Lieutenant Colonel Fielding Hurst, 6th Tennessee Union Cavalry, hailed from that part of the Western District known as "The Nation." The Hurst Nation. A land settled by great tribes of the Hurst family and their related lines from Bethel Springs in McNairy County to Chickasaw State Park in Chester and Hardeman Counties.

When the price of human misery and destruction is subtracted from war, little is actually left of the glory we so often admire in battle. It is true, however, that there are some who have tarnished the art of warfare more thoroughly than others. The Romans had Attila the Hun. Northwestern Europe, the Vikings. Men who made war, not on armies, but people. Women, children, helpless old men and cripples - buildings and works of architecture burned for no purpose but that of mindless destruction. Georgia and the Carolinas may whine of Sherman. Missouri of the Kansas Redlegs . . .but old families in West Tennessee spit forth one invective-like acid from a shattered battery - Hurst!

Afterwards, having sided with scalawags and carpetbaggers, Fielding was appointed Circuit Judge by Governor Brownlow over Purdy, Lexington and various other spots outside the "Nation." One of the first public references to the "Nation" occured during this time. For a next day trial, Hurst ordered Sheriff Mitchell "to go back into the 'Nation' and bring back 25 men to serve as jurors." This happened regularly to ensure a guilty verdict against unreconstructed rebels in areas beyond the "Nation."