Daniel Ellis ( Unionist ) Daniel Ellis ( December 30 , 1827 – January 6 , 1908 ) was a captain in the Union Army during the American Civil War . Early life and career . Ellis was born in Carter County in northeastern Tennessee . With a rudimentary education , Ellis was a farmer and wagonmaker until volunteering for service in the Mexican - American War , serving in Company K , 5th Regular Tennessee Volunteer Infantry . Most of his war service was spent battling the " intestine foe " which would plague him for the rest of his life , ultimately leading to his death . He returned home from Mexico to regain his health and resume his expectedly ordinary life . Ellis married Martha May of Sussex County , Virginia , with whom he had seven children between 1852 and 1866 . Civil War . The Civil War found East Tennessee strongly divided in its loyalties with many citizens — like Ellis — favoring the Union . When Tennessee seceded , Confederate troops were sent in to control Union sympathizers . Ellis became involved in a failed plan to burn railroad bridges to precipitate an invasion by Union forces . Branded a bridge burner , a capital offense , Ellis lived in exile in the east Tennessee mountains . He eventually became a pilot , leading Unionists , Confederate deserters , prison escapees , slaves , and all manner of fugitives through the mountains into Kentucky or wherever the Union lines would advance . At the same time Ellis recruited for several regiments , provided information on Confederate activities to federal authorities , and maintained a mail service between mountain Unionists and their men in the Union army . Possibly the most successful of all such pilots , and despite a bounty on his head , Ellis always ( often narrowly ) escaped capture , and became known as " The Old Red Fox " . War in the mountains was a brutal , bloody , often lawless affair , and the likelihood for the survival of Ellis and his family was enhanced by his reputation for extraordinary viciousness when crossed . Armed with the best weapons his contacts could secure , Ellis and his band of guerillas proved a formidable force . In all , Ellis made 20 expeditions , covering 8000 miles , leading approximately 4000 fugitives through the mountains . Over half of these joined the Union army . Ellis was a constant aggravation to Confederate authorities , and contributed incalculably to the morale of the beleaguered Unionist east Tennesseans . As the war waned and his piloting duties were less in demand , he formally joined the Union army as captain of Company A , 13th Regiment , Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry . His official duties included leading raids against Confederates in northeast Tennessee counties , guiding federal troops through the northwestern North Carolina mountains , and tracking and arresting federal soldiers who were deserters . Ellis mustered out of service in September 1865 . Later life . After the war , trying to eke out a living in the war - savaged mountains and often the victim of his own altruistic nature , Ellis petitioned the U . S . Congress for compensation for his efforts on behalf of the Union . He was recognized with an award of $ 3 , 060 — about two years ' pay and allowances for an army captain . In 1867 Ellis first published his war memoirs , " Thrilling Adventures of Daniel Ellis " . Ellis was probably assisted in writing the book by William R . Fitzsimmons , who was a prominent East Tennessee newspaperman , and whose name appears as " part - proprietor " on Ellis ' contract with the publisher , Harper & Brothers ( for an examination of Ellis ' authorship of " Thrilling Adventures " , see Ellis , Allen . " The Lost Adventures of Daniel Ellis . " in " The Journal of East Tennessee History " no . 74 ( 2002 ) , pp . 58 – 68 ) . Despite the popularity of his book , and partly because of his tendency to give copies away , Ellis remained in poor financial straits . In 1878 Ellis was chosen , by virtue of his reputation for integrity and courage , to act as bodyguard in the congressional campaign of Robert Love Taylor . Taylor rewarded Ellis with a position within the U . S . House of Representatives . Years later , writer James R . Gilmore ( " Edmund Kirke " ) was shocked to find Ellis , whom he considered " the hero of the late war " living in obscurity and poverty in the east Tennessee mountains . Gilmore worked to provide more government compensation for the old scout , and used him as a supporting character in one of his novels , " A Mountain - White Heroine " ( 1889 ) . Due to continued Confederate loyalties in the east Tennessee region , the nature of Ellis ' wartime activities , and to reactions toward his vitriolic book , Ellis ' life was threatened for years after the war . As long as he was able , he was compelled to travel well - armed and always on the alert . Nonetheless , Ellis lived into old age , always preferring to walk when possible , recounting his exploits , and enjoying a measure of local celebrity . Ellis is buried in the family cemetery near Elizabethton , Tennessee . Influence Today . Today Ellis is hardly remembered outside of Carter County with his legacy perhaps swept up in a healing repression of the horrors , cruelty , and upheaval of the Civil War in the Appalachian mountains . However , his writings seem to be emerging from obscurity as the Civil War experience of the Appalachian south gains more attention from historians . " Thrilling Adventures of Daniel Ellis " remains in print and , despite its narrative excesses , is largely regarded as an invaluable , if highly partisan , accounting of conditions in wartime Appalachia . Some modern critics feel Ellis exaggerates his own role ; Ellis ' contemporaries maintain that he was too modest to adequately convey his war record . The wartime tales of Ellis have also made some recent inroads into popular culture : " Thrilling Adventures " was used as a source ( and inspired a scene or two ) by Charles Frazier for his celebrated novel , " Cold Mountain " , which was later adapted into a major motion picture released in 2003 . External links . For more information , see the web page , " Captain Daniel Ellis , The Old Red Fox of East Tennessee , 1827 – 1908 " , at