Alf Killen, USA
Alf Killen was the son of John Killen and Betsy Stack, who was rumored to be a half-Cherokee Indian from Northern Georgia.
Killens family originally lived in Ashe County (present-day Alleghany County), North Carolina, on Killen's Creek near Sparta, before moving to the Cumberlands in 1853.
The family settled in the New River Valley, which is now part of Dickenson County, Virginia.
Alf Killen and his wife Lucy Whitaker and their seven children settled on a small tract of land on Cane Creek, in what was then Russell County.
Killen was regarded as a very bitter and mentally unbalanced man during the war.
Its is likely that the sectional strife and being forced to join the Virginia State Line caused his bitterness. His brief association with this unit intimately acquainted him with many of his Southern enemies who also served under Colonel Nathaniel McClure Menifee and General John Buchanan Floyd.
Called into Eastern Kentucky by Colonel George W. Gallup, 14th KY, and also commander of the Eastern Kentucky Military District, Killen's mission was to organize a Union home guard for the area.
Various records indicate that Alf Killen's unit was officially known as Company F, or Company K, 39th Kentucky Mounted Infantry.
George Washington Fleming recalled that Killen and his men "just went around and picked up recruits anywhere they could find any." His orders to the recruits was short and to the point, "You got to come and go with us." Most men were afraid of him, and joined his command to avoid getting hurt.
During the war, Killen and his band of "homeguards" made their base of operation in Pike County, Kentucky.
Considered reckless lawbreakers Killen's band, according to a contemporary source, "was the cause of many cowardly and inhuman acts and stole everything they could."
Killen's chief adversary, the Kentuckian Colonel Prentice, operated in the neighboring southwestern part of Virginia.
Prentice became very annoyed with Killen as the war gradually turned in favor of the Union and Killen felt he could add Prentice's territory to his own.
Prentice and his men, who operated a brothel at Castlewood, was not very popular with the population there, yet Killen was regarded by the Southern sympathizing majority as worse.
Killed Ben Wright...
Killen survived the Battle of Cranesnest but met his death more than likely on Big Mud Creek in Floyd County, Kentucky.
In the year 1863 Homeguards headed by Alf Killen and Joel "Dusty Pants" Long raided the farm of Tandy Branham and stole a saddle horse. When Branham found out he followed the men and was shot and killed. Branham was liked by both Union and Confederate soldiers; it is said that both armies co-operated in seeking his revenge.
In any case, Killen's squad of homeguards was met at Big Mud Creek by a group of Confederates and during the ensueing battle Killen was killed and Branham's death revenged.
Another account says Killen was killed on Elkhorn Creek in Pike County, Kentucky.
SOURCES
"The Civil War in Buchanan and Wise Counties - Bushwackers' Paradise", by Jeff Weaver
Highland Echo, Vol. 11, March 1993, No. 40
Highland Echo, Vol. 12, March 1994, No. 44