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The 19th century American antiquarian, Lyman Copeland Draper, collected many anecdotes regarding Pattie Ferguson for his 1881 book, King's Mountain and Its Heroes (the majority of whom, it goes without saying, are Rebels...).

One anecdote about Pattie concerns Mrs. Lytle, a Rebel Captain's wife in Burke County, who wore her best beaver hat when the dashing young officer came to call. Unable to persuade her to influence her husband to support the Loyalists, the officer complimented her on her appearance, and even for her "zeal in a bad cause." He assured her that her husband would "not be asked to compromise his honor; his verbal pledge not again to take up arms against the King is all that will be asked of him." Charmed, she watched him ride away, followed by his troops -- one of whom made a mocking bow and snatched her prized hat from her head, replacing it with his own one.

Draper received the story from Col. Silas McDowell of Macon County, NC, in 1873-4, who in turn had heard it from Mrs. Lytle herself, who died c. 1823. But with one significant difference, which he mentions in the footnote:

McDowell had told him it was Ban Tarleton, NOT Ferguson, who had called on Mrs. Lytle. Draper claimed that the geography made it impossible it should have been Ban; and given that he habitually berates Ban for his "savage character" and trots out the "boast" of ravishing more women, & c., he probably also could not bring himself to attribute chivalric behaviour to him.

So which of them was it?

The jury is still out...