Free Republic
Browse · Search
VetsCoR
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Morgan's Raid (July, 1863) - Jan. 15th, 2004
"Lexington" ^ | 1975 | Mary Wilson and Sharon Y. Asher

Posted on 01/15/2004 12:01:10 AM PST by SAMWolf



Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.


...................................................................................... ...........................................

U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues

Where Duty, Honor and Country
are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.

Our Mission:

The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans.

In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support.

The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer.

If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions.

We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.

To read previous Foxhole threads or
to add the Foxhole to your sidebar,
click on the books below.

Morgan’s Raid
in
Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio
(July 1863)


One of the most interesting phases of the Civil War was the well-known raid conducted by General John Hunt Morgan through Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana in the summer of 1863. This daringly executed foray deep into enemy territory was strictly a nuisance, and little more, for it did not help the Southern cause to any significance. However, the few days the raid lasted it caused a great deal of excitement and considerable inconvenience to the people of Southern Indiana.


Morgan's Raid, July 2-16, 1863


Local interest in this spectacular raid lies in the fact that Morgan and his men traversed Scott County from west to east over the route of the old historic Cincinnati Trace (then called the Lexington-Salem State Road), and that he and his men spent one of the four nights they camped in Indiana in Lexington, then the county seat of Scott County.

Further interest is derived from the fact that General Morgan and the Morgan family of Scott County are related. One of Scott County's pioneers, David Morgan -- father of Nathan R. Morgan, came to the county in 1820 from Bourbon County, Kentucky. Although the exact relationship between the two families has not as yet been established, David Morgan was probably a first cousin of Calvin C. Morgan, father of John Hunt Morgan, and both were grandsons of Gideon Morgan (died 1830) who emigrated from New Jersey to Virginia sometime before the Revolutionary War and who was a kinsman of General Daniel Morgan (1736-1802) of Revolutionary War fame. It is said that when General Morgan and his Raiders came through Scott County he sent word to his Indiana kinfolks that he wished to visit them while in the County, but was prevented from doing so by the exigencies of war!


General John Hunt Morgan, CSA


John Hunt Morgan, son of Calvin and Henrietta Hunt, was born June 1, 1825 in Huntsville, Alabama from whence his father and his grandfather, Luther Morgan, had emigrated from Virginia. When he was three years old, his father moved to his mother's home town of Lexington, Kentucky where he grew up. In the war against Mexico he served as a First Lieutenant in a cavalry regiment.

Following this, he engaged in manufacturing in Lexington, Kentucky and became quite wealthy. His home can still be seen there.

At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 he and his four brothers--Calvin, Charlton, Richard and Thomas, joined the Confederate Army. His two sisters were married to Confederate generals--Ditty to General A. P. Hill and Henrietta to General Basil W. Duke, who accompanied his brother-in-law on his famous raid and later wrote his authoritative History of Morgan's Cavalry.

In 1862, following the Battle of Shiloh, John Hunt Morgan was made a Colonel and still later a General.


MATTIE READY and JOHN HUNT MORGAN
Shortly before Christmas of 1862 Morgan, 37, married Mattie Ready, 17, in Murfreesboro, TN. Several days after the wedding Morgan and his cavalry set out on a raid north of the Cumberland River. Wilder and his men were sent in persuit--on foot! Both brigades would miss each other, and the battle of Stones River.


His men, collectively and in detached bands, became famous for partisan warfare throughout Kentucky and Tennessee, raiding towns, robbing trains, destroying railroad property and committing deeds of violence amounting to highway robbery, except so far as excused by the state of war.

Morgan's famous raid through Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio was probably done with the deliberate intent of creating a diversion from the movement of General Braxton Bragg and his troops from Tullahoma to Chattanooga, Tennessee. However, Morgan disobeyed Bragg's (1817-1876) instructions to confine himself to Kentucky and started on a forlorn trip which was doomed to failure.

On May 26, 1863 Morgan had 2460 men, two three-inch Parrott guns and two twelve-inch howitzers. Two brigades under him were principally composed of men from the Second, Third, Fifth, Sixth and Eleventh Kentucky and the Ninth Tennessee Cavalry Regiments. They were commanded by General Basil W Duke and Bushrod Johnson.


Parrott gun


On June 11, 1863 they left their headquarters at Alexandria, Tennessee and on July 2 crossed the Cumberland River at Burkesville, Kentucky. In a battle at Columbus, Kentucky on July 4th, they lost sixty men when they unexpectedly encountered Federal troops. On July 5th they fought and captured the Federal garrison at Lebanon, Kentucky. It was during this battle that General Morgan's youngest brother, Lieutenant Thomas Morgan, was killed.

On Tuesday, July 7th, Morgan's advance guard reached Brandenburg, Kentucky on the Ohio River forty miles below Louisville. On July 8th his men captured the steamers "J. T. McCombs" and "Alice Dean" and were successfully ferried across the river to the Indiana shore. Then they proceeded to loot the town of Mauckport, two miles down the river from their crossing.

From Mauckport the Confederate cavalry drove into Corydon where stores were raided, the county treasury robbed, private homes pillaged and women forced to prepare meals for the unwelcome guests. General Morgan made his headquarters at the town's main hotel, Kintner's. Meanwhile, over 500 horses were taken from their owners in the nearby countryside in exchange for poor, worn-out ones.



The same day, July 9th, Federal troops under General Edward Hobson reached Brandenburg, crossed the river, and subsequently pursued Morgan's Raiders across the entire states of Indiana and Ohio.

The Confederates spent the night in Corydon and the morning of July 10th, leaving eleven wounded soldiers to be cared for by the citizens of the town, they advanced on Salem in two columns. Morgan delayed a few hours in Palmyra while one column of his troops looted Paoli and another Greenville, in Floyd County. After dispersing the Home Guard at Salem they occupied and thoroughly plundered the town. Men were seen, it has been said, riding around carrying all sorts of booty. One cavalryman had a bird cage with three canaries in it, and others had bolts of calico tied to their saddles. However, no examples of personal violence or cruelty were reported.

Leaving Salem in two columns they headed for Lexington. One column crossed the Jeffersonville and Indianapolis Railroad at Henryville, Clark County, while the other went by way of Canton, New Philadelphia and Leota and, at approximately six o'clock, they arrived at the same railroad in Vienna.


From Harper's New Monthly Magazine (August, 1865), Courtesy of Burton Milward


At Vienna the railroad station and the telegraph operator were captured before the operator could give the alarm. General Morgan put one of his own men, Lieutenant Ellsworth who knew how to operate the telegraph, in charge of the office. He listened on the wires until he had learned all the news to be obtained from Louisville and Indianapolis, including the fact that orders had been issued to the Militia to fell timber and blockade the principal roads which the invaders would be likely to travel to the East. According to Duke "our rapid marching had, hitherto, saved us this annoyance." They also learned in this manner that the Union forces under Hobson had crossed the Ohio River and were only a few miles behind them.

They learned that the state was virtually swarming with soldiers and that every train entering Indiana was bringing additional forces. The Raiders did all they possibly could to hamper the pursuit of the Union Cavalry, such as burning all the bridges. Their system of horse stealing was almost perfect. They would dispatch men from the head of each brigade to go five miles into the country on each side of the road. They would then seize every available horse and fall in at the rear of the column. In this way the Confederates swept the countryside of all horses for ten miles, leaving their own worn-out animals for the use of the Union forces.



According to Goodrich in his Illustrated History of Indiana (1875), a Scott County farmer ruefully said, "Many are the farmers through this county who have bewailed the day when they 'swapped' their fine, fat, sleek horses for the worn-out, sore-backed jades of the Rebels!" The fine blooded Kentucky horses, however, which were left behind in Indiana, though worn-out, were of such good stock that the breed of Indiana horses was greatly improved.

At both Henryville and Vienna the railroad depots were burned, the tracks torn up and the telegraph wires cut. At Vienna they also burnt the water station, the turntable and a railroad bridge which spanned Pigeon Roost Creek. All of these structures were built of wood, as was the custom then. In Vienna they also robbed the stores and private houses.



TOPICS: VetsCoR
KEYWORDS: civilwar; freeperfoxhole; indiana; johnhuntmorgan; kentucky; morgansraid; ohio; veterans; warbetweenstates
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140141-159 last
To: SAMWolf
"The pow camps on both sides were miserable hellholes with disease taking a large toll in lives. You were almost better off getting killed on the battlefield."

This is so true. Another uncle from a different line was wounded at Shiloh, taken to the federal prison at Perryville, Kentucky, where he died a month later. I can't imagine the pain and suffering the man went through during that time.
141 posted on 01/15/2004 8:26:52 PM PST by Humal
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 138 | View Replies]

To: snippy_about_it
snippy,
My uncle's step-brother is listed in the list of graves. There are links at the end of the article, and the one linking to the names of graves at the end has him listed. The only thing is his date of birth is wrong, according to family records, and he is listed under his step-father's last name "Brown" instead of "Bartlett", his name.

I will forward this to a number of family researchers. Thank you again for the information.
142 posted on 01/15/2004 8:39:55 PM PST by Humal
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 139 | View Replies]

To: Humal

The Severity of the War

     The severity of the war measured in the number of casualties on both sides is a moral tragedy within itself.  There were more Americans killed and wounded in the "The War for Southern Independence" than most all other American wars combined.

Killed

Wounded

Revolutionary War

4,435

War of 1812

2,260

Mexican War

13,283

Spanish American

2,446

World War I

116,708

204,002

World War II

405,316

670,846

Korean War

36,916

103,284

Vietnam War

58,193

TOTAL

639,557

978,132

--------------------------------------------

North

South

Total

Died and Wounded

*1,166,850

Died

405,850

260,000

665,850

Prison camp deaths

22,576

26,436

49,012

(some sources put total POW deaths at 55,200)     

143 posted on 01/15/2004 8:41:58 PM PST by SAMWolf (I am Homer of Borg. Prepare to be... ooooohh, doughnuts!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 141 | View Replies]

To: Humal
That's great. Hopefully you can have the information corrected.
144 posted on 01/15/2004 8:45:01 PM PST by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 142 | View Replies]

To: Professional Engineer
Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest.
145 posted on 01/15/2004 8:59:52 PM PST by Valin (We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 90 | View Replies]

To: carton253
Hate grits...

I have a firm policy when it comes to food. I eat nothing that's been socked in lye! So far it seems to be working out real good.
146 posted on 01/15/2004 9:04:58 PM PST by Valin (We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 93 | View Replies]

To: SAMWolf
Sam,
According to "Civil War Trivia and Fact Book" by Webb Garrison, p. 166, Federal numbers killed or mortally wounded in battle were 110,100; numbers died of disease were 224,580. For the Confederates, the numbers were 94,000 killed or mortally wounded in battle; 164,000 died of disease.

There were nearly 30,000 casualties for one day's fight on one day at Sharpsburg/Antietam. (p. 144) 51,112 combined dead, wounded, or missing for the two armies at Gettysburg. (p. 152) At the Battle of Franklin, Tenn., there were 6,000 Confederate loses and more than 2,000 Union losses (p. 161) At Cold Harbor, at least 6,800 Federals died in less than 10 MINUTES! (p. 161) The estimated number of prisoners of war estimated to have died were 23,000 Federal prisoners and more than 26,000 Confederate prisoners (p. 163).

On p. 154 it says there were 200,000 blacks eventually served in the Union army & navy. You had an article on this a while back. I couldn't find the figures then.

This is a fascinating book chocked full of statistics about the War Between the States. Just don't care for its title. :-)
147 posted on 01/15/2004 9:09:05 PM PST by Humal
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 143 | View Replies]

To: Humal
I just grabbed the numbers from that huys site becasue it was the only on eI found quicly that listed POW deaths. I'll have to go look up the numbers in some of my reference books.

Have to agree the word "trivia" doesn't sound very well used in a book on the War Between the States.
148 posted on 01/15/2004 9:14:48 PM PST by SAMWolf (I am Homer of Borg. Prepare to be... ooooohh, doughnuts!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 147 | View Replies]

To: snippy_about_it; SAMWolf; Light Speed; ALOHA RONNIE; Grampa Dave; PhiKapMom; ntrulock
Just watched From China With Love

Katrina Leong, FBI Special Agents J.J. Smith and Bill Cleveland. 1981-2003 she was an informant for the FBI and was working for China--and doing both these [married] agents.

Trial this fall. Attorneys for Smith and aka Parlor Maid aka Lao say they're being persecuted.

Notra Trulock appeared on program [freeper ntrulock] and said Peter Lee (Royal Tourist) and Wen Ho Lee (Kindred Spirit) cases went screwy 97-99--when the Chinese bimbo was doing the Feebs.

Well duh I recall the circus of Wen Ho:

Freeh requested wiretaps and search warrants on Wen Ho Lee--and it was the ONE case of HUNDREDS that Janet Crocodyke Renocerus REFUSED.

FBI searched Wen Ho Lee's home in White Rock--got lost en route, stopped for bogsat (bunch of guys standing around talking), neighbors thought they were men on way to sporting event.

FBI searched for three hours and only found the flashlight they'd lost--well, duh, Wen Ho Lee had a YEAR to clean house.

I mentioned to others at the lab that he worked at odd hours when he knew no one else would be around; these lab people said oh but the time clocks are not accurate (!) in the same conversation in which they remarked how haughty the Chinese workers were (!).

So full of the ChiCom line (!) and let us not forget the fire started new moon May 2000 burning 50,000 acres, causing evacuation of LANL for a week while Richardson was Energy Sec and Buddy Young was FEMA regional--

Subsequent discovery that a couple of hard drives of foreign nuclear weapons were missing from emergency response team lockers--yet "found" in an area previously searched.

I have the Notra Trulock book Code Name Kindred Spirit which I get to read after I finish Losing bin Laden.


149 posted on 01/15/2004 9:15:19 PM PST by PhilDragoo (Hitlery: das Butch von Buchenvald)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 144 | View Replies]

To: PhilDragoo
Between Buddist monks, guidance systems technology transfers, Alamogordo fires, missing disks, etc. it seems the Communist Chinese were running the country during clintons 8 years.
150 posted on 01/15/2004 9:21:19 PM PST by SAMWolf (I am Homer of Borg. Prepare to be... ooooohh, doughnuts!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 149 | View Replies]

To: SAMWolf
Sam, with all the knowledge you have imparted over the years on history and war, your library must rival the Library of Congress. If you have room for one more book, I would recommend the "Civil War Trivia and Fact Book" by Webb Garrison. My criticism of the title refers to "Civil War". It wasn't.

Please don't think I was demeaning your facts and figures. You got them far more quickly than I could.
151 posted on 01/15/2004 9:25:37 PM PST by Humal
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 148 | View Replies]

To: Humal
No problem, Humal. That's the problem with the net, lots of info out there and if you're in a hurry it's hard to verify.

I'll have to look into getting that book, sounds like it'll go well with my "WWII Facts" and "Vietnam War Facts" books.

LOL! about the "trivia".

Here's an interesting view I've seen in a few places.

The Proper Name of the War

There are several different names that have been given to this war that readily identify the personal feelings of the advocate of each name. The most well-known name or term used to identify this war is the "Civil War". The military conflict of 1861-1865 was not a civil war, because it does not fit the definition of that term. By definition a civil war is a 'war between opposing groups of citizens of the same country for the purpose of gaining or retaining control of the ruling government'. The Vice President of the Confederate States of America (CSA) Alexander Stephens said, "The real object of those who resorted to secession was not to overthrow the government of the United States, but instead to perpetuate the principles of law upon which it was founded." Years before he became the president, Abraham Lincoln made the following statement in favor of the constitutional right of secession, yet when several Southern states seceded during his administration, he denied them that right by armed aggression. Lincoln once stated,

"Any people, anywhere, being inclined and having the power have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government and form a new one that suits them better...any portion of such people that can, may revolutionize and make their own of so much of the territory as they inhabit."

The "official" designation by which this war is called in the United States archival records is "The War of the Rebellion." In reading the 'official' records of this war, one must keep in mind that the victor always writes the history in their favor. Therefore, the victor is always the hero and the vanquished is the villain. Another name by which this war is called is "The War Between the States" which is not altogether correct because the States of the North and the states of the South were no longer sister states to one another during the war. The southern states that seceded from the Union did so by lawfully exercising their rights as guaranteed by the United States Constitution. These seceded states then formed a confederation of states and adopted the official name of "The Confederate States of America." Soon after the formation of this new government in Montgomery, Alabama a bloody war ensued in order to retain the right of secession so, therefore, this war is also known as, 'The War of Secession.'

There are two names which can rightfully be used in describing this war. The first one is, "The War Against Northern Aggression," because the majority of the battles were fought on southern soil. The Union troops from the North viciously invaded the countryside, farms, towns and cities of the South with the obvious purpose, to burn, plunder, and declare war not only against the southern army, but also against the southern citizenry. Therefore, it became obvious to the civil and military leadership of the South that they were fighting not only for governmental independence, but for their very physical survival against the brutal attacks of Northern aggression.

The other name by which this war is rightfully called is 'The War for Southern Independence,' because it correctly describes the purpose of the South for which they fought. The purpose of the political and military leadership of the South was not to conquer or to destroy the federal government of the United States, but simply to maintain an independent and sovereign nation in the southland known as the Confederate States of America.

152 posted on 01/15/2004 9:32:50 PM PST by SAMWolf (I am Homer of Borg. Prepare to be... ooooohh, doughnuts!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 151 | View Replies]

To: PhilDragoo
Streaming vidio on Sat. latenight time for bed bump.

153 posted on 01/15/2004 9:53:31 PM PST by Valin (We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 149 | View Replies]

To: PhilDragoo
BTTT!!!!!!
154 posted on 01/16/2004 3:02:08 AM PST by E.G.C.
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 129 | View Replies]

To: SAMWolf
Good morning, Sam. I just found this message this morning, and it's good information. It seems I've read there were 16 names for The War (one of the names), and there could have been more. The War of Northern Aggression is my favorite. Another name was "The Boys War", because the combatants on both sides were so young. I guess though that if statistics on any war were checked, "Boys War" could apply to any of them.

155 posted on 01/16/2004 5:31:57 AM PST by Humal
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 152 | View Replies]

To: PhilDragoo
*ugh*
Yeah, they kinda swiped the idea a little..
156 posted on 01/16/2004 6:14:45 AM PST by Darksheare (Warning, Tagline Virus Detected: JS.TaglineException.Exploit.exe)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 129 | View Replies]

To: SAMWolf
I just got looked at funny...
157 posted on 01/16/2004 6:16:43 AM PST by Darksheare (Warning, Tagline Virus Detected: JS.TaglineException.Exploit.exe)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 123 | View Replies]

To: PhilDragoo
Gee, Phil. D'ya think some Rosenberg ripped off the plans to the B-1?
158 posted on 01/16/2004 9:21:09 AM PST by colorado tanker ("There are but two parties now, Traitors and Patriots")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 129 | View Replies]

To: PhilDragoo
YEP, i've seen it.

free dixie,sw

159 posted on 01/16/2004 9:45:01 AM PST by stand watie (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God. -T. Jefferson)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 112 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140141-159 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
VetsCoR
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson