Before Mary Surratt.....

Mary Surratt; from Surratt House Museum

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the hanging of the Lincoln conspirators.  Among the condemned sent into eternity on July 7th, 1865, was Mary Surratt, the first woman executed by the Federal government.  But a little over a year-and-a-half prior, another woman nearly went down into history for that distinction.

Sometime in either October or November, 1863, Jane Ferguson enlisted in the 13th Kentucky Cavalry as John F. Tindsley, the surname being her maiden name.  I have also seen the alias spelled Lindley and Findsley.  Regardless, I have not been able to find service records for her.  Perhaps that is because the day after she "jined the cavalry," she was arrested for alleged espionage.  This was not her first military stint, however.  Prior to enlisting in this Federal unit, Jane and her husband were serving the Confederacy in Captain Oliver P. Hamilton's cavalry company, which was organized in Jackson County, Tennessee "...for the local defense of the border counties lying up the line of Tennessee where the counties and mountains strike the Kentucky line..." (Source:  http://www.tngenweb.org/civilwar/csacav/csahamil.html).  From my research, it does not appear that she was formally enlisted in this company because I have not been able to find service records for her.  Furthermore,  she claimed at trial on November 23rd, 1863, that she stayed "...part of the time in camp, and part of the time at a boarding house."


When Captain Hamilton called for volunteers to go to Lebanon, Kentucky for a scouting mission, Jane accepted."  Lieutenant Colonel Israel N. Stiles of the 62nd Indiana Infantry and commander of the post at Lebanon testified that Hamilton supplied her with male clothing, a horse, and equipment with directions to acquire knowledge of troop positions, strength, and other information at Glasgow, Columbia, and Lebanon.   She was to join regiments at the posts if necessary and to report back as soon as possible.

From Fold3

However, Ferguson apparently had a change of heart as soon as she crossed the Cumberland River.  Claiming Unionist sympathies and a desire to escape her abusive husband, she enlisted in the 13th Kentucky Cavalry (US) "....through a general ignorance of how to act....and a desire of safety...."  Her husband was Isaac Ferguson who, according to Jane, only married her for the money she had saved up and that his treatment of her was "unbearable."  She said that he was full aware of her Unionist sympathies but allowed her to go on the mission nevertheless because he believed her to be too afraid to go against him.  He apparently had a mean streak,  his ruthless behavior perhaps attributed to him being the cousin of guerrilla leader Champ Ferguson who was executed in 1865.

Champ Ferguson; from Wikipedia

As soon as Jane enlisted in the 13th Kentucky, she warned the Federals of a  possible attack.  And after her true identity was discovered, she fully confessed that she was sent as a spy but never intended on returning to the Confederates.  Ferguson claimed that her mission was "repugnant" and that she was "...innocent of any evil intention."  She merely "....embraced the opportunity to escape."

She also provided the names and aliases of other women Captain Hamilton sent out as spies.

In order to validate her Unionist sympathies, Privates Elisha Keaton and Samuel Jeans, both of the 13th Kentucky Cavalry (US), testified to knowing her for approximately a year and that she was always a "....good Union woman....."



Regardless, Ferguson was convicted of espionage and sentenced to hang.

However, the case was reviewed due to the claim that.....

...evidence would hardly seem to warrant the finding of the court the conviction evidently resulting from the prisoner's own confession, which confession should be taken as a whole to warrant the finding and this it does not do, for a portion of this confession was, that, although coming through our lines by direction of a rebel captain under pretense of obtaining news; she never intended returning-her only object being to get away from a husband whom she loathed.

Two months after the trial, Brigadier General Stephen Burbridge  recommended that the death penalty be dropped.  Eight months later in October 1864, Major General John Schofield agreed and ordered Jane Ferguson released.   The reason for the delay is unknown.  One also must wonder whether Ferguson was a true Union woman as she claimed or if she would have returned to Captain Hamilton with her information had she not been captured. 

Jane Ferguson became lost to history after her trial.  She probably moved as far away from the characters of this story as she could....or at least she should have.  Who could have blamed her after escaping the fate of becoming the first woman executed by the Federal government?

Sources:   
They Fought Like Demons, Blanton and Cook, p. 125-126

Letters Received by the Adjutant General, Main Series, 1861-1870, M619, National Archives, retrieved from Fold3 7/4/15

Confederate Heroines:  120 Southern Women Convicted by Union Military Justice, Thomas Power Lowry, p. 147-150
(I think it's ironic that the story of Jane Ferguson is included in a book about Confederate heroines considering that she claimed to have Unionist sympathies, turned on the Confederacy by supplying the Federals with information, and ratted out her fellow Confederate female spies!)

Until next formation.....rest.


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