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DAVID F SWANGO
In
the Red River region a fourth company was in the process of formation. ,
Commanded
by Captain David F. Swango, a member of one of Wolfe County's
leading
pro-Confederate clans and veteran of the old 5th, the new company tributary of
consisted
of several men enrolled in the fall of 1862, just after the reorganization
of
the 5th Kentucky Infantry at Hazel Green. Hunted by detachments of the
Union
Colonel 14th Kentucky Union Cavalry, Swango's volunteers were also engaged in
deadly
struggle with Wolfe County Unionist home guards.
Captain
Diamond was camped near Hazel Green on January 18,
when
a messenger brought an urgent call for help from Henry Chapman Swango. The uncle
of the aforementioned Captain David Swango, Chapman had
abandoned
his plans to join May and enlisted in Captain John Bradshaw's
company
of the 2nd Battalion of Kentucky Mounted Rifles. The elder Swango
had
learned that John Moore, a notorious Unionist home guard was present with
his
men with several followers at his home on Devils Creek near Campton.
According
to an account collected by WPA volunteers some eighty years
later,
Swango and a detachment from the 2nd Mounted Rifles surrounded the
Moore
cabin while the Unionists were celebrating a wedding. The rebel leader
boldly
approached the cabin door and ordered Moore to surrender. The home
guards
opened fire and in the sharp fighting that followed both Moore and
Swango
were killed. Driven off by the cornered Unionists, the rebels were
forced
to leave Swango's body sprawled on the front porch.
Upon
learning of Swango's death, Diamond gathered his men and attacked
the
Moore cabin on January 19th. The skirmish immediately became a deadly
struggle
for the possession of Swango's body. Sergeant James W. McFaul fell
seriously
wounded with a gunshot wound through both hips. Tradition states that
Diamond
himself and Robert Snodgrass, a member of the 2nd Rifles, were also
slightly
wounded. The same source states that the home guards were finally
driven
off, leaving two more of their number, Billy Moore and Hiram Baker,
dead
on the field.
Diamond
subsequently reported that his men killed one Unionist, wounded
two
more and captured a horse. Whatever the facts may be, the Devils Creek
fight
was a brutal affair that symbolized the deadly, interfamily feud-like aspect
of
the war in the mountains. The same WPA account states that a woman,
Martha
Moore, was also among those killed that day.
Diamond
did not tarry long in Wolfe County. By February I, 1863, Guer-
rant
reported in his diary that "Capt. Geo. Diamond [is] here [in Virginia] from
Kentucky."
He had just missed Captain May because two days earlier Guerrant
1's
company pushed noted that "Jack May [has] gone down to fight John Dils[and
the 39th Kentucky Union Infantry] at the mouth of George's Creek" in
Lawrence County, Kentucky. Less than a month after he entered Kentucky, Captain
May now felt
strong
enough to attack Dils' camp at Peach Orchard, even with only a portion
of
his command. May's men were already locked in a deadly rivalry with the
39th
that would last for the rest of the war. Composed of Kentucky and Virginia
mountaineers,
the rival commands represented the opposing forces and ideals
that
divided the people of the Big Sandy Valley.
My cousins and I have worked over five years, and have published a book, The Swango Family, 2002. My cousin, Tutt Lambert, wrote a chapter in it about 19 soldiers named Swango who were in the Civil War. Nine of them were Confederate and 10 Union--from Indiana mostly.--the Union, I mean.
webmaster@civilwar.morganco.freeservers.com
Let Us Pray Our For Troops In Foreign Lands
The Civil War in Morgan County 2003
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