View attachment 168744
"Wild Bill" as a Confederate Volunteer
William O. “Wild Bill” Sizemore : He headed one of the most notorious Unionist gangs in northeast Tennessee. Like Newton Knight in Mississippi, he began the war as a Confederate before deserting early on. He was never affiliated in any captivity with the Union Army, choosing instead, to make war on and terrorize civilians, Confederate and Union. He enlisted in Captain Robert Simpson's, Co. “D”. 4th Tennessee Cavalry Battalion Organized July 8, 1861 at Rogersville, Hawkins County, TN. They were accepted into Confederate service at Camp Buckner October 4, 1861. They were reorganized May 24, 1862, and consolidated with the 5th Battalion to form the 2nd (Ashby’s) Tennessee Cavalry Regiment. Shortly after if not before, "Wild Bill" deserted. He reputedly shot seven Confederate prisoners in federal custody at Rogersville, and generally did as he pleased through the countryside. On April 5,1865, Sizemore appeared at the door of Eliza Fain, an ardent southern sympathizer, who lived in Rogersville. After telling Eliza that he intended to destroy her property and burn the house, he turned his men loose to accomplish the task. In Eliza’s words, “such a scene ensued for about half or three-quarters of an hour I have never witnessed.” Sizemore and his accomplices stole all Eliza’s silver, the meat in the smokehouse, a horse, fruit in the cellar, and all the milk and butter in the spring-house. The gang specialized in stealing provisions from citizens and selling the goods to military commissaries. Following the escapade at the Fain house, Sizemore and his men rode on to steal from other families in Rogersville. Fortunately, Bill did not act on his threat to burn Eliza’s house, but later that day the gang murdered five men associated with the secessionist band of Bill Owens. Eliza trusted in God to exact vengeance on Bill Sizemore and, shortly after the war, she got her wish. When the war ended, Sizemore set himself up in Rogersville and continued his bullying ways. In 1867, his cousin Irdell Willis, also a Confederate deserter of the 5th TN Cavalry Battalion and Ashby"s 2nd TN Cavalry, and probably also a Union deserter, shot him dead in front of the Rogersville courthouse, ending the notorious bandit’s short but violent career as a bushwhacker and robber.
View attachment 168745
Eliza Fain was married to Colonel Richard G. Fain, a West Point graduate from Hawkins County. He was the first Colonel of the 63rd Tennessee Infantry, the last front-line regiment from east Tennessee and one of the last, if not the last, regiment from the entire state. Colonel Fain resigned his commission in early 1863, for health reasons. 5 of their 6 sons fought for the Confederacy.