Morgan's Raid
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (July 2011) |
Morgan's Raid | |||||||
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Part of the American Civil War | |||||||
Map of Morgan's route. Small groups of Morgan's scouts and raiding parties rode through some southern Indiana counties. The main body of Morgan's force followed a route through eight counties, passing through such towns as Corydon, Salem, Lexington, Vernon (rather than North Vernon), and Versailles on the way to Harrison, Ohio. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
United States | Confederate States | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Ambrose Burnside Henry M. Judah | John Hunt Morgan | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
40,000+ | 2,462 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
6,000 prisoners paroled | 2,000 prisoners taken |
Morgan's Raid (also the Calico Raid or Great Raid of 1863) was a diversionary incursion by
The raid covered more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km), beginning in
Tennessee and Kentucky
General Morgan and his 2,460 handpicked Confederate cavalrymen, along with four
On July 2, hoping to disrupt Union communication lines, Morgan rode into Kentucky, where sympathetic citizens openly welcomed his cavalrymen. Crossing the rain-swollen
A grieving Morgan continued northward to Louisville, riding through Springfield, Bardstown, and Garnettsville. Along the way, the Confederates endured several smaller skirmishes with Union troops and Kentucky home guard units. However, he turned his remaining men to the northwest and headed for the Ohio River just south of the city.
At Springfield, Morgan sent a detachment north and east of Louisville, intending to confuse Union forces about where Morgan was heading. Before rejoining Morgan, this detachment crossed the Ohio River at Twelve Mile Island and was captured near New Pekin, Indiana. To further mislead the U.S. soldiers of his objectives, Morgan had his telegrapher, "Lightning" Ellsworth, tap telegraph lines and, pretending to be a Union telegrapher, send several messages giving different headings for the raiders and false reports of the size of Morgan's force—sometimes reporting it as high as 7,000 men. Ellsworth did this throughout the journey, especially in Indiana.[3]
Indiana
Morgan had sent spy Thomas Hines and a party of 62 Confederates, posing as a Union patrol, on a secret mission into Indiana in June to determine if the local Copperheads would support or join Morgan's impending raid. After visiting the local Copperhead leader, Dr. William A. Bowles, Hines learned that no desired support would be forthcoming. He and his scouts were soon identified as actually being Confederates, and, in a minor skirmish near Leavenworth, Indiana, Hines had to abandon his men as he swam across the Ohio River under gunfire. He wandered around Kentucky for a week seeking information on Morgan's whereabouts.[4][5]
By now reduced to 1,800 men, Morgan's main column had arrived on the morning of July 8 at
Governor Oliver P. Morton worked feverishly to organize Indiana's defense, calling for men to take up arms and form militia companies. Thousands responded and organized themselves into companies and regiments. Col. Lewis Jordan took command of the 450 members of the Harrison County Home Guard (Sixth Regiment, Indiana Legion), consisting of poorly trained civilians with a motley collection of arms. His goal was to delay Morgan long enough for Union reinforcements to arrive.[8]
General Morgan led his division into Corydon, where he paroled his demoralized prisoners and ransomed the town for cash and supplies.[10] Morgan's soldiers then traveled east and reached Vienna on July 10, where they burned a railroad bridge and depot and tapped a telegraph line. After spending the night in Lexington, they headed to the northeast, terrorizing the small towns along the way, including Vernon, Dupont, New Pekin, Salem, and Versailles.[12]
On July 11, while crossing
On the night of July 11, Morgan camped near the town of Dupont, Indiana. Subsequently, on July 12, his men burned the town's storehouse. They stole 2,000 hams before continuing east.[12] By the next day, such a large amount of meat in the open air had attracted flies, and the soldiers began discarding hams along the side of the road, leaving a trail for Indiana militia troops to follow as they chased Morgan and his men out of the state.[14]
Morgan then headed for Salem, immediately occupying the town and placing guards over the stores and streets. His cavalrymen burned the large brick depot, along with all the railcars on the track and the railroad bridges on each side of town. They demanded ransoms from area flour and grist mills. After looting stores and taking about $500, they departed in the afternoon.[13]
In Versailles, a group of freebooters invaded the local
Morgan finally left Indiana at Harrison, closely pursued by U.S. cavalry.[7]
Ohio & West Virginia
The Confederates entered Ohio on July 13, destroying bridges, railroads, and government stores. Morgan's raid spread alarm across southern and central Ohio and caused speculation about his destination. Harper's Weekly, a leading Northern newspaper, reported:[16][17]
The raid of the rebel Morgan into Indiana, which he seems to be pursuing with great boldness, has thoroughly aroused the people of that State and of Ohio to a sense of their danger. On 13th General Burnside declared martial law in Cincinnati, and in Covington and Newport on the Kentucky side. All business is suspended until further orders, and all citizens are required to organize in accordance with the direction of the State and municipal authorities. There is nothing definite as to Morgan's whereabouts; but it is supposed that he will endeavor to move around the city of Cincinnati and cross the river between there and Maysville. The militia is concentrating, in obedience to the order of Governor Tod.
— July 25, 1863, Harper's Weekly
Sidestepping Burnside's forces that protected Cincinnati to the south he traveled through such northern communities as Harrison, New Baltimore, Colerain, Springdale, Glendale and Sharonville. Morgan and his men ran into significant resistance when trying to capture Camp Dennison. Morgan would eventually retreat and regroup with the other column of his men in Montgomery and bypass Camp Dennison through Wards Corner.[16][18] Morgan continued east to the Ohio River where, just north of modern Ravenswood, West Virginia, there was a ford at Buffington Island that would allow him to cross over into that state. Burnside correctly guessed Morgan's intentions. Federal columns under Edward H. Hobson and Henry M. Judah and river gunboats swiftly converged to contest any river crossing.[19][20] Burnside also sent a militia regiment from Marietta, Ohio, to hold the ford until the Federal forces could arrive. Morgan arrived on the evening of July 18 but decided not to attack the militia in the gathering darkness. It proved to be a mistake.[20]
By morning, the cavalry and gunboats had arrived, blocking Morgan's escape route.[18] At the subsequent Battle of Buffington Island in Ohio, Union troops won a decisive victory and captured 1,025 of Morgan's men in total, including his brother Richard and noted cavalryman Col. Basil W. Duke.[21][16] Cut off from safety by the Union gunboats, Morgan and his remaining cavaliers headed northeast back into Ohio. A second attempt at crossing 20 miles (32 km) upriver (opposite Belleville, West Virginia) also failed, with several of Morgan's men drowning in the swirling river as the gunboats and Union cavalry again drove off the raiders. Col. Adam "Stovepipe" Johnson and over 300 raiders escaped into West Virginia and safety, but General Morgan remained on the Ohio side with the rest of his dwindling force.[16][18] He was turned away at skirmishes in Gallia County at Coal Hill and Hockingport, losing more of his force.
As Morgan, with 400 remaining men, headed away from the river into the interior of southern Ohio, he paused at Nelsonville, a small town on the Hocking Canal. His men burned ten wooden canal boats and set a covered bridge ablaze to slow their pursuers.[16][20] However, as soon as Morgan's raiders rode off, citizens rushed to save the burning span. Two hours later, Union cavalry arrived, delighted to find that the townspeople had prepared a feast for them.[22]
With his men somewhat rested on Peter Weaver's homestead near Triadelphia on July 22 and guided down Island Run by the son, John Weaver, who was held hostage, Morgan forded the broad Muskingum River at Eagleport, just south of Zanesville, before turning northward in Guernsey County.[23] He still hoped to cross the Ohio River at some point and head through West Virginia to safety.[24] At the village of Old Washington, Morgan's weary men fought a skirmish in the streets before hastily departing, pursued by Union cavalry under Brig. Gen. James M. Shackelford.[25] On July 26, Union forces defeated Morgan at the Battle of Salineville and finally caught him that afternoon near West Point in Columbiana County.[26] They were held in Wellsville, Ohio, then taken to the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus rather than to a prisoner-of-war camp, because of reports that captured Union officers had received similar treatment.[16] Many of his enlisted men ended up in the Camp Douglas stockade in Chicago.[27]
The general and six officers made a daring escape on November 27 by tunneling from an air shaft beneath their cells into the prison yard and scaling the walls.[28] Only two of Morgan's men were recaptured, and he and the rest soon returned to the Confederacy. Morgan was killed less than a year later in Greeneville, Tennessee, by a Union cavalryman after refusing to halt while attempting to escape.[14]
Impact
During his raid, Morgan and his men captured and paroled about 6,000 U.S. soldiers and militia, destroyed 34 bridges, disrupted the railroads at more than 60 places, and diverted tens of thousands of troops from other duties.
In Ohio alone, approximately 2,500 horses were stolen, and nearly 4,375 homes and businesses were raided. Morgan's Raid cost Ohio taxpayers nearly $600,000 in damages and over $200,000 in wages paid to the 49,357 Ohioans called up to man 587 companies of local militia.[31]
Despite their military defeat and high casualties, the long raid had accomplished much for Morgan's men. Col. Basil Duke, Morgan's brother-in-law and second-in-command of the raid, later 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."[32]
To many Confederates, the incursion became known as the "Great Raid of 1863" and was initially hailed in the newspapers. However, along with Gettysburg and Vicksburg, it was another in a string of defeats for the Confederate Army that summer. Several Northern newspapers derisively labeled Morgan's expedition as the "
Memorialization
Kentucky and Indiana have well-marked John Hunt Morgan Heritage Trails that allow tourists to follow the route of Morgan's Raid through their states, along with websites and written tour guides.[34] In November 2001, the State of Ohio placed a John Hunt Morgan historical marker on the site of the Ohio State Penitentiary, remembering his imprisonment and daring escape.[28] An equestrian statue of General Morgan was erected and dedicated in 1911 in downtown Lexington, Kentucky.[35] Ohio's plans for a similar formal trail finally came to fruition in 2013, when the state erected over 600 directional markers and 56 interpretive signs commemorating the route and the important incidents of the raid.[36] Signage was installed during the spring and summer of 2013, in the months leading up to the 150th anniversary of the "Great Raid."[37]
On the weekend of July 27–28, 2013, communities in Carroll, Jefferson, and Columbiana County, Ohio, held a driving tour to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the raid, with a Civil War era church service, the dedication of a Morgan's Raid Heritage Trail tablet to mark the location of the fighting at Sharp's farm, and events in towns on and near the raid route.[38]
The oil painting "Morgan's Raiders" is hung at the Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Gainesville, Georgia. The painting was made in 1936 by artist Daniel Boza, commissioned by the Works Progress Administration (President Franklin Roosevelt administration).[39]
Notes
- ^ In prisoner photo: (l to r) Captain William E. Curry, 8th Kentucky Cavalry; Lieutenant Andrew J. Church, 8th Kentucky Cavalry; Lieutenant Leeland Hathaway, 14th Kentucky Cavalry; Lieutenant Henry D. Brown, 10th Kentucky Cavalry; Lieutenant William Hays, 20th Kentucky Cavalry.
References
- ^ W. H. H. Terrell (1869), "The Hines and Morgan Raids" (PDF), Indiana in the War of the Rebellion: Report of the Adjutant General, vol. 1 (1960 ed.), p. 215 (pdf p. 6)
- ^ Kelsey, p. 323; Official Records.
- ^ Mosgrove account in SHSP
- ^ "Summary of the Hines and Morgan Raids, June/July, 1863". INGenWeb. 1869.
- ISBN 978-0517227275.
- ^ "John Hunt Morgan's 1863 Raid". American Battlefield Trust.
- ^ JSTOR 27785388– via JSTOR.
- ^ Indiana Historical Marker for Morgan's Raid
- ^ "Morgan's Raiders". Ohio Civil War.
- ^ JSTOR 27788566– via JSTOR.
- ^ Funk, Arville L. (1969). A Sketchbook of Indiana History (revised ed.). Christian Book Press. p. 88.
- ^ a b "Morgan's Raid July 8–13 1863". Indiana Historical Bureau. 16 December 2020.
- ^ a b "Morgan's Raiders Ride on the Monon July 12, 1863, Salem, Indiana". Monon Railroad Historical Technical Society, Inc.
- ^ a b "Morgan's Raiders and the Jewels of Versailles". Masonic Library and Museum of Indiana.
- ISBN 978-1-5136-2902-5.
- ^ a b c d e f "Morgan's Raid into Ohio". Carnegie Public Library.
- ^ "Morgan's Raid". Harper's Weekly. July 25, 1863. p. 467.
- ^ a b c Bishop, Taylor. "Morgan's Great Raid of 1863". American Battlefield Trust.
- ^ Bitikofer, Sheritta. "Battle of Buffington Island: Morgan's Foray Across the Ohio River". American Battlefield Trust.
- ^ a b c "Morgan's Raid". Touring Ohio.
- ^ "Buffington Island". American Battlefield Trust.
- ^ "About Nelsonville". City of Nelsonville.
- ^ Roos, Gregory (May 18, 2021). "Deerfield Township". The Historical Marker Database.
- ^ Roos, Gregory (May 18, 2021). "Eagleport". The Historical Marker Database.
- ^ Prats, J.J. (August 4, 2017). "Morgan's Raid in Old Washington". The Historical Markers Database.
- ^ "Battle of Salineville Location". Ohio Civil War.
- ^ Alberts, Dennis (September 7, 2021). "John Hunt Morgan's Great Escape". TimeLines Magazine.
- ^ a b Ohio Historical Society
- ^ "Salineville". National Park Service.
- JSTOR 27786966– via JSTOR.
- ^ Harper, p. 23.
- ^ Duke, p. 460.
- ^ Etcheson, Nicole (July 22, 2013). "Mr. Morgan's Daring Raid". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 2, 2023. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
- ^ Indiana's John Hunt Morgan Heritage Trail Archived 2005-07-26 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "John Hunt Morgan Statue Controversy: 1910 Edition". Kentucky Historical Society.
- ^ Ohio's new John Hunt Morgan Heritage Trail follows Confederate army's push across a panicked state
- ^ "Civil War tour: Retracing Morgan's Raid". Archived from the original on 2015-02-20. Retrieved 2013-07-27.
- ^ Staff Writer. "Morgan's Raid celebrates 150th anniversary throughout the area". Alliance Review. Retrieved 2023-04-18.
- ^ Vardeman, Johnny (Nov 14, 2009). "Who are the men depicted in post office mural?". Gainesville Times. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
Bibliography
- "An Incident of Morgan's Raid: Valueless Bill Left to Pay for Fine Horse and Wheat Crop," The Zanesville Signal, Vol. 28, no. 219 (Tuesday, 4 December 1906), p. 2, col. 4.
- Duke, Basil Wilson, A History of Morgan's Cavalry. Cincinnati, Ohio: Miami Printing and Pub. Co., 1867. On-line version
- Harper, Robert S., Ohio Handbook of the Civil War. Columbus: The Ohio Historical Society, 1961.
- Horwitz, Lester V., The Longest Raid of the Civil War. Cincinnati, Ohio: Farmcourt Publishing, Inc., 1999. ISBN 0-9670267-3-3.
- Kelsey, D.M., Deeds of Daring by the American Soldier North and South During the Civil War. New York, Akron, and Chicago: The Saalfield Publishing Company, 1903.
- Mingus, Scott L., "Morgan's Raid," CHARGE! Magazine, Vol. 4, August, 2004, pp. 12–13. Text used by permission of the Johnny Reb Gaming Society.
- Mosgrove, George Dallas, "Following Morgan's Plume in Indiana and Ohio," Southern Historical Society Papers, Vol. XXXV. January–December, 1907.
- Ramage, James A., Rebel Raider: The Life of General John Hunt Morgan. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1986. ISBN 0-8131-1576-0.
- Richardson, John V. Die Weber Familie: The Weber, Wollenschlager, Habermann, and Kempf Families. Los Angeles, ITA Press, 2020. ISBN 0-9819196-3-4.
- Simmons, Flora E., A complete account of the John Morgan raid through Indiana and Ohio, in July, 1863. Self-published, 1863.
- Thomas, Edison H., John Hunt Morgan and His Raiders. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1975. ISBN 0-8131-0214-6.
- U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 70 volumes in 4 series. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1880–1901. Online version
Further reading
- Boyer, Margrette. "Morgan's Raid in Indiana." The Indiana Quarterly Magazine of History 8.4 (1912): 149–165. online free
- Brown, Dee A. Morgan's Raiders. New York: Konecky & Konecky, 1959. ISBN 0-914427-79-2.
- Carnegie Public Library (East Liverpool, Ohio). "Morgan's Raid into Ohio". Retrieved December 10, 2018.
- Conway, W. Fred. Corydon – The Forgotten Battle of the Civil War. New Albany, IN: FBH Publishers, 1994. ISBN 978-0-925165-03-9.
- Conway, W. Fred., and James M. Wells. The Most Incredible Prison Escape of the Civil War. New Albany, IN: FBH Publishers, 1994. ISBN 978-0-925165-04-6.
- Funk, Arville L. The Morgan Raid in Indiana and Ohio (1863). Superior Printing Company, 1971. OCLC 14099212
- Mowery, David L. Morgan's Great Raid: The Remarkable Expedition from Kentucky to Ohio. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2013. ISBN 978-1-60949-436-0.
- Robertson, Middleton. "Recollections of Morgan's Raid." Indiana Magazine of History (1938): 188–194. online
- Simms, Jeremiah Hickman, ed. The Last Night and Last Day of John Hunt Morgan's Raid: Eyewitness Accounts of Morgan's Ohio Raid of 1863. West Jefferson, OH: Genesis Publishing, 1997. OCLC 38070234. First published by the author in 1913.
- Still, John S. "Blitzkrieg, 1863: Morgan's Raid and Rout." Civil War History 3.3 (1957): 291–306. summary
- Swiggett, Howard. The Rebel Raider: A Life of John Hunt Morgan (1934).
External links
- Ohio Department of Natural Resources. The Role of Geology in Morgan's Raid
- Geib, George W., Emeritus Professor of History, Butler University. "Indiana Historical Bureau: Morgan's Raid"
- John Hunt Morgan Heritage Trail
- Morgan's Men Association
- Longestraid.com; website for definitive work on Morgan's Raid