Confederate General Morgan & His Great Raid into the North

John Hunt Morgan was born on June 1, 1825, in Huntsville, Alabama. His grandfather, John Wesley Hunt, was a wealthy Kentuckian. When John's father, Calvin, fell on hard times, he lost his home in Huntsville. His father-in-law offered him a job to manage one of his Kentucky farms. So in 1831, at the age of 6, John Hunt Morgan's family moved to Lexington. Morgan attended Transylvania University in Lexington for two years before he was expelled for dueling. He fought in the U.S. Mexican War, attaining the rank of first lieutenant in a Kentucky volunteer cavalry regiment. Following the war, he returned to civilian life. He married and went into business with his brothers and his brother-in-law, Sanders Bruce. He was elected a Mason, Captain of the Lexington Volunteer Fire Company and served briefly on the Lexington city council and school board.

With the American Civil War's outbreak, Morgan enlisted in the Confederate army, beginning his new career as a captain of the 2nd Kentucky Cavalry, CSA. Morgan quickly proved his military prowess as a cavalry leader, serving in the Army of Tennessee under General Braxton Bragg. He rose in rank to Colonel. Morgan and his command went on raids against the Union military's supply depots and transportation network. His men destroyed millions of dollars worth of supplies and caused mayhem for Northern forces throughout Kentucky and Tennessee. At Hartsville, Tennessee, in December 1862, Morgan succeeded in capturing an entire garrison of Union soldiers. The Confederate government promoted Morgan to brigadier-general for this victory.

At the time of his Great Raid, he was thirty-eight years old. He stood exactly six feet tall, weighed 185 pounds, had broad square shoulders. For a military man, his feet and hands were small. He had fair complexion, well-trimmed black mustache, imperial beard and dark auburn hair. His keen grayish-blue eyes were mirthful. His smile revealed a brilliant set of perfect white teeth. He moved with manly strength and grace and was strikingly handsome. Everyone agreed that Morgan was as fine a specimen of physical manhood as they had ever seen.

Morgan's most famous wartime exploit was his "Great Raid" into Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio in July 1863. On July 2, 1863, Morgan led 2,500 soldiers with four cannons across the Cumberland River in southern Kentucky. Traversing Kentucky, they crossed the Ohio River into southern Indiana south of Corydon where there was a major skirmish. The mission of this raid was to act as a diversion to allow Bragg to withdraw unseen from his headquarters in Tullahoma. While the Union cavalry chased Morgan north through Kentucky, Bragg successfully withdrew to Chattanooga without being attacked. But Morgan violated Bragg's orders by crossing the Ohio River into the North rather than confining his movements to Kentucky as ordered.

Entering Indiana, Morgan's Raiders spread false rumors that they intended to attack Indianapolis. Rather than doing this, they spent five days in southeastern Indiana, procuring supplies and fresh horses from Northern civilians. On July 13, as General Hobson and Indiana militia pursued Morgan's men, the Confederates entered Ohio at Harrison. Morgan led his men around the outskirts of Cincinnati, passing within sight of Camp Dennison. They arrived at Williamsburg at 4:00pm and went into camp. The next morning, Morgan sent his brother, Col. Richard Morgan south toward the Ohio River with the 14th KY Cav. They passed through Georgetown and to the outskirts of Ripley where they saw a large force of armed troops and several gunboats guarding the crossing. Richard rejoined his brother, John, at Locust Grove to report his findings. Morgan's main column continued east through Brown, Adams, and Pike counties. They crossed the Scioto River at Piketon and proceeded to Jackson. They paused for the night at Wilkesville in Vinton County. The following morning, they entered Meigs County, trying to reach the Ohio River and the ford at Buffington Island.

The Confederates faced little opposition until July 18, when they were delayed upon encountering a small earthwork, defended by Ohio militiamen. Severely outnumbered, the militiamen retreated under the cover of darkness, but their presence had allowed Union cavalry, under Brigadier-General E.H. Hobson, and another Union force under Gen. Henry M. Judah to catch up to the Confederates. Union General Ambrose Burnside also had sent Northern soldiers and gunboats to patrol the Ohio River. Morgan's men attempted to cross the Ohio River at a ford near Buffington Island. The Confederates succeeded in getting a small number of men across the river before Union gunboats and soldiers under Hobson and Judah arrived.

The Battle of Buffington Island began at daybreak on Sunday, July 19. The Northern forces numbered approximately six thousand men, while Morgan's force was less than 2,000. The battle raged for hours. Seven hundred Confederates surrendered. Among them was Morgan's brother-in-law, Col. Basil Duke. About 60 rebels were killed and are buried in unmarked graves near Buffington Island. Northern soldiers lost twenty-five in the battle, including Daniel McCook of the famous Fighting McCooks.

Morgan was able to escape leading about 1,000 men on a northerly direction along the Ohio River, seeking another place to cross. At Reedsville, over 300 hundred Confederates succeeded in crossing the river into West Virginia before Union gunboats arrived to stop them. Morgan and his remaining force of 600 soldiers retreated westward through Meigs and Gallia Counties and then moved in a more northeasterly direction through Vinton, Hocking, Athens, Perry and Morgan counties.

On the evening of Wednesday, July 22, Morgan and his men stopped to rest at the two-story log cabin on John Weaver's farm at the headwaters of Island Run in Morgan County. His group of 600 ragged troopers gathered about the Weaver's farm buildings and house. Morgan dismounted and, with a cramped gait of one who had spent too much time in the saddle, walked over to the front door where Weaver and his family stood.

Fear and astonishment were written on the Weavers' faces. "We are putting a guard around your house," Morgan said. "You and your family will not be molested, but you must not come out until we are gone. You might get hurt." He entered the house and walked to the bedroom where he pulled the straw tick from the bed and dropped it on the floor. He threw himself upon it and at once fell asleep. His men camped for the night in the surrounding orchard. Groups of raiders took Weaver's fence railings and built fires over which they cooked the food products they had found on Ohio farms, homes and stores.

Mr. Weaver's wife, Susanne, had a baby only a few weeks old, but she stayed up much of the night making griddle cakes and biscuits for some of Morgan's men. In the barn, the men found many bushels of freshly threshed wheat. Mr. Weaver made a claim for reimbursement for the following items taken by the raiders: one horse with saddle and bridle, 100 bushels of wheat, four tons of hay, clothing and one barrel of salt. For his claim, John Weaver was reimbursed $222. Although many other Ohio citizens asked to be compensated for "feeding meals to rebels," Mr. Weaver made no such claim.

Sometime after the Civil War, Weaver's log cabin was dismantled and reassembled on Glick Road at the entrance to Dublin, Ohio near the Columbus Zoo. Today, it serves as the main dining room for The Morgan House Restaurant and Gift Shop.

Morgan's men continued their raid into Muskingum, Noble, Guernsey, Harrison, Jefferson, Carroll, and Columbiana counties. On Sunday, July 26 at 2:00pm, Union cavalry under the command of Major George Washington Rue, 9th KY Cavalry, USA, blocked Morgan's path on today's Rt. 518 in Columbiana County and succeeded in capturing Morgan and 350 men, the remnants of his command.

Morgan and about 60 of his officers were sent to the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus. He and several of his men planned an escape. They tunneled into an airshaft below their cells on November 27. Morgan and six of his captains reached the prison yard. They had fashioned a rope with a grapple to scale the two walls surrounding the prison. Morgan and Capt. Thomas Henry Hines purchased train tickets to Cincinnati, where they paid a young man $2 to row them across the Ohio River into Kentucky where they were aided by southern sympathizers. Eventually, Morgan and Hines safely reached Richmond, Virginia, the Confederacy capitol. Morgan was hailed as a hero and given a new command.

Morgan's Raid netted few positive gains for the Southern military. It did provide some hope to Confederate civilians that their military could still succeed despite Northern victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg. It also caused a great deal of fear among Indiana and Ohio residents. In Ohio, there were 4,375 claims for Rebel damages, while in Indiana, there were 2,201 claims.

In his book, History of Morgan's Cavalry, Confederate General Basil W. Duke wrote, "The objects of the raid were accomplished. General Bragg's retreat was unmolested by any flanking forces of the enemy, and I think that military men, who will review all the facts, will pronounce that this expedition delayed for weeks the fall of East Tennessee, and prevented the timely reinforcement of Rosecrans by troops that would otherwise have participated in the battle of Chickamauga."

A similar assessment was made by Union Colonel J.E. McGowan. "Morgan delayed the invasion of East Tennessee three months. He thus broke the plan of co-operation, and delayed General Rosecrans at Murfreesboro, giving Bragg time to get back the men he had loaned Johnston. Rosecrans was so late in pressing his enemy into decisive action that the enemy had time to obtain reinforcements from Lee and Chattanooga [Gen. Longstreet]. Had Morgan been readily beaten back from Kentucky in a crippled condition, Burnside would have met Rosecrans at Chattanooga by the 20th of July; the battle at Chickamauga would not have been fought; and the war might have ended sooner."

This brief history of Morgan's Raid was written by Lester V. Horwitz, author of The Longest Raid of the Civil War. The book is the first complete chronicle of Morgan's Great Raid into the North. It was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for History. Autographed copies are available for sale in The Morgan House Gift Shop. It includes 183 photographs and historic documents, state and county maps and 4 battlefield maps. There is also a photo of the Weaver log cabin before it was moved to its present site in Dublin. Dr. James A. Ramage, author of Rebel Raider, said, "The book is outstanding! It reads like a novel." Edwin Bearss, Historian Emeritus of the National Park Service said, "Horwitz takes the reader on one of the great adventures of the Civil War." Horwitz is the first civil war author to be filmed and broadcast nationwide on C-SPAN. For more information, visit the book's website at www.LongestRaid.com.