Sid Cook's Guerrillas
Since the end of the Civil War many stories have been written about loosely organized Confederate units known as "guerrillas.
These organizations were at best independent companies of Confederate cavalry, and at worst, bands of robbers and murderers
who attacked sympathizers of both sides indiscriminately. However, most guerrilla outfits seem to have fallen somewhere in the middle, containing a peculiar mixture of regular Confederate soldiers and ruthless criminals.
One such organization, which operated in Eastern Kentucky, was Company G of the 7th Confederate Cavalry, also known as "Sid Cook's Guerrillas".
At the outset most of the men who rode with Sid Cook enlisted as regular Confederate soldiers.
In October 1862, those who had enlisted for 12 months came home to find their local governments taken over by Union sympathizers and their counties occcupied by enemy troops. In order to protect their homes and families from harassment, local groups, or home guards, were formed.
In Johnson County these groups sprang up in the Flat Gap area and on Greasy Creek.
Loosely organized and not recognized by Confederate authorities, they resorted to raids on local Union-owned stores for supplies.
One such raid is described in Johnson County Circuit Court Case # 1500.
"Sometime in the fall (October) of 1862 Henry Jayne and Daniel Jayne, Marion Lyon and Reason Lyon in company with others (William W. Jayne, Henry Sparks, Henry Colvin, Lindsey Thompson, John May Hamilton, John Ficklin, Mason Johnson, and John T. Williams)...took dry goods, calicos, factory hats and shoes. They also took grocerys at that one time amounting to forty dollars or more. These articles was taken from the Store of William Davis in Johnson County."
Several depositions listed William W. Jayne as the leader of these Flat Gap "guards". Jayne had been a private in Company B of the 1st Battalion of Kentucky Mounted Rifles and was taken prisoner at the Battle of Jenny's Creek. Eight of his men were veterans of the 5th Kentucky Infantry, six from Company K, one from Company A, and one from Company H.
After the October raid the guards temporarily disbanded with most of the participants re-enlisting in regular Confederate units such as Field's Company of Kentucky Partisans and Williams' Company A, 2nd Kentucky Mounted Rifles.
However, by the Spring of 1863 Union forces were in the process of invading East Tennessee and threatened southwestern Virginia.
All available troops, including Field's and and Williams' men, were kept on duty in Virginia.
In March of 1863 Dave and Sid Cook organized a small independent company in present-day Elliott Co., KY and carried out a series of raids. The groupd quickly developed a rather rough reputation through their treatment of Union sympathizers.
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Raid on Preston Pettit, a Rowan County Union Homeguard, in which Pettit is shot and killed.
Meanwhile, trouble kept brewing in Virginia.
For most of the Eastern Kentuckians service in Virginia was particularly distasteful. From the outset of hostilities a great deal of animosity developed between the Virginians and Kentuckians in the Confederate service, which from time to time erupted into violent confrontations. As did the Virginians, the Kentuckians wanted to fight for their home state, and only for their home state. Therefore, many of Field's and Williams' men left Virginia and returned home.
Lt. Col. Oliver Patton commissioned to raise a squadron of partisan rangers. As captains he chose Samuel W. Thompson, and Sid and Dave Cook.
July and August 1863: At least nine raids by "Patton's Partisan Rangers" in Morgan, Johnson, Carter and Lawrence Counties.
- July 1863: A night time raid on the store of William Davis, in Johnson Co., KY
- Late July 1863: Raid on Olive Hill
- August 15, 1863: Col. Patton captured at West Liberty by scouts from Co. I, 14th KY INF, US
- August 28, 1863: Patton escaped from McLean Barracks and participated on two more raids as commander of "Patton's Rangers".
- September 2, 1863: Cook and his men robbed the bank and citizens in Flemingsburg, KY
- September 1863: Bank robbed at Ashland, KY; skirmish with home guards near Catlettsburg
- October 8, 1863: Patton was re-captured at Hampton's Mills, KY, by a detachment of the 5th Batt. OH CAV, which left Sid Cook in command of the unit.
- October 1863: "Cook's Guerrillas" raided the Olive Hill area in Carter Co., KY
- October 11, 1863 Raid in Greeenup Co., KY. Three of Cook's men captured and sent to Louisville
- Around November, 1863: "Cook's Guerrillas" affiliated with Lt. Colonel Clarence Prentice's 7th Confederate Cavalry as Co. G.
- November 10, 1863: Three of Cook's men arrested in Morgan Co., KY.
- Ca. November 10, 1863: Sid Cook shot Dave Cook during an argument. As a result of the altercation, several men leave Cook's unit.
- November 15, 1863: Stephen Keaton arrested in Morgan Co., KY
- November 18, 1863:
Dave Cook was arrested by a Federal patrol and died in prison.
- January 1864: Sid Cook and the Morgan County contingent had their base in the Elkfork section of the county. Union sympathizers were terrorized.
- February 2, 1864: Ed Brown, ex-Confederate soldier and leader of the Union Home Guard, intercepted Cook at the home of John Cantrell. Brown's men surrounded the house and captured at least four of Cook's men but the rest of the company managed to escape through a hail of bullets.
- March 6, 1864: John May Hamilton arrested in Johnson County, KY. He was sent to Lexington, charged with murder and executed without the benefit of a trial on August 15, 1864 at Bloomfield, KY, in retaliation for the killing of a home guard by guerrillas.
- Late March 1864: Mason Johnson apprehended by a Union patrol but exchanged on May 17, 1864.
- July 1864: Cook carried out a daring five day raid through Lawrence and Johnson Counties
- July 11, 1864: Two Union men taken prisoner; raid on a store in Lawrence Co., KY.
- Meeting of Cook's men near the mouth of Jenny's Creek, Johnson, Co., KY. Several Union men in the area are taken prisoner.
- Cook raided Paintsville and robbed the Border store. He left Paintsville, rode through Flat Gap, where the loot was divided among Cook's men. They continued on over onto Blaine and up Blaine to the head of Elkfork of Licking in Morgan Co., KY.
- July 25, 1864: The local Union militia finally caught up with Cook's outfit 7 miles from West Liberty. Several of Cook's men were taken prisoner during the ensueing skirmish.
- "Sid" Cook and several of his company retreated to Castlewoods, Russell Co., VA. and virtually took over the town, terrorizing the residents. They brought a number of prostitutes with them and established one or more brothels. See Reports from the OR
- January 1865: Several Castlewood residents were plundered by Cook's men to pay the girls and a mob was formed to burn down the brothels. Cook apparently tried to face down the mob and was killed by a Confederate soldier named Cleve Boyd.
A company of the 4th KY CAV, CSA, had to be sent in to restore order in the town. Cook's unit, now numbering less than 20 men, disbanded and at least six of the members finished their Confederate service in regular units.
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