I am the great great great grandson of Sam Hildebrand. Sam's grandson Abe was my great grandfather. http://carrollscorner.net/SAM_HILDEBRAND1.htm Somehow along the way the spelling of our name got slightly changed. I firmly believe that is an actual photo of Sam as there is a strong resemblance to my father and my grandfather. I can't say if Abe resembled him since my only memory of Abe was attending his visitation service in 1977.
This part of my family history really interests me and the small amount of research I've done so far is confusing. Some articles I've read label him as a cold blooded killer but others describe him as a Major in the Confederate army that took a special interest in the confederate cause, because of what the Union army did to his family. My question is: if he had committed the same war crimes while fighting for the Union would he still have been called an outlaw or a war hero? I realize some of the crimes I saw listed were not exactly war crimes;but did he really do those crimes? Were they just assumed on him because of the "outlaw" status?
I can't make a judgement either way with the information I have. I'm just writing to hear other peoples opinions and possibly hear more information that I may not have heard.

Greg Hilderbrand