Below is an article, that may tie in someone's surnames. Most of the surnames I'm searching in Lauderdale Co., AL is Sharp, Wood, Lindsey, Murphy, Milford, Lamb, Thompson, White, Hardin Co., TN is Cossey, Austin, Qualls/Quarles, Lamb, Lard, Freshour, White, Thompson, Lindsey, Rainey Wayne Co., TN is White, Thompson, Lindsey, Rainey, Freshour, Sharp, Qualls, Austin. Working in the area where Hardin Co., and Wayne Co., TN join to Lauderdale Co., AL. In the article below, Hubbard Cossey is my 3great-grandfather, son of Luke Cossey who was in Hardin Co., TN in the 1830 Census. Also, Monroe Cossey was the son of Hubbard. I haven't figured out 'which' Tom and Luke the article talks about, as there were several kids named after uncles, ect. Richard Lard was my 4great-grandfather, and his daughter Cynthia Rebecca Lard, married Augustus Austin, great-grandson of Stephen Austin who married Dorcas Pinson. This Stephen is the grandfather of the Stephen mentioned in the article. My ties in Hardin Co., TN are around the Walnut Grove and Hollands Creek area, and in the Waterloo, Wright, Gravely Springs, Bitter Branch and Lindsey Branch in Lauderdale Co., AL. Also with the lower Southwestern corner of Wayne Co., TN. My database is over 70,000 names in these and other areas. Please visit my genealogy website at http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Prairie/7578 and browse my GenMaster Series. There are over 5,000+ names there from my database, and many outdated. I never seem to catch up! Debbie Cossey Wasserburger Huntsville, AL Other than correcting spelling, this article is copied as written. I guess it was written in the Tennessee Homecoming '86, as this copy of the article was given to me by a 4th cousin. __________________________________________________ Hardin County’s heritage: The Bert Hays Story by Tony Hays During the first tragic months of the Civil War, the nation’s attention was focused on Hardin County. The Battle of Shiloh thrust an unwanted prominence on this small, rural county. Within a couple of months, however, the nation’s eyes turned elsewhere as the massive armies of blue and gray moved to other killing grounds, leaving Hardin County as a tidal inlet in the ocean of war which soon flooded the country. As with most counties in the boarder states, the people of Hardin County were soon faced with a new, and certainly more horrible, form of warfare - the onslaught of the bushwhackers. The severity of the problem soon became evident to them as the armies of both sides scavenged the land taking any and everything of value. But these were soldiers; answerable to some legal authority. The danger of lawless renegades would prove to be even more real and even more bloody. The first and foremost of the guerrillas in the Hardin County area was W. Bertram Hays, a twenty-six year old cavalry captain born in Wayne County. Hays was the son of Wallace Hays, a wealthy Wayne County planter. Among his family were sisters Amanda, Abigail, Paralee, and Margaret. Bert’s grandfather, John Hays, came to Tennessee from North Carolina during the first half of the 19th century. Lawson, Bert’s brother, was eight years older than the future guerrilla; and Bert appears to be the youngest male in the family. By 1860, the Hays family had moved to Hardin County. Some sources say that Bert was a successful planter in the Mississippi area at the start of the war. But, a survey of the 1860 census of Hardin County shows Bert and his wife, Terresee E., and their children Mary M. and Leander V. living not far from Bert’s father, Wallace. At this same time, Lawson was serving as a deputy marshal at Savannah. Wallace had a large farm and appears to have been a prosperous farmer. By the start of the war, Wallace’s household had swindled to himself, wife Lucinda, and Abigail, Margaret and Paralee. When the war began, Lawson and Bert joined a local Confederate Cavalry Regiment. He was enrolled as a private, but when the company held their election for officers Bert was selected as Captain. In the ensuing period, Bert served honorably and was singled out for a commendation for valor at Brice’s Crossroads. The next episode in Hay’s story is best told by Wade Pruitt in his book The Bugger Saga. According to Pruitt, shortly after Hay’s participation in the battle at Brice’s Crossroads... “This whole company disappeared from the regiment...What happened we do not know. Whether Hays’ company was order on a private scout and went bad, or whether Hays led the whole company into desertion we may never know. Hays during the last year of the war was operating around Waterloo which was a twilight zone in which there were maneuvering of all kinds of spies and those skilled in espionage, the best known being Capt. S. P. Emerson, Co. B, 6th Kentucky Cavalry, C.S.A., who was one of those characters that floated about Gen. John Hunt Morgan during the war.” In early 1864, Hays established his headquarters in the Cypress Creeks are of Lauderdale County, Ala. Using this as a staging ground, he launched uncounted raids into Hardin, Wayne, and Lawrence counties. Bert maintained at least superficial ties with the Confederate Army assisting Capt. Emerson, mentioned above, in breaking up a desertion ring in the Waterloo area. For the most part, however, Hays seems to have been involved in less honorable activities. The soldiers of the 2nd Regiment Tennessee Mounted Infantry at Clifton were especially troublesome to Hays. Practically in his backyard, Hay’s initial raids were directed against the families of these troopers. The Emerson brothers, John, Tom, and George were captured and killed about seven miles south of Savannah on the river by Hays. Samuel Martin, the commanding officer of Company B of the regiment, was killed close to his cabin under suspicious circumstances. This could have been Hays’ doing as well. Within a short while, Hays became one of the most notorious guerrillas operating in the Tennessee River area. A list of these renegades was forwarded to Washington and Hays’ name appears along with several others. Interestingly enough, three women were included on that list for passing information to the Confederate guerrillas. Lucy Lancaster of Saltillo was one of these. The people of Hardin County soon learned to dread the name of Bertram Hays. It is not known how Wallace and his family were treated in the wake of his son’s activities, but certainly there must have been a great deal of hate and ostracism. Several rapes and murders were ascribed to Hays and his men. Alabamians Tom, John, and Leroy Huggins are said to have been three of Bert’s henchmen. The Ross family of Horse Creek had good cause to hate the Hays gang. During April of 1864, sixty-two year old Morgan Ross, who had just returned from a trip to Mississippi, was shot by two of Hays’ men while he struggled with Hays himself. One of the most violent exchanges, according to tradition, occurred on Holland’s Creed between Hays and several Union soldiers home on leave. The “Battle” of Holland’s Creek began when Hays and his men first stopped at the home of thirty-six year old Richard Lard. Finding no one at home, they moved on to the homeplace of Stephen Austin. Austin, 54, was crippled with rheumatism, but Hays proceeded to administer a pistol-whipping. Nancy Lard, Austin’s daughter who had come over to help with the cooking, slipped out a back door and alerted the people along Holland’s Creek of their predicament. A number of Union soldiers, Tom and Luke Cossey among them, were home visiting and rushed to the aid of their neighbors. The Cosseys had a special reason to get Hays. Their kinsman, Monroe Cossey allegedly the son of Hubbard Cossey, had been forced to guide the guerrilla band to the Pinhook Road one night. On delivering the gang to the appointed sight, young Cossey was shot in the back by Hays as he started back home. The battle was joined. It became a running fight up and down Holland’s creek that morning. One account states that ten men were killed before the shooting ended. One famous cutthroat is known to have fought on hays’ side in this battle. Tobe Thornton was later hanged in Savannah for the murder of a prominent businessman. Among the others said to have been killed by Bert Hays were “One-Eyed” Martin Hardin, Roan Porter Sr., and 55 year old John Falls. Naturally, the tales of murder grow with the telling. One story has it that Hays abused and killed a woman as her baby lay sleeping. When the child finally awoke, Hays killed it too saying, “I never liked babies, anyway.” The war ended and so, it seems, did Bert Hays’ reign of terror in Hardin County. Stories of his death are many and the true story will probably never be known. Some say the Dave Thomas, one of Hays’ own men, shot him during an argument. Another, and possibly more truthful story according to Wade Pruitt, is that Hays was killed while crossing the Tennessee River by a band of people he had antagonized during the war. His family stayed in Hardin County for some years after the war and appears to have remained relatively unmolested. Lawson, Bert’s brother, died in the late 1860’s. Wallace, his father, didn’t pass away until about 1880. War causes men to do things they would never have done otherwise. Some say that there is evil in all men, but it requires evil times for it to emerge. None would argue that the Civil War produced some of the worst times in history. And none would argue that to the citizens of Hardin, dealing with Captain W. Bertram Hays was a very real and frightening possibility as the War Between the States drew slowly to a close. _________________