were calling them a band of "cut throats" and "horse thieves." Ferguson stated to Dunbar Rowland that he felt that the ones responsible for those outrages, of which Wheeler`s men were accused, were committed by stragglers from other bodies who represented themselves as part of Wheeler`s command but were not.
 
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