Alan, I've had some help digging through the ADAH material and found a lot there that was useful. The Bill Sketoe hanging was actually one of a series carried out in December of 1864 and the real facts of the story bear little resemblance to the legend. I was also fascinated to find that the traditional story of the burning of the Elba Courthouse and subsequent battle with Ward's Raiders differs significantly from the real events. Even the year is wrong in the traditional accounts. There were actually two attacks on Elba, not one, and neither took place in 1863 (the year assigned by local legend and most local histories). The courthouse was burned in one attack and the battle with Ward's men took place following a completely different incident. Over time the events were somehow combined into a single story and assigned to the wrong year.

There was an amazing amount of activity going on in the Wiregrass region in 1863-1865 and much of it seems to have been better organized than traditionally thought. It has definitely made for a fascinating research project!

Dale