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Morgan's Raid was a highly publicized incursion by Confederate cavalry into the Northern states of Indiana and Ohio during the American Civil War. The raid took place from June 11–July 26, 1863, and is named for the commander of the Confederates, Brig. Gen. John Hunt Morgan.
For 46 days as they rode over 1,000 miles, Morgan’s Confederates terrorized a region from Tennessee to northern Ohio. The raid coincided with the Vicksburg Campaign and the Gettysburg Campaign, although it was not directly related to either campaign.
Tennessee and Kentucky
General Morgan and his 2,460 handpicked Confederate cavalrymen rode west from Sparta in eastern Tennessee on June 11, 1863, intending to divert the attention of the Union Army of Ohio from Southern forces in the state. On June 23, the Federal Army of the Cumberland began its operations against Gen. Braxton Bragg’s Confederate Army of Tennessee in what became known as the Tullahoma Campaign, and Morgan decided to it was time to move northward.
On July 2, hoping to disrupt Union communication lines, he rode into Kentucky, where admiring citizens openly welcomed his cavalrymen. Crossing the rain-swollen Cumberland River at Burkesville, Morgan’s division advanced to the Green River, where it was deflected by a Union regiment at the Battle of Tebb’s Bend on July 4. Morgan soon surprised and captured the garrison at Lebanon before riding through Springfield, Bardstown, and Garnettsville. Along the way, the Confederates endured several small skirmishes with Federals and Kentucky home guard units. In a sharp fight near Lebanon, Federal troops killed Morgan’s brother Thomas.
Indiana
By now reduced to 1,800 men, Morgan’s column arrived on the morning of July 8 at the small town of Brandenburg along the Ohio River. Here, they seized two steamboats, and Morgan, against Bragg’s strict orders, transported his command across the river to Indiana, landing just east of Mauckport. A small company of Indiana home guards contested the crossing with an artillery piece, as did a riverboat carrying a six-pounder. Morgan chased off the local defenders, capturing a sizeable portion as well as their gun. After burning the captured steamers, Morgan headed away from the river. Gov. Oliver P. Morton worked feverishly to organize Indiana’s defense, calling for able-bodied men to take up arms and form militia companies. 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.
Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside, commander of the Department of Ohio with headquarters in Cincinnati quickly organized local Federal troops and home militia to cut off Morgan’s routes back to the South. Morgan headed northward on Mauckport Road, with another brother, Col. Richard Morgan, leading the forward elements. On July 9, one mile south of Corydon, the county seat of Harrison County, his advance guard encountered Jordan’s small force, drawn in a battle line behind a hastily thrown up barricade of logs. The colonel attacked, and in a short but spirited battle of less than an hour, he simultaneously outflanked both Union wings, completely routing the hapless militia. Accounts vary as to the number of casualties of the Battle of Corydon, but the most reliable evidence suggests that Jordan lost 4 killed, 10-12 wounded, and 355 captured. Morgan counted 11 dead and 40 wounded raiders. Among the dead Federals was the civilian toll keeper, who perished near his tollgate. Raiders killed a Lutheran minister on his farm, four miles from the battlefield, and stole horses from several other farmers.
General Morgan led his division into Corydon, where he paroled his demoralized prisoners and ransomed the town for cash and supplies. 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 and Versailles. Morgan left Indiana at Harrison, closely pursued by Federal cavalry.
Ohio
The Rebels entered Ohio on July 13, destroying bridges, railroads, and government stores. Morgan’s Raid spread terror across southern and central Ohio. Federal columns and gunboats converged to prevent Morgan from recrossing the Ohio River into Kentucky. At the Battle of Buffington Island, Union troops won a decisive victory and captured 750 of Morgan’s men, including his brother Richard and noted cavalryman Col. Basil Duke. Colonel Adam Johnson and 300 of the raiders escaped, crossing the Ohio just upriver from Buffington Island. Cut off from safety by Union gunboats, Morgan and his 400 remaining cavaliers headed northeast, still within Ohio. They eventually crossed the Muskingum River south of Zanesville before turning northward in Guernsey County. Union forces finally caught Morgan on July 26 near West Point in Columbiana County and escorted him and his remaining men to the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus. They were held as common inmates, not as prisoners of war.
The general and six men made a daring escape on November 27 and returned to the South. Morgan was killed less than a year later in Tennessee by a Union cavalryman while surrendering.
He is buried in Lexington, Ky.
Sources
- Mingus, Scott L., "Morgan's Raid," CHARGE! Magazine, Volume 4, August, 2004, page 12-13. Used by permission of the Johnny Reb Gaming Society.
- 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.