The Long-Haired Red-Bearded Beast of Georgia: John Pemberton Gatewood

·22 min·2 clips

John Gatewood bashed prisoners' heads in with a rock when his unit ran low on ammunition.

The episode begins with host Steve Gilly introducing John P. Gatewood, a little-known figure from Fentress County, Tennessee, noting that only one book and a chapter in another document his life. Gatewood was born around 1844-1845 to a family of former Tidewater plantation owners from Virginia. At 16, he joined the Confederate military under a lawyer from Fentress County but went AWOL after discovering Union soldiers had sexually assaulted his sister. This event triggered his violent turn, leading him to join Champ Ferguson's guerrilla unit. The hosts describe an incident where Gatewood used a rock to bash prisoners' heads in when ammunition was scarce. He later formed his own bushwhacker group, operating around Chattanooga and North Georgia, where he gained a reputation as 'the long-haired red-bearded beast of Georgia.' Gatewood targeted Union sympathizers, shooting them in the face, and was involved in the Madden Branch Massacre in 1864, where his men killed five men heading to enlist in the Union Army. Despite his brutality, he performed a heroic act by freeing cattle stolen by Union soldiers in Alabama, making him a local hero but a wanted man. As the war ended, Gatewood fled west, possibly to Mexico, and later resurfaced in Texas under an assumed name, working on his brother's cattle ranch and engaging in cattle rustling. He married Mary, had a daughter named Emma, but his relationships were tumultuous, leading to divorce. His fate is unclear, with stories of him dying in California in 1875 or living into the 20th century. The hosts note the scarcity of records and compare Gatewood to other figures like Martin Van Buren Bates. In the latter part, Steve mentions another mystery: Patrick Hagan and the High Knob Hotel in Virginia, which burned down in the 1920s or 1930s, and asks listeners for information. The episode concludes with reflections on the brutality of civil wars and the limits of human cruelty.

As heard by us

John Gatewood's story holds together through cattle drives, family traces, and an ending that never quite resolves.

Stories of Appalachia treats John P. Gatewood as a figure shaped as much by gaps as by action: a Fentress County man remembered as a Confederate bushwhacker or guerrilla who had ridden with Champ Ferguson.

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Why you'd press play

You get a Fentress County Confederate guerrilla, Union stockyard cattle, and an ending that still will not sit still.

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