YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY PUBLICATIONS Vol 7. No. 2 Morgan's Raid in Indiana LOUIS B. EWBANK INDIANAPOLIS C. ,H. PAULEY & COMPANY INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY PUBLICATIONS Vol 7. No. 2 Morgan's Raid in Indiana BY LOUIS B. EWBANK INDIANAPOLIS 0. E. PAULEY & COMPANY Morgan's Raid in Indiana When the first white men, explorers, fur traders and mis sionaries, visited the district now called Indiana, they found that the Indian Tribes who had lived here, had been driven to the West by the Iroquois. The valleys of the Wabash and its tributaries were doubtless the scenes of many a dark tragedy of invasion, battle and massacre long before the dawn of written history in that region. Under French pro tection the Tribes returned to their old homes, from 1712 to 1720. After the American settlers came, the Indians fought with them, and they fought with each other; and at Laughery Creek, Mississinewa, Pigeon Roost, Tippecanoe, and else where, the unbroken forests of Indiana witnessed deeds of blood called War. And at Vincennes the flag of Britain was displaced by the flag of the Republic by an act of War. From time to time Indiana has sent her sons to battle beyond her boundaries. And not to mention the Indian warriors bred on her soil before the white man took possession, the rangers who went to the Great Lakes and Canada in the second war with Great Britain, the troops who served in Mexico, the scores of regiments that marched east and south in the war of the Rebellion, and the thousands of soldiers and sailors from Indiana who have maintained the honor of our country on sea and land, afford a fruitful theme for the writer of history or romance. But the battles of the Indian Wars were fought in the depths of a wilderness, before Indiana became a State, and the battles beyond her borders in which the troops of Indiana have taken part belong to the local history of other States 134 Morgan's Raid in Indiana and Countries. Nearly all of the history of War in Indiana, so far as it relates to the invasion of the State by hostile troops, can be told by reciting the events which occurred in a few counties of Southern Indiana in a few weeks — one might almost say a few days — in the summer of 1863, when John Morgan, as he was familiarly known, made his cele brated dash across the State. Border warfare by the inhabitants on either side of the Ohio river had been known even before ' organized warfare began. Not long before Fort Sumpter was fired upon a citizen of Indiana who was accused of aiding a fugitive slave to escape was decoyed to New Albany, where he was seized by some policemen from across the river, taken to Louisville, and placed in jail. Upon a demand being made for his re lease he was spirited away to Brandenburg, forty miles down the river. Two or three hundred citizens of New Albany organized a rescue, armed themselves, and started for Bran denburg in a steamboat. The prisoner was carried to Eliza- bethtown, thirty miles southeast of there, before the steam boat arrived. But upon a threat to burn the town of Bi"^"" denburg unless he was produced, he was brought back from Elizabethtown, and surrendered.^ And a year before Morgan's invasion, — at about noon, on July 18, 1862, to be exact, — a band of thirty mauraders, under the command of Adam P. Johnson, a noted Kentucky guerrilla leader, had seized a ferry boat and crossed the Ohio river at Newburg, in Warrick county, ten or twelve miles east of Evansville ,and assumed to "capture" the town in the name of the Confederacy. These maurauders plundered the houses and stores, seized whatever arms and ammunition were found, and paroled in the name of the Confederate States 1 Morgan and his captors, page 115. Morgan's Raid in Indiana 135 the Union soldiers, to the number of seventy-five or eighty, that they found in the hospital. They escaped across the river into Kentucky, with all the plunder they could carry. The only casualties were the deaths of two residents of New burg, who were seen in consultation with the raiders, and were killed by the citizens after they had left, on suspicion of having invited them over. The answer to this raid was swift and terrible. Two days afterward ten companies, organized in different parts of the State and officered by vol unteer soldiers at home on leave of absence, were in Evans ville, mustered into the United States service for thirty days. They were quickly organized as the Seventy-Sixth Regiment of Indiana Volunteers, and were sent across the river with orders to drive out the Rebel bands from Henderson county and three adjoining counties, shooting down all guerillas in arms and all making resistance, and to take no prisoners. Within a few days the troops reported that they had chased the guerrillas out of that part of Kentucky. ^ The next invasion of Indiana occurred in June of the fol lowing year. General John H. Morgan's men, collectively and in detached bands, had become famous for partisan war fare in Kentucky and Tennessee, raiding towns, holding up and robbing trains, destroying railroad property, and com- niitting deeds of violence amounting to plain highway rob bery, except so far as they were excused by a state of war. Captain Thomas Hines, of the Ninth Kentucky Cavalry, was one of the celebrated guerrilla leaders in Morgan's band. Early in June, 1863, he obtained permission from General Morgan to take such of his men as were best mounted, and scout north of the Cumberland river.^ 2 Smith's History of Indiana, pages 360, 361. Adjt. Gen. Terrell's Report, Vol. 1, page 146. s Morgan's Cavalry, page 430. 136 Morgan's Raid in Indiana On June 13th, 1863, he advanced with 120 men to Eliza bethtown, Kentucky, forty miles southwest of Louisville, where he plundered the citizens, and broke open the safe of the Adams Express Company, and stole the contents. He then stopped a south bound freight train loaded with horses, and after taking 120 of the horses set fire to the train and fled. His company was pursued by Federal troops, and part of them were captured, with some of the stolen horses.* Finding Kentucky too warm for him, he resolved to cross over into Indiana and "stir up the copperheads," as General Basil Duke expressed it.^ Two days after the raid on Elizabethtown, sixty- four of these men^ reached the Ohio river, forty miles northwest of Elizabethtown, and about half way between Louisville and Evansville, which were the nearest points on the river reached by railroads and telegraph lines. At five o'clock on Thurs day morning, June 18, they crossed on'^ wood boats into Perry county, Indiana, at Flint Island, between Rome and Cannelton,* swimming their horses twenty or thirty yards across the only part of the shallow channel which the horses could not wade.^ They were not in uniform, but were dressed in ordinary clothes, each man carrying two revolvers, 4 Louisville Journal, June 15, 1863. New Albany Daily Ledger, June 14, 1863. 5 Morgan's Cavalry, page 431. Madison Courier, June 25, 1863. New Albany Daily Ledger, June 22, 1863. 6 New Albany Daily Ledger, June 22, 1863. Indianapolis Journal, June 23, 1863. ¦7 New Albany Daily Ledger, June 22, 1863. 8 Indianapolis Journal, June 23, 1863. Madison Courier, June 24, 1863. Smith's History of Indiana, page 373. 9 New Albany Dally Ledger, June 19, 1863. Morgan's Raid in Indiana 137 while they also carried a medley of muskets, rifles and shot- guns.^** They rode north through Perry county into Orange coun ty, and as they went they made frequent stops to exchange their jaded horses for fresh ones, pretending that they were Union troops looking for deserters, and giving pretended orders on the United States quartermaster at Indianapolis in payment of any agreed difference in price.^^. They even went so far as to arrest two deserters who were pointed out to them, and compelled the prisoners to accompany them for several miles. ^^ They arrived near Orleans, in Orange county, fifty miles north, at six o'clock that evening.^^ But having become an object of suspicion and finding that the militia were gathering to oppose them, they forcibly seized the horses of a party of fourteen militiamen. Then, turn ing east to the Washington county line, and meeting a man who refused to give up his horse, they knocked him to the ground, and when he got up and ran they shot him in the back, and killed him,i* after ^hich they fled south. It was reported that they wounded three of the militia who opposed them,^^ but later reports said that there was no fighting.^^ They reached Hardinsburg, in the edge of Washington coun ty, twenty miles southeast of Orleans, the next morning be- 10 Indianapolis Dally Journal, June 23, 1863. 11 Smith's History of Indiana, page 372. 12 Indianapolis Journal, June 23, 1863. 13 New Albany Daily Ledger, June 19, 1863. 14 New Albany Daily Ledger, June 19, 22, 1863. Madison Courier, June 24, 1863. Indianapolis Daily Journal, June 23, 1863. 15 Madison Courier, June 20, 1863. New Albany Daily Ledger, June 19, 1863. 18 New Albany Daily Ledger, June 22, 1863. 138 Morgan's Raid in Indiana fore daylight. Seizing more horses, they rode south toward Leavenworth, twenty-five miles away.^'^ Coming to the residence of Bryant Breeden, three miles from Leavenworth, at about ten o'clock that morning- (Fri day) they ordered him to conduct them to a crossing, men tioning the mouth of Blue river, above Leavenworth. He managed to send his boy on foot to Leavenworth to warn the Home Guards, and then led the raiders by a round about way, and over a bluff where they could be seen from Leaven worth, across a shallow bayou, upon an island between Leav enworth and the mouth of Blue river, which- was separated from the Kentucky shore by a channel too deep for fording.^® Here the militia came up and cut off their retreat, while the steamer Izetta, which had chanced to be at Leavenworth and had there taken on a small cannon and some gunners, steamed up the river and opened fire on them.^* Three of the guer rillas were killed, one wounded and two drowned.^" Cap tain Hines escaped across the river, either by swimming^^ or in a skiff.^^ The lieutenant in command took off what was said to be the only white shirt in the rebel company and waived it in token of surrender, and fifty-four men were taken prisoners. ^^ The captured horsemen were found to "¦ New Albany Daily Ledger, June 20, 1863. 18 New Albany Daily Ledger, June 22, 1863. Madison Courier, June 24, 1863. Smith's History of Indiana, page 373. 19 New Albany Daily Ledger, June 20, 1863. Smith's History of Indiana, page 373. 20 New Albany Daily Ledger, June 20, 1863. 21 Madison Courier, June 24, 1863. New Albany Daily Ledger, June 20, 1863. 22 New Albany Daily Ledger, June 22, 1863. 2.3 New Albany Daily Ledger, June 22, 1863. Madison Courier, June 24, 1863. Morgan's Raid in Indiana 139 have considerable quantities of calicoes, besides new clothes, hats, boots and shoes, which they had stolen when they raided Elizabethtown. And when the bodies of the two drowned, Rebels were recovered, two days later, $200 in "green backs" (U. S. treasury notes) was found in the pockets of one and $480 in the pockets of the other, which was believed to be part of the money stolen from the express company at that place. But they took only horses while in Indiana, and paid with greenbacks for all the food and forage they obtained.^* The prisoners told their captors that a rebel force of fif teen hundred men would be in Indiana within the next ten days. 25 And Captain Hines, after his escape, proceeded to Brandenburg, where he arrived, alone, on the very day that Morgan reached there, and was made second in command of Morgan's advance guard, and rode with him through In diana and Ohio, and accompanied Morgan in his escape from prison and in his flight to the Confederate lines in Tennes- see.2* These raiders were said to have enquired repeatedly in Orange county for Doctor William A. Bowles, who had been the colonel of the Second Indiana Regiment, that retreated at Buena Vista, and was reputed to be a Southern sympa- thizer,^'^ and they professed disappointment at finding that everybody treated them as enemies. But the only kindness which was shown them in Indiana was by a citizen of New Amsterdam, in Harrison county, "who was found treating some of the rebel prisoners," after their capture, and who was accordingly put into jail with them.^s 24 New Albany Daily Ledger, June 22, 1863. 25 New Albany Daily Ledger, June 20, 1863. 26 Morgan's Cavalry, pages 426, 431, 485, 490. 2T Madison Courier, June 23, 24, 1863. 28 New Albany Daily Ledger, June 22, 1863. 140 Morgan's Raid in Indiana The next and last invasion of Indiana was by troops un der Morgan's immediate command the next month. With the question whether General Morgan's raid into Indiana was made with the deliberate intent to create a diversion in favor of Bragg's army, or in the hope of obtaining recruits in Southern Indiana, or whether he was forced to cross the river by the Union troops who followed him northward on his way toward Louisville, and with the question whether he acted with the full knowledge and consent of his commanding officers, or whether he disobeyed orders intentionally or from necessity, we have nothing to do. I shall not undertake to trace his movements from Tennessee through Kentucky to the Ohio river, nor from the eastern boundary of Indiana through Ohio to the place where he was captured. I write only of events in Indiana. We have seen thai; members of Captain Hines' company said as early as June 20th, that an invading army was com- ing.2® And rumors of Morgan's advance through Kentucky toward Louisville had been mentioned in the New Albany papers as early as July 3rd. But so far were the people of Louisville from expecting him to cross the river that the next morning after his advance guard reached Brandenburg both the Louisville Journal and the Louisville Democrat stated that Morgan had been defeated and was retreating. The subject of this raid'can be disposed of in a few words, but a volume would scarcely exhaust it. It was disposed of by Brigadier General James M. Shackelford, who coijnmanded under General Hobson in the pursuit of Morgan and his men, in a few terse sentences contained in his report, made August 1st, 1863, less than three weeks after the event,^^ as follows : 29 New Albany Daily Ledger, June 20, 1863. 30 Official Records, Series 1, Volume XXIII, page 640. Morgan's Raid in Indiana 141 "When we came within two miles of Brandenburg, we dis covered the smoke rising from the burning transports that had set the enemy across the river, and heard his shouts of triumph. We were twenty-four hours in obtaining transports and crossing the river. When once across the river, the pur suit was resumed. We pursued him through the State of Indiana to Harrison, Ohio. At Corydon, and other points in Indiana the enemy was met by the militia. The kindness, hospitality, and patriotism of that noble state, as exhibited on the passage of the Federal forces, was sufficient to convince the most consummate traitor of the impossibility of severing this great Union. Ohio seemed to vie with her sister In diana in facilitatng our pursuit after the great Rebel raider. In each of these two great states our troops were fed and furnished with water from the hands of men, women and children; from the palace and hut alike we shared their hospitality. . . . Our pursuit was much retarded by the enemy's burning all the bridges in our front. He had every advantage. His system of horse stealing was perfect. He would dispatch men from the head of each regiment, on each side of the road, to go five miles into the country, seizing every horse and then fall in at the rear of the column. In this way he swept the country for ten miles of all the horses. His depredations on the property of citizens, his reckless ness of the rights and lives of the people, while traveling in these states, is without parallel in the war. In order to ac complish the capture of Morgan it was indispensable that my command should have horses. We had orders to press the horses, giving receipts for them, to be settled by the govern ment; yet, in many instances, horses were taken when it was impossible to give receipts for them or to leave with the own ers any evidence of indebtedness on the part of the government. 142 Morgan's Raid in Indiana In many other instances soldiers not authorized to take horses, whose horses had given out, yet, anxious to continue the pur suit, took horses." And he concluded with a recommenda tion that commissioners be appointed to adjust these claims. The official report of Brigadier General Edward Hobson, written in September, 1863, Official Records, series 1, volume XXIII, pages 660, 661, was even shorter. Except for giving an explanation of the reason why he camped twelve miles from Brandenburg on the night that Morgan was crossing the river, and failed to reach the landing until after the ene my's troops had crossed over, and reciting the delay in pro curing steamboats from Louisville to cross the river, he re lates the incidents of his march through Indiana as follows: "In the evening (of July 9th) transports arrived and I succeeded in crossing my command by two o'clock Friday morning the tenth instant. At daylight I followed in the direction of Corydon. On the way I passed the ruins of a farm house and flouring mill which were burned by the rebels. Passing Corydon I arrived at Salem on the morning of Sat urday, July 11th. After destroying the railroad depot and robbing the stores, the enemy left, moving toward Madison via Lexington, which latter place my advance reached about 8 o'clock in the evening. Here again he changed his coui-se, moving north toward Vernon. Upon a consultation with the brigade commanders it was deemed best to halt for the night for feed and rest. The enemy, learning of the Federal force at Vernon, threatened the place with a small portion of his command, while the balance were moving on Versailles. On Sunday I moved to within a mile of Versailles, and halted to feed. From Versailles I .marched to Harrison, on the state line between Indiana and Ohio my advance arriving about dark. The enemy crossed the White Water river at Morgan's Raid in Indiana 143 this place, burning the bridge, about an hour before my ad vance arrived. The rear of my command did not arrive until nearly morning, being detained in getting the firtillery over the hills and fording the river. ... I take this opportun ity to return my thanks to (the officers, naming some of them). And to the enlisted men of my command am I es pecially under obligation for their untiring energy and cheer fulness during a long and tedious march of over 800 miles, being in the saddle most of the time for twenty-one days and nights, deprived of sleep, and often on short rations, yet they were ever eager to be moving. . . . And to the citizens of Indiana and Ohio who so generously came to our assist ance, and so generously provided for our wants, I return my thanks, and, I assure them they will ever be held in grateful remembrance by all the command." General Morgan and his officers being captured and im prisoned, no official report of the raid was made to the Con federate government. But three years later. General Basil W. Duke who commanded one of the two brigades of Mor gan's troops, wrote a history of Morgan's cavalry of which some half dozen pages are devoted to the crossing over the Ohio river at Brandenburg, and the ride through Indiana to the Ohio state line, with a liberal admixture of comment. Omitting the comments, and the recital of some incidents which I shall quote hereafter, his story of the raid through Indiana consists of a mere chronicle of daily events, as fol lows, quoting his language, but with wide ellipses: "It was nearly dark before the first brigade was all across. . . The second brigade and the artillery were gotten across by midnight. . . . The first brigade encamped that night about six miles from the river. . . . On the next day, the ninth, the division marched at an early hour, the second 144 Morgan's Raid in Indiana brigade in advance. . . . Passing through Corydon we took the Salem road and encamped sixteen or eighteen miles from the latter place. On the morning of the tenth we set out for Salem. . . A short halt was made in Salem to feed men and horses, and during that time several railroad bridges were burned. . . Leaving Salem at one or two o'clock we marched rapidly and steadily. At nightfall we reached Vien na, on the Indianapolis and Jeffersonville railroad. . . . That night we went into camp near Lexington, a little place six or seven miles from Vienna. General Morgan slept in the town with a small escort, and during the night a party of Federal cavalry entered the town and advanced as far as the house in which he slept, but retired as suddenly as they came. We moved at an early hour on the road to Paris. Colonel Smith was detached to feint against Madison, in order to hold there troops who might prove troublesome if they came out. The division moved quietly through Paris, and in the afternoon arrived in sight of Vernon. . . A strong force was posted in ernon, (but) the General was able to carry the division around the place to the Dupont road. . . . We en camped that night at 12 m. and moved next morning at 3. . . . We now averaged twenty-one hours in the saddle. Passing through Dupont a little after daylight . Colonel Grigsby was detached with his regiment to press on and burn the bridges near Versailles. . . . Wherever we passed, bridges and depots, water tanks, etc., were burned and the railroads torn up, but I know of but one private dwelling be ing burned upon the entire raid, and we were fired upon from that one. . . . Marching steadily all day and the greater part of the next night we reached a point on the . . . railroad, twenty-five miles from Harrison, called Summansville (Sun- man). Here twenty-five hundred militia lay loaded into box Morgan's Raid in Indiana 145 cars. We halted to rest, and, unconscious of our presence, although we were close upon them, they moved off in the direction of Cincinnati. Moving at 5 a. m. we reached Harri son by one o'clock of the thirteenth. . . . After two or three hours halt at Harrison the division moved directly toward Cincinnati."^"* There is some doubt as to the number of men with which Morgan crossed into Indiana. General Basil Duke said that he started from Tennessee with twenty-four hundred and sixty effective men,^! and that his effective strength on May 26th, 1863, had been twenty-eight hundred. *2 He also had two three-inch Parrott guns and two twelve-pound howitzers, and the men required to serve them. His men fought two or three encounters on their way across Kentucky, in one of which (at Columbia) General Duke says they lost thirty-six killed and about twenty-five so badly wounded that they could not ride, and he adds that five companies were detached and sent out in different direc tions on special service before Brandenburg was reached. But they were riding through a country infested with guer rilla bands, many of whom had served under Morgan. They captured and robbed the city of Lebanon, and plundered many small towns and farm houses on their way to the river, and a share of the plunder was attractive to the other bands at large in Kentucky. And the captain of the steamer J. T. McComb, after spending a day and a night in helping to ferry the force across the river, carried into Louisville the report that by actual count 4,800 men, 5,000 horses, two six-pound cannon and two twelve-pounders had crossed to the Indiana 30a. Morgan's Oavalry, pages 434 to 440. 31 Morgan's Cavalry, page 415. 32 Morgan's Cavalry, page 404. Indiana Magazine of Hlstoiy, Vol. 8 (1912), page 151. 146 Morgan's Raid in Indiana side.=*8 Morgan's force was variously estimated at from 3,000 to U,000 by persons who encountered it or saw it pass. But the number of horsemen was probably not far from 3,000, with a battery of four small cannon.^* In order to understand the route followed by Morgan through Indiana one should remember that the general course of the Ohio river from the Ohio state line tO' Madison, after making due allowance for its many windings, is almost due southwest, the first twenty-five miles running almost south, after which it curves westward; and that from Madison to Jeffersonville the river runs south thirty-five miles in going a little more than twenty-five miles west, and from New Albany to the mouth of Salt river, a distance of twenty-five miles, the river runs nearly due south, after which it curves toward the west and northwest some fifteen miles to Branden burg. And that Brandenburg is more than seventy-five miles south of a line drawn west from Lawrenceburg. Therefore, at any point reached by Morgan and his men the Ohio river lay east of them, until they had ridden northward more than seventy-five miles, and until they were many miles north of a line drawn east and west through North Vernon, Sey mour and Rising Sun. The southern border of Indiana is not an east and west line, though we often fail to realize that Seymour and North Vernon, fifty miles north of Louis ville, are farther south than Lawrenceburg and Aurora ; and that Corydon is several miles south of a line drawn west from New Albany, and the river towns along the southern border of Harrison county are twenty miles farther south than Louisville. Because of these facts, when Morgan and 33 Louisville Democrat, July 9, 1863. Madison Courier. July 11, 1863. 34 Official Records, Series 1, Vol. XXIII, page 711. Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 8 (1912), pages 151, 152. Morgan's Raid in Indiana 147 his men had ridden forty miles north from Brandenburg, to Salem, the Ohio river was only thirty-five miles away toward the east, and hardly two-thirds as far away toward the southeast, at Grassy Flats, above Jeffersonville, where it was believed that Morgan intended to re-cross the river, and where some of his followers were killed and captured in attempting to cross from the Kentucky side to join him. The small parties sent out from Morgan's army, collect ing horses and plunder, scoured the roads in all directions, north, east, south and west, thus giving rise to erroneous re ports of the direction in which the main body was moving. But the general course followed by Morgan and his army was to the north and east, almost parallel with the Ohio river. From where he crossed the river to Corydon, and for more than ten miles north of there, the road which Morgan fol lowed was all the time within fifteen miles of the Ohio river, although he was travelling nearly due north. He continued north twenty miles farther, through Palmyra to Salem, send ing one column through Greenville, five miles east of Palmyra. From Salem one column rode directly east, through Canton, New Philadelphia and Centerville, crossing the Indianapolis and Jeffersonville railroad at Vienna, while the other column rode southeast through Harristown to Memphis, twelve miles south of Vienna, and still other companies crossed the rail road at Henryville, all of the different columns coming to gether at Lexington, thirty miles east of Salem, on the rail road which runs from Jeffersonville to Greensburg. At Lex ington they were only twelve miles from the Ohio river directly east of there, and less than twenty miles from Madi son. Here the raiders turned to follow the railroad north, through Hinesville and Paris, toward Vernon, and some of the advance guards proceeded as far as the Vernon Fork of 148 Morgan's Raid in Indiana the Muskackatuk river, and challenged the Home Guards to surrender the town of Vernon. But the main body of the troops turned east through Dupont, fifteen miles northwest of Madison on the Madison and IndianapoHs railroad. Some of the troops went in the direction of Madison almost to Kent, ten miles west of there, but turned back and rejoined the main body. From Dupont to Versailles the general direc tion was northeast. But I have found no record of any towns or villages visited, in the twenty-five miles between Dupont and Versailles, except that some of the troops passed through Bryansburg, seven or eight miles east of Dupont.^^ The scouts and outriders were reported as far south as Cross Plains, Friendship, Elrod and Moores Hill, and as far north as Osgood and Napoleon. And since Osgood is fifteen miles north of Cross Plains, and Napoleon is fifteen miles northwest of Moores Hill, it is fair to assume that different columns of the troops took parallel roads and that smaller parties followed widely diverging roads. The main columns crossed the Ohio and Mississippi railroad at Pierceville, Milan and Moores Hill, tearing up the tracks. ^^ The entire body of troops came together near Sunman, about twenty miles northwest Of Lawrenceburg on the Indianapolis and Cincinnati railroad, and, crossing the railroad at Weisburg and between that station and Sunman, 3^ destroying it as they crossed, they rode directly east along the ridge which divides the creeks flowing into the Ohio river at Lawrenceburg from the small streams which flow into the White Water. The way led through Hubbell's Corners,, New Alsace, Kelso, or Dover as it was then called, and Logan, to the long hill 35 Morgan and his captors, page 144. 36 Morgan and his captors, page 144. ST History of Dearborn and Ohio Counties (Ind.), page 222. Morgan's Raid in Indiana 149 leading down into the White Water valley at Harrison, where they crossed the White Water river and passed over into the state of Ohio.^* fhe distance from where they entered the State of Indiana at Mauckport to where they left it and crossed into Ohio, at Harrison, is about 120 miles in an air line, as a carrier pigeon or an airplane might traverse it. An air line would cross the Ohio river into Kentucky ten miles below Madison and would re-cross the river into Indiana at Madison. But the roads followed by Morgan and his men wound in and out along the valleys of streams and upon the ridges which mark the watershed between winding creeks, never keeping the same course more than a few rods at a time. So that the men in the main column probably rode not less than 200 miles on Indiana soil, an average of forty miles a day,^9 -while the distance covered by the scouts and outriders was probably twice as far. The two columns in which the army moved were sometimes ten or twelve miles apart, while small parties swarmed over the roads for sev eral miles on either side, and scores of villages and hamlets, and hundreds of farm houses were visited by the Confed erates. But the written history of the raid, so far as I have been able to find, mentions only the towns which I have named; and the traditions known to me without the aid of written chronicle relate only to the last day of the raid and the last twenty miles of the course followed by the raiders in Indiana. The country through which Morgan and his troopers passed was then almost as thickly settled as it is now. Some of the towns and cities they passed through have grown a 38 Morgan and his captors, page 144. History of Dearborn and Ohio Counties (Ind.), page 222. 39 Morgan and His Captors, page 145. 150 Morgan's Raid in Indiana little, and cities not far from their hne of march have sprung into existence since then. But after the first two days Mor gan avoided the towns and the trunk roads and even from the first probably no place in Indiana that he visited had a thousand inhabitants. And so little have the villages and farms changed since then that it is doubtful whether a trav eller following along the highways over which the raiders passed from Mauckport to Harrison would pass the homes of many more people now than they passed then. There has been a change, however, which makes it almost impossible for us to realize the conditions at that time. The first auto mobile was then thirty years in the future. Today a car of some kind, propelled by gasoline, is owned on almost every farm, and dozens of them in every small town. The fastest method of communication between places not reached by railroads or telegraph lines then known was by riding on horseback. None of the turnpikes and stone roads which now thread southern Indiana had then been built. The tele phones which now spread a net work over the country and connect every farm house with all the other farm houses in the community and with the surrounding towns had not yet been invented. Instead of the maze of telegraph wires which now radiate in every direction from every town the only tele graph lines consisted of two or three wires along each rail road, used chiefly for operating trains. The associated press was not in existence, and telegraph dispatches printed in the newspapers seldom consisted of more than two or three lines. Even the issue of the Indianapolis Journal which printed the Governor's Proclamation commanding everybody in the south half of the State to arm and repel the invaders carried only half a dozen lines of telegraphic news on the subject of the raid, saying only that the rebels had crossed the river at Brandenburg, and were moving northward. And most of Morgan's Raid in Indiana 151 the accounts of Morgan's movements which the Journal printed afterward were copied from the New Albany papers or were sent by mail from local correspondents. There was no telegraph line along the river, and while Morgan's ad vance guard reached Brandenburg on Tuesday, July 7th, and captured the steamer J. T. McComb at two o'clock the next morning and the Alice Dean soon afterward, and spent Wed nesday in crossing the river, nothing was known of their presence at Louisville, forty miles up the river, until Thurs day afternoon, when the steamer, J. T. McComb, having helped to ferry the invaders across the river and then b^en sent up the river by General Hobson for transports and sup plies, got back to her wharf. And when the raiders had burned the bridges and cut the telegraph wires on the three railroads leading north from New Albany and Jeffersonville, the newspapers of those cities confessed that they were cut off from the outside world, and ceased to print any telegraph dispatches until the damage had been repaired.'*" The line of railroad now operated by the Big Four Com pany between Indianapolis and Cincinnati then reached only to Lawrenceburg. And while the Ohio and Mississippi rail road had a track west from Cincinnati through Lawrenceburg, North Vernon, Seymour and Mitchell, it was of a wider gauge than the north and south railroads which it crossed at the points named, so that cars could not be transferred from one railroad to the other. Though a few Indianapolis trains were run between Lawrenceburg and Cincinnati, using a second rail spiked inside the rail on the broader gauge rail road. And the rails of the single track roads then in use were so light, the tracks so poorly constructed, and the cars and locomotives so small, that they would seem like toys beside the double tracks, ballasted with stone, and the heavy 40 New Albany Daily Ledger, July 13, 1863. 152 Morgan's Raid in Indiana riils and monster engines and cars in use today. All the trains were local trains and only two or three a day were run in each direction, at less than half the speed that trains are run now. I have played in a barn built right against the main track of the railroad which runs from Indianapolis to Cin cinnati, so that hay could be loaded from its mows directly into cars left standing on the main track until the next train should come along to haul them away, and cars were so load ed in the year 1863. The country was covered with forests, patches being cleared for cultivation on each farm. And where eighty, a hundred, or a hundred and sixty acres of farm land now surround a dwelling, ten, twenty or forty acres were then under cultivation, and the rest of the farm was in timber. So that when the rebels had cut a railroad and telegraph line and passed on, the forest seemed to swallow them up and all was mystery until they emerged at some other point on the railroad which could be reached by telegraph. But to proceed with the story. After riding many miles. through Tennessee and across Kentucky, a detachment of about two hundred men sent forward by General Morgan rode into Brandenburg, Kentucky, on the evening of Tuesday, July 7th, 1863, while the rest of the command encamped at Salt River, several miles away. They were in plain clothes and concealed their identity until the steamer J. T. McComb landed at the wharf about two o'clock in the morning.*^ The Louisville Journal, on Thursday, giving the report of the affair as it was carried up the river after the Confed erates had gone, said of the capture of the steamer: "The rebels boarded her, took her out into the middle of the river and anchoring her there, put up signals of distress. They then commenced their chivalrous and noble deeds, rob bing the passengers and mails. "*^ 41 New Albany Daily Ledger, July 9, 1863. 42 But see Morgan and His Captors, page 116, which says the capture was in the afternoon. Morgan's Raid in Indiana 153 While they were thus engaged the steamer Alice Dean came in sight from below, and observing the signals of dis tress, went to the relief of the captured boat. She was also captured, and according to the Louisville Journal the passen gers were robbed and the boat plundered, all money and silverware being taken.43 Some citizens of Brandenburg crossed the river to Mauckport, two miles below, with the news of what was "being done, and the Union commander there hailed a passing steamboat and sent it back to Leaven worth for a six-pounder gun and assistance, and also sent to Corydon for reinforcements. At daylight this gun opened fire on the steamboats which the Confederates had captured, aiming at their boilers to disable them. But the rebel bat teries in Brandenburg drove the Home Guards from the river bank.** The main body of Morgan's men reached the river about ten o'clock Wednesday morning, and prepared to cross. Some resistance was offered by the Home Guards, but under cover of artillery fire the first brigade was carried across and drove the Home Guards away, capturing their cannon. ^s The steamer Grey Eagle, down bound from Louisville, had been intercepted at a landing farther up the river by the news of what was passing at Brandenburg, and had returned to the mouth of Salt river, and a gunboat that had been sent down from there now appeared up the river. It would seem that her most effective mode of fighting would be to fire upon 43 Louisville Journal, July 9, 1863. Madison Courier, July 10, 1863. Morgan and His Captors, page 116. 44 Morgan and His Captors, pages 117, 118. 45 Smith's History of Indiana, page 374. 154 Morgan's Raid in Indiana and sink or damage the two wooden steamboats, which alone afforded means of setting the second brigade and the horses across the river into Indiana, or of bringing back the brigade which had already crossed. But the steamboats were not harmed, and after a short artillery duel which proved that the rebel guns were of heavier caliber and longer range than her own, the gunboat steamed back to the mouth of Salt river, where West Point is now located.*® The first brigade and their horses were across the river by dark,4'f and they immediately began to plunder the citi zens. "At Mauckport," said the New Albany Ledger, pub lished two days later, "the houses of citizens were entered and the furniture broken, bed clothing and carpets torn to tatters and mirrors smashed, and a species of land piracy car ried out which would have disgusted even the West India buccaneers of the era of Lafitte." At about dark the steam boat which had carried to Salt river the news of. the invasion returned with a small force of infantry and a section of a battery of artillery, and exchanged a number of shots with the enemy, but was driven off by the superior range of the Confederate guns.** At about seven in the evening. Gen. Hobson, in command of the Union troops of which General Shackelford command ed a brigade, approaching from the southeast, learned that Morgan had captured two boats and was crossing into In diana. He also received the erroneous information that the 46 Morgan's Cavalry, pages 430, 434. Official Records, Series 1, Vol. XXVIII, pages 659, 717. New Albany Daily Ledger, July 9, 1863. 47 Morgan's Cavalry, page 434. 48 New Albany Daily Ledger, July 9, 1863. Adjt. Gen. Terrell's Report, Vol. I, page 165. Morgan's Cavalry, page 434. Morgan's Raid in Indiana 155 gunboat and transport with troops which had come down the river were at Rock Haven, a village at the southernmost bend of the Ohio river as it sweeps in a long curve around Harri son county, being about ten miles up the river toward the southeast from Brandenburg. Halting his troops near Gar- nettsville, twelve miles from Brandenburg, where a road branching off to the right led down to Rock Haven, only three miles away, he rode over to learn if the co-operation of the gunboat could be obtained for a night attack. But finding that the boats had gone to the mouth of Salt river, ten miles or more up the river, and having no means of com municating with them, he returned to his command. The night being very dark and the troops very much fatigued, and Brandenburg being deemed capable of defense by a small force against vastly superior numbers, it was not thought pru dent to undertake a night attack with his force alone.*^ At nine o'clock cannonading at the river was heard.'^ Moving forward at an early hour in the morning, the Union troops entered Brandenburg at seven o'clock.^^ Morgan's second brigade and his artillery had all crossed the river by midnight.52 But the rebels seem to have been ignorant at this time that they were closely followed by Union troops or they would probably have destroyed both of the steamers on which they crossed. They set fire to the Alice Dean and burned it and the wharf-boat, amid great cheering, which was heard by the approaching Union troops, who also saw the smoke from the hilltop two miles away.'^ General 49 Official Reports, Series 1, Vol. XXIII, page 659. 50 Official Reports, Series 1, Vol. XXIII, page 707. 51 Official Reports, Series 1, Vol. XXIII, page 659. 52 Morgan's Oavalry, page 434. 53 Louisville Democrat, July 10, 1863. Madison Courier, July 11, 1863. Official Records, Series 1, Vol. XXIII, page 640. 156 Morgan's Raid in Indiana Duke said that the boat they burned was "in Government employ."®* The other boat, the J. T. McComb, was released by the rebels, and was sent to Louisville for transports, by General Hobson, immediately on his arrival,®^ reaching there at two o'clock on the afternoon of Thursday, July 9th.56 The captain's story was that he saved his boat through the earnest intervention of Morgan's brigade commanders, Basil Duke and Bushrod Johnson, who had formerly been warm friends of his.®^ This was the first intimation that the people of Louisville and the outside world had of what was passing at Branden burg and in Harrison county. As was stated above, the Louisville Journal and Louisville Democrat had both printed dispatches the day before saying that Morgan's band had been defeated and was retreating,^* ^hich had been copied by the New Albany Daily Ledger that very morning.59 Im mediately upon the arrival of the steamboat the news was telegraphed to the military authorities®" and tO' Governor Morton. The commanding general at once telegraphed or ders to General Boyle, in command at Louisville, to "arm the Indiana Legion, Home Guards and, in fact, every fighting man you can find," in expectation of an attack on that city.®^ 54 Morgan's Cavalry, page 434. 55 Official Records, Series 1, Vol. XXIII, page 659. 56 New Albany Daily Ledger, July 9, 1863. Louisville Democrat, July 9, 1863. Madison Courier July 10, 11, 1863. 57 See authorities just cited. 58 See issues of July 8, 1863. 59 New Albany Daily Ledger, July 9, 1863. 60 Official Reports, Series 1, Vol. XXIII, pages 705, 706, 711. Report of Brigadier General Boyle, July 9, 1863. 61 Official Records, Series 1, Vol. XXIII, page 705. Morgan's Raid in Indiana 157 The telegram to Governor Morton reached IndianapoHs a little before three o'clock in the afternoon. An organization of loyal citizens throughout the state had been effected a short time before for purposes of defense which was known as the Indiana Legion. On paper its members numbered several thousand men, but they were unmounted, and many of them were unarmed;®^ and the occasion called for a rally of all the citizens, and especially those who had horses to follow Morgan's rapid movements. Therefore Governor Morton immediately issued a proclamation calling all of the people to arms. It recited the fact of the invasion and that therefore "it is hereby ordered and required that all able-bodied white male citizens of the several counties south of the National road forthwith form themselves into companies of at least 60 persons, elect officers and arm themselves with such arms as they may be able to procure. Said companies will perfect themselves in military drill as rapidly as possible and hold themselves subject to further orders from this department. It is desired that they shall be mounted in all cases where it is possible."*^ With this proclamation was posted in all the towns in the southern part of the state military orders requiring all soldiers on leave of absence and all convalescents to report immediately for duty, taking over all the railroads and telegraph lines for military purposes, and proclaiming "that all places of business except the printing offices, tele graph office, postoffice, drugstores and livery stables should be closed at three o'clock, until further orders, to give the citi- 62 Smith's History of Indiana, page 375. 63 Indianapolis Journal, July 10, 1863. JIadison Courier, July 11, 1863. Adjt. Gen. Terrell's Report, Vol. I, pages 165, 176. 158 Morgan's Raid in Indiana zens an opportunity to meet in their respective wards, and effect a thorough military organization."®* It will be observed that even in Indianapolis there was only one telegraph office at that time. Indianapolis was then a town with but little more than twenty thousand inhabitants whose residences covered only a small part of what is now the downtown district. Bells were immediately rung and whistles blown, and before dark that night twelve companies of Home Guards had been organized. Eight more companies were formed in the next few days. There was much drilling, and several times the companies were marched down to the train, but few, if any, of them were sent out of the county,®^ though a few companies of men from other parts of the state who came to Indianapolis, were sent to North Vernon®® and Sunman.®'' On Sunday afternoon, about the time that Mor gan's advance reached Versailles, the fire bells at Indianapolis were sounded, and in forty-five minutes all troops in the city were in line. Five regiments slept in the state house yard that night.®* And what was done at Indianapolis was done in forty other counties in the southern half of the state. The companies of the Legion were first in the field, but within a few hours the muster was universal. By noon of the second day fifteen thousand militia men had reported to the Governor 64 See newspapers of July 9, 10, 11, 1863. Madison Courier, July 10, 1863. 65 Dunn's History of Indianapolis, page 232, quoting reminis cences of John H. Holliday. 66 History of Dearborn and Ohio Counties (Ind.), page 220. Adjt. Gen. Terrell's Report, Vol. I, pages 165, 189. 67 New Albany Daily Ledger, July 14, 1863. 68 Indianapolis Sentinel, July 13, 1863. New Albany Daily Ledger, July 14, 1863. Dunn's History of Indianapolis, page 232. Morgan's Raid in Indiana 159 that they were organized and ready for service, and the num- ¦ber was swelled to sixty-five thousand by the time Morgan's men left the state. The generals commanding the Union troops in that part of the country ably co-operated. Troops were ordered from Michigan, ammunition from Washington, and gunboats were ordered to patrol the OhiO' river. ®9 In the meantime the invaders had plundered the citizens of Mauckport, killed five of the Harrison county Home Guards who resisted their advance at a point about two miles from the river, and started back into the interior. The first brigade, which crossed on Wednesday afternoon, burned a flouring mill owned by Peter Lapp, about three miles from the river,^" and then went into camp three miles farther on.'^^ The second brigade, which did not finish crossing until mid night, passed them in the early morning, and the whole force moved toward Corydon.''^ As they advanced the skirmishers from the Plome Guards fired on them, and at a point about four miles south of Corydon, near the residence of the Rever end Peter Glenn and his son John, somebody fired from be hind a fence and killed one of the soldiers. Neither of the Glenns was armed or had taken any part in the fighting. But the Confederates, in revenge, shot the young man through both thighs, and then set fire to the house. The father en tered the house to quench the fire or to bring something out. The soldiers ordered him to desist, and when he refused they 69 Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 8 (1912), page 152. Official Records, Series 1, Vol. XXIII, page 658, et seq. 7 0 Jlorgan and His Captors, page 120. Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 8 (1912), page 152. Adjt. Gen. Terrell's Report, Vol. I, pages 165, 183. 71 Morgan's Cavalry, page 484. 72 Morgan's Cavalry, page 435. 160 Morgan's Raid in Indiana shot him through the breast and killed him.''^ According to General Duke this was the only private dwelling burned in the entire raid;''* but William Heth, an old man who kept the toll gate near Corydon, was also shot to death in his house,''" and according to a report which reached New Albany that night, the house was burned.''® As they came near Corydon, fourteen miles inland, Mor gan's advance guard found a body of militia posted behind rail barricades. A charge was beaten back, but,, the artillery ,having come up and opened fire and demonstrations having been made upon their flanks, the defenders of the barricade fled before a second charge, with the loss of three killed and two wounded.'''' Another Plome Guard fell dead from his horse, without the slightest appearance of a wound, just as the retreat began. "'* The Confederate loss was eight killed, including General Morgan's acting adjutant, and thirty-three wounded. '9 Of these, a lieutenant, a surgeoii and six enlisted men who were left at Corydon because they were too badly injured to ride were placed under arrest by the provost mar shal and sent to the military prison at Louisville. 8" Two oth ers of the wounded men died at Corydon after their com- 73 New Albany Daily Ledger, July 10, 13, 1863. Jlorgan and His Captors; page 120. Smith's History of Indiana, page 375. 74 Morgan's Cavalry, page 439. 7.T Morgan and His Captors, pages 123, 124. 7 6 New Albany Daily Ledger,, July 10, 1863. 77 Adjt. Gen. Terrell's Report, Vol. I, pages 121, 122, 123. ?iIorgan and His Captors, pages 121, 122, 123. 78 Morgan and His Captors, page 130. 79 Morgan and His Captors, page 124. 80 New Albany Daily Ledger, .July 13, 1863. Morgan's Raid in Indiana 161 panions had ridden away.^i Three hundred of the Home Guards surrendered and were immediately paroled.*^ The editor of the Corydon Democrat, who was also a state senator, and the county auditor, who met the invaders to intercede for the town, were reciuired to ride into Corydon at the head of the Confederate column, between two soldiers, their captors declaring that if they were shot at these two gentlemen should be killed.*^ The resistance offered by the Home Guards of Harrison county had so delayed the march of the invaders that after the advance guard had been twen ty-four hours in Indiana and the rear guard more than half as long they had only advanced fourteen miles, while they rode forty miles in the next twenty-four hours,** and ad vanced that far or farther each of the next three days they were in Indiana. The Confederates reached Corydon about six o'clock Thursday evening and General Morgan went at once to the hotel and to sleep. ^^ Passing through Corydon they pushed on eight or ten miles, through Salisbury, until near Palmyra, when they went into camp,*® but were on the move again after two or three hours.*'' While they were encamped here the last of their pursuers reached the Indiana side, twenty-five miles away to the south, at about two o'clock in the morning. On the way up from Corydon one citizen who tried to run away upon meeting the soldiers was shot and painfully wounded.** By this /time the Confederates had collected more than five hundred horses, having displayed 81 Morgan and His Captors, page 130. Adjt. Gen. Terrell's Report Vol. I, pa.ges 165, 184. 82 Morgan and His Captors, page 124. 83 Morgan and His Captors, page 127. 84 Jlorgan and His Captors, page 119. S5 Morgan and His Captors, page 124. Adjt. Gen. Terrell's Report, Vol. I, pages 165, 182. 86 Jlorgan's Cavalry, page 135. 87 Morgan and His Captors, page 135. 8S Jlorgan and His Captors, page 135. 162 Morgan's Raid in Indiana remarkable ingenuity in searching out the places where horses were hidden, and taking all they could find, with strict impar tiality, from avowed enemies and professed sympathizers. On Friday morning, July 10, the troops moved in two columns, one advancing north through Paknyra, and the other through Greenville, five or six miles further east. At about the same hour, the Union troops took up their march toward Corydon. A party of three hundred and fifty Home Guards who had collected at Palmyra, retreated toward Salem.*9 A dozen outriders in advance of the invading army came upon a small ^ company of Home Guards as they approached Salem, and dashed in among them. They fled, and the rebel advance guard coming up they were pursued into town, where a large company of Home Guards, with a swivel cannon about eighteen inches long, that had been used to celebrate holidays, were stationed in the public square. They were dispersed, and, the gunner having dropped the coal of fire with which he was about to touch off the cannon, it was captured before he could get another.9o A hundred or more of the Home Guards were taken prisoners, but were paroled. ^^ And it may be remarked, in passing, that all of the Home Guards captured throughout the raid were paroled, or were released after being compelled to accompany the invading force for a few miles. At eight o'clock in the morning the telegraph operator at Salem sent a message to New Albany stating that Morgan's men were in town and he would be off to safer quarters, adding that "Morgan is moving in two col umns on parallel roads." The operator carried away his in struments and saved them from falling into the enemy's hands. ®2 89 Indiana JIagazine of History, Vol. 8 (1912), page 155. 90 Morgan's Cavalry, pages 435, 436. 91 Morgan and His Captors, page 136. Madison Courier, July 11, 1863. 92 New Albany Daily Ledger, July 10, 1863. Morgan's Raid in Indiana 163 The rebels rode into Salem about nine o'clock,93 at the same time that Hobson's men were nearing Corydon, twenty- five miles away. 94 Bodies of Confederate troops were re ported east of Greenville, fifteen miles northwest of New Albany at eight o'clock, and some of the scouts burned the railroad bridge at Farrabee Station, fifteen miles further north, at ten o'clock.95 A short halt was made in Salem to feed the men and horses.'-"® Four or five bridges were burned, including the railroad bridges,®' and also a water tank and the depot.98 At Corydon Morgan had demanded $1,000 each from the owners of the three flouring mills, under penalty of having the mills burned if the money was refused, but finally conmiuted the demand for $2,100 in greenbacks,**® and he also took $750 from the county treasurer.^ A stonemill was burned which presumably was not ransomed.^ One store was plundered of a stock of clothing, hats, and boots and shoes said to be worth $3,500, for which the rebels pre tended to pay with $140 in Confederate script. And some others lost parts of their stock. But a number of the stores in Corydon were not molested.^ The invaders took advantage of the stop at Salem, how ever, to do a more thorough job of plundering the town than had before been done. A thousand dollars was exacted from 93 Jlorgan and His Captors, page 135. 94 Adjt. Gen. Terrell's Report, Vol. I, pages 165, 186. 9.J New Albany Dally Ledger, July 10, 1863. 96 Morgan's Cavalry, page 437. 97 Morgan's Cavalry, page 436. Morgan and His Captors, page 136. 98 New Albany Daily Ledger, July 11, 1863. 99 Morgan and Plis Captors, page 125. New Albany Daily Ledger, July 13, 1863. Adjt. Gen. Terrell's Report, Vol. I, page 183. 1 Morgan and His Captors, page 125. 2 New Albany Daily Ledger, July 10, 1863. 3 Morgan and His Captors, pages 124, 125. 164 Morgan's Raid in Indiana the owner of each mill. And it was reported that having counted the roll of bills offered by one of the millers in pay ment of the blackmail, and found that it contained $1,200, Morgan gave back $200, saying, "Do you think I would rob you of a cent?"* The banks had been warned and had sent their money out of town. But the clothing stores were brok en open, and the men helped themselves to new clothes, throwing away their old ones. The dry goods stores, liquor stores and saddle shops were also plundered. "The ragamuf fins were particularly delighted with the style of Salem cloth ing and the quality of Salem whiskey."^ They left Salem at two o'clock.® One column marched directly east, through Canton, New Philadelphia and Centerville, and crossed the Jeffersonville and Indianapolis railroad at Vienna, three or four miles south of where Scottsburg is now, located.'' The other column rode southeast through Harristown and crossed the railroad at Memphis, twelve miles south of Vienna, and at Henryville, between there and Vienna.* At Vienna the telegraph sta tion and the operator were' captured, before the operator could give an alarm, and General Morgan put one of his own men in charge of the office, who listened on the wires until he had learned all the news to be obtained from Louisville and In dianapolis, including the fact that orders had been issued to the militia to fell timber and blockade all the roads the in vaders would be likely to travel.® 4 Morgan and His Captors, pages 136. 5 New Albany Daily Ledger, July 11, 1863. 6 Morgan's Cavalry, page 437. 7 Madison Courier, July 11, 12, 1863. New Albany Daily Ledger, July 10, 13, 1863. Indianapolis Journal, July 11, 1863. Morgan and His Captors, page 139. 8 New Albany Daily Ledger, July 10, 1863. 9 Morgan's Cavalry, page 437. Morgan's Raid in Indiana 165 At this time the Confederates doubtless also learned that a Union force had crossed the river and was following only a few miles behind them. This was about eleven o'clock on the evening of Friday, July 10,i® about six hours after Mor gan's advance had been reported to be at Canton, fifteen miles away, 11 and his rear guard passed through Vienna at eight o'clock the next morning, having camped in the mean time.!^ At noon that day the Union troops were reported only sixteen miles behind,!^ and their advance reached Vienna at half past three the next afternoon, seven hours behind the rear guard of the Confederates.^* Morgan sent out scouts and small parties seeking for horses on all the diverging roads, and the fleeing inhabitants carried the word that his troops were advancing in as many directions and toward as many places as his scouts rode.^^ While his army was turning east from Salem, the word came to Madison that they had been at Paoli, twenty-five miles west, and at Brownstown, as many miles north of there. i® And when they were turning north from Lexington toward Paris and Vernon on Saturday, they were reported within a mile and a half of Kent, and then word came that they had turned south, and also that they had turned North.^'' At both Memphis and Vienna the railroad depots were 10 New Albany Daily Ledger, July 13, 1863. But see Morgan's Cavalry, page 437. 11 Official Records, Series 1, Vol. XXIII, page 718. 12 New Albany Daily Ledger, July 11, 13, 1863. 13 Madison Courier, July 11, 1863. Indianapolis Journal, July 11, 1863. 14 Official Records, Series 1, Vol. XXIII, page 727. 15 Adjt. Gen. Terrell's Report, Vol. 1, pages 165, 190, 191. Foulke's Life of Morton, page 281. 16 Madison Courier, July 11, 1863. Adjt. Gen. Terrell's Report, Vol. I, pages 165, 190, 191. 17 Madison Courier, July 11, 1863. 166 Morgan's Raid in Indiana burned, the tracks torn up and the telegraph wires cut, and at Vienna they also burned the water station, the turn table, and a railroad bridge near the town. It should be re membered that at that time all the railroad bridges were built entirely of wood, iron bridges being a later development. The raiders also "robbed all the stores in town and sacked private houses. "i* Except for the affronts that were necessarily incident to ripping open the bedding, tearing up carpets, opening clocks and throwing down mirrors and other articles of furniture in a search for hidden money, and taking whatever they coveted, the men were respectful to the women along the way, and no violence was offered to any of them.i® But they took food for themselves and forage for their horses wherever they found it. And their looting was thus described by General Duke, Morgan's second in command: "The disposition for wholesale plunder exceeded anything that any of us had ever seen before. . . . Calico was a staple article of appropriation — each man (who could get one) tied a bolt of it to his sad dle, only to throw it away and get a fresh one at the first opportunity. They did not pillage with any sort of method or reason. One man carried a bird cage with three canaries in it, for two days. Another rode with a chafing dish, which looked like a small metallic coffin, on the pummel of his sad dle, until an officer forced him to throw it away. Although the weather was intensely warm, another slung seven pairs of skates around his neck. . . . Passing through Dupont a new feature in the practice of appropriation was developed. A large meat packing establishment was in this town, and each man had a ham slung at his saddle."2o In addition to 18 New Albany Daily Ledger, July 11, 1863. 19 Morgan and His Captors, page 141. 20 Morgan's Cavalry, pages 436, 437, 438. Morgan's Raid in Indiana 167 taking two thousand canvased hams from his pork house at Dupont, the owner's store was also broken open and robbed of clothing, boots and shoes, to the value of $1,6(X) or more.^i All blacksmith tools and other articles which could be of ser vice to a pursuing force, if not carried away, were de- .stroyed.22 Passing through Vienna and Memphis, both columns of the Confederate army marched to Lexington, six miles east of Vienna on the railroad leading from Jeffersonville through North Vernon to Greensburg.^* The advance guard arrived at about eleven o'clock, and went into camp. 2* No organized resistance had been met on the second day of their advance into Indiana. But they shot five men that day, at different points along the way, all of them, it would seem, for attempt ing to run away when commanded to halt, upon suddenly meeting the invaders.^'' And similar outrages were commit ted on the rest of their march. The rear guard encamped at Vienna, and moved toward Lexington in the early morn- ing,2® reaching there about eight o'clock.2'' Lexington was then the county seat of Scott county. By cutting the rail road and telegraph lines at this point Louisville was cut off from communication toward the north, the other two lines having been already destroyed, and a raiding party having ridden around the city on the south and cut the telegraph wires in Kentucky. This was a party of 120 men which had left Morgan's command fifty miles south of the Ohio 21 Morgan and His Captors, page 140. 22 New Albany Daily Ledger, July 11, 1863. 23 New Albany Daily Ledger, July 11, 1863. 24 New Albany Daily Ledger, July 11, 1863. Morgan's Cavalry, page 435. 25 Morgan and His Captors, page 135. 26 Madison Courier, July 14, 1863. 27 New Albany Daily Ledger, July 11, 1863. 168 Morgan's Raid in Indiana river, with directions to cross the river at Twelve Mile Is land and rejoin the division at Salem,28 and so well had they done their work that for two days New Albany and Louis ville were almost entirely isolated.^® At Lexington the Con federate troops were within ten miles of the Ohio river di rectly east of them, and within fifteen miles of the crossing at Grassy Flats, near Twelve Mile Island, where there was a ford.so And at about three o'clock that afternoon the company which had been detached for a raid south of Louis ville^i attempted to cross the river into Indiana at the Grassy Flats,*- but were intercepted by some armed steamboats sent up the river, and twenty men were captured on Twelve Mile Island one of whom was a captain, together with forty-five horses.** Part of the rebels succeeded in crossing into Indiana, but not in rejoining General Morgan. Forty-seven of them had a skirmish the next night with the Third Indiana Cavalry, when three were wounded and nineteen taken prisoners.** And on Saturday afternoon in a skirmish with what was be lieved to be the remnant of the same company, near Pekin, between Salem and New Albany, one was killed, five wound ed, and twenty taken prisoners,*^ among them being Adjutant General Davis of Duke's brigade.*® 28 Morgan's Cavalry, page 428. New Albany Daily Ledger, July 11, 1863. 29 New Albany DaUy Ledger, July 13, 1863. 30 Indianapolis Journal, July 14, 1863. *i Morgan's Cavalry, page 428. 32 New Albany Daily Ledger, July 11, 13, 1863. *3 Official Record, Series 1, Vol. XXIII, pages 725, 729, 741, 745. Madison Courier, July 14, 1863. New Albany Daily Ledger, July 12, 1863. 3* Official Records, Series 1, Vol. XXIII, page 733. Madison Courier, July 14, 1863. 35 Official Records, Series 1, Vol. XXIII, page 741. 36 New Albany Daily Ijedger, July 13, 1863. Morgan's Raid in Indiana 169 At Lexington General Morgan slept in the town with a small escort, and during the night a party of Federal cavalry entered the town and advanced as far as the house where he was sleeping,*'' and in departing three of them fell into the hands of the rebels.** Morgan's men moved north early Saturday morning, along the railroad through Paris toward Vernon, a detachment being sent in the direction of Madison to hold there any troops who might prove troublesome if they came out.*® As they approached the river bridge south of Vernon in the afternoon they found a party of Home Guards drawn up across the road, who refused a summons to sur render. The officer commanding asked for time to remove the noncombatants, which was granted,*® and General Mor gan hurried away on the road to Dupont, while the Home Guards were preparing for battle. His skirmishers burned a bridge or two, and kept up a show of attacking until the main body of the troops were far away to the east.*^ Union scouts who followed the skirmishers captured nineteen strag- glers.*3 The railroad tracks were torn up and the telegraph wires cut south of Vernon, and a scouting party of the rebels penetrated to the Ohio and Mississippi railroad tracks west of North Vernon ,and destroyed part of them.** Darkness came on while the defenders of Vernon were awaiting an attack. Suddenly a great noise was heard of something splashing across the stream from the south and 37 Morgan's Cavalry, page 437. Adjt. Gen. Terrell's Report, Vol. I, pages 165, 187. 38 Madison Courier, July 11, 1863. 39 Morgan's Cavalry, pages 437, 438. Official Records, Series, 1, Vol. XXIII, page 733. 40 Official Records, Series 1, Vol. XXIII, page 733. New Albany Daily Ledger, July 13, 1863. History of Dearborn and Ohio Counties (Ind.), page 221. 41 Morgan's Cavalry, page 438. 42 New Albany Daily Ledger, July 13, 1863. 43 New Albany Daily Ledger, July 13, 1863. 170 Morgan's Raid in Indiana rushing up the north bank, directly toward where a company of the militia had been stationed to guard a ford. The creek made a sharp turn at this point, and the top of a bank fifteen or twenty feet high was almost directly behind the guards. In the darkness and confusion a number of the defenders went over this bank and fell to the bottom, some of them being severely injured. The noise of the supposed attack was made by a large number of horses and cattle that had been collected south of the little river and were being driven across to the north side to avoid being stolen by the rebels.** The invading army was already miles away. But the Hst of the injured at the "Battle of Finney's ford," as it was called, was greater than at any encounter of the militia with Mor gan's men in Indiana, after his first day in the State. The detachment which had marched toward Madison re joined the main army near Vernon, after it had turned east toward Dupont.*^ The Confederates camped just outside of Dupont at midnight, and moved the next morning at three o'clock, passing through Dupont a little after daylight.*® But when the troops went into camp many of the officers sought entertainment in the village. General Morgan and his staff went to the home of Mr. Thomas Stout, and compelled hiin and . his family to vacate the beds in which they were sleeping. Then, commanding the wife and daughters to have breakfast ready at four o'clock, and Mr. Stout to call them at that hour, the officers took possession of the beds and slept three or four hours. Partly by force and partly by promises of a liberal reward, Mr. Stout was induced to act as guide on their way eastward. Without allowing him time to eat any break- 44 History of Dearborn and Ohio Counties (Ind.), page 221. 45 Morgan's Cavalry, pa,ge 438. Morgan and His Captors, page 140. 46 Morgan's Cavalry, page 438. Morgan's Raid in Indiana 171 fast after the officers had finished, he was put on a sharp backed horse, without a saddle and required to ride at a long trot for twelve miles until his knowledge of the roads was exhausted, when he was set on foot without any of the prom ised greenbacks to find his way home as he might.*'^ Many of the Confederate officers breakfasted with the citizens of Dupont,** and some of them paid or offered to pay for their entertainment. *9 It was reported that they were two hours passing through Dupont, riding four abreast.^® The Home Guards .had begun to retard the progress of the invaders by felling trees and bush-whacking."i But this was their first experience at fighting. They had not had the training which two years among the swarming bands of guer rillas had given their neighbors on the other side of the river. They were so numerous, however, that General Basil Duke expressed the opinion that if they had come upon the Confederates as the fierce Kentucky Home Guards would have done when collected in such numbers, instead of waiting to be attacked while the enemy maneuvered around them, the Confederates could not have forced their way through. ^^ The Union troops were now close behind, having camped at Lexington the night before, at the same place where Mar- gan's men had camped the previous night, and gained sev eral miles by going to Dupont in a more direct route, without passing Vernon. The Confederate rear guard left Dupont at eight o'clock Sunday morning, and General Hobson's ad- 47 Morgan and His Captors, pages 141, 142. Cincinnati Commercial, July 19, 1863. 48 Morgan's Cavalry, page 438. 49 Morgan and His Captors, page 143. 50 Indianapolis .Tournal. July 14, 1863. New Albany Daily Ledger, July 14, 1863. 51 Madison Courier. .luly 11, 1863. 52 Morgan's Cavalry, page 439. 172 Morgan's Raid in Indiana \'ance guard arrived at one o' clock. s* The Confederates were spending twenty-one hours a day in the saddle. But the pace was telling on them, and there was much straggling. At Dupont thirty stragglers were captured by. a band of mili tiamen said to number only twenty.^* The Union troops, compelled to depend for remounts on the horses which the enemy had abandoned, supplemented by the few that they had overlooked, were riding as hard to overtake them. From Dupont to Versailles, a distance of twenty-five miles, the route lay through a country not reached by railroads or telegraph lines, and no report of the move ments of pursuers or pursued reached the outside world. Nearly everybody believed the Confederates would attempt to cross into Kentucky at Aurora or Lawrenceburg, and not pass near Versailles. ^^ When Morgan's advance guard reached Versailles, they dashed into the town where several hundred Home Guards were devising means of defend ing the place and broke up the council."® A young farmer, of the neighborhood, mounted on a fleet horse, started down the road at breakneck speed through Dillsboro, toward Auro ra, shouting to everybody that Morgan was coming. He reached Aurora, twenty miles away, in less than two hours, and saved his horse from capture.s'' But none of the rebels followed after him, except to collect all the horses for sev eral miles in that direction. They robbed the county treas urer at Versailles of $5,000 of pubhc funds,«8 and captured a large number of horses, rather better stock than they had 53 Morgan and His Captors, pages 140, 142. Morgan's Cavalry, page 138. 54 Smith's History of Indiana, pages 378. ¦•'' Adjt. Gen. Terrell's Report, Vol. I, pages 165, 190, 191. 66 Morg.in's Cavalry, page 439. 57 A^ersalUes Republican, June 4, 1913. 58 Adjt. Gen. Terrell's Report, Vol. I, pages 165, 190. Morgan's Raid in Indiana 173 before obtained in Indiana, according to General Duke.^® The acts of this young man and of other horsemen who dashed ahead to give the alarm whenever any of the invaders were seen on any road, led to reports being sent out that Mor gan's main force was at Cross Plains®® and at Dillsboro,®^ on the way to Aurora, and even that they had reached Aurora. '^^ But the fact that my father, with his squad, picketed the road leading into Aurora that night and the next day, and that every man that my infancy knew who had not enlisted in the army, and many who had, were under arms to repel Morgan, and that my childhood was nourished on traditions of this raid, enable me to say positively that the main body of the invaders was not within a dozen miles of Aurora or Law renceburg. Detachments seeking horses probably visited both of them,®* and all other places within many miles of the line of march on either side, pretending to be Home Guards or Union troops in pursuit of Morgan when they were stopped and questioned. They were not in uniform, but most of them were wearing clothes from the stores which they had pil laged, and riding horses which they had taken from Indiana farmers, not different from the clothes worn and the horses ridden by the Home Guards with which the country was swarming. I know from traditions that horses were stolen on the road leading along the river south of Aurora, and that at least two of Morgan's men were arrested when riding into Aurora, were taken before the commanding officer and by him released, as being Plome Guards, and were re-arrested when riding north out of Aurora toward Sunman, and were 59 Morgan's Cavalry, page 439. 60 Madison Courier, July 13, 1863. 61 Indianapolis Journal, July 13, 1863. 62 Adjt. Gen. Terrell's Report, Vol. I, pages 165, 190, 191. Foulke's Life of Morton, page 281. 63 Indianapolis Journal, July 14, 1863. 174 Morgan's Raid in Indiana sent to the military prison. The people of Aurora believed that Morgan and his men were coming, and the women and children and old men spent Saturday night in the woods on the hill overlooking the town. While parties of scouts were stationed along the roads toward the west and south, mounted on fleet horses, with instructions to bring the word as fast as a horse could gallop when the invaders came in sight, and bodies of Home Guards and soldiers were held at Aurora, and at Lawrenceburg, three miles away, ready to march out and meet Morgan on w:hichever road he might appear. The Ohio river had by this time risen more than six feet, so that it could not be fofded at any place above the Grassy Flats, and as it was not believed possible that Morgan could get past Cincinnati, nobody doubted that he would attempt to cross into Kentucky at either Aurora or Lawrenceburg. Mean while he and his men were riding steadily northeast, nearly parallel with the general course of the river. The column which passed through Versailles reached there about one o'clock Sunday afternoon, and the rear guard left the town at four o'clock.®* A squad of sixty men moved on Osgood, five or six miles north of Versailles, and burned the bridge over Laughery creek on the Ohio and Mississippi railroad, and took the telegraph operator prisoner. They and perhaps some others then passed north along the Michigan road to Napoleon and turned east toward Sunman. From Osgood the railroad turned sharply to the southeast, through Moores Hill to Au rora, and one of the main columns of the invaders marched 64 New Albany Daily Ledger, July 13, 1863. But see Madison Courier, July 13, 1863, which states that Mor gan's men rode through Versailles four to six deep and were from 5 to 10 o'clock in the forenoon in passing. \ Morgan's Raid in Indiana 175 through Moores Hill, and thence toward Sunman, while oth ers crossed the railroad at Milan and PierceviHe.so At one o'clock Sunday afternoon General Hobson's men were reported only a short distance behind Morgan's troops,®® and they reached Versailles on Sunday evening, only four hours behind the Confederates, having gained an hour on them since leaving Dupont. That is, there was an interval of only four hours between the departure of the last of the Confederates and the arrival of the first of their pursuers.®'' The Union troops halted to feed their horses about a mile west of Versailles,®* and at some time late that night or early Monday morning the main body of the Con federates also stopped in the woods west of Sunman.®® They were doubtless spread out over several miles, on the different roads along which they were advancing, and one of the camps was reported to be near Napoleon. This camp was visited by some of the Home Guards from Morris,''® who reported that Morgan had six thousand men and four pieces of artillery. Sunday forenoon a regiment of about three hundred men was sent down from Indianapolis as far as Newpoint, some fifteen miles northwest of Sunman. Here they left the train and marched toward Sunman, where they met a regiment and a smaller detachment that had come up the railroad from Lawrenceburg. The total number that were at Sunman that Sunday evening and night were not less 65 New Albany Daily Ledger, July 14, 1863. 66 Madison Courier. July 14, 1863. 67 New Albany Daily Ledger, July 14, 1863. Madison Courier, July 13, 1863. 68 Official Records, Series 1, Vol. XXIII, page 659. 69 Indianapolis Journal, July 14, 1863. Morgan's Cavalry, page 439. History of Dearborn and Ohio Counties (Ind.), page 222. 70 Indianapolis Journal, July 14, 1863. 176 Morgan's Raid in Indiana than twelve hundred Home Guards,'' ^ and were currently reported to be as many as twenty-five hundred.'^^ Some of Morgan's advance scouts had an encounter with these Home Guards in which one man of the Union force was killed, and the rebels fled south in the direction of Law renceburg and Aurora.''* They were reported by the Home Guards to be a small detachment sent out for the purpose of destroying the railroad.''* Unconscious 'of the presence of the main body of the invaders a short distance back in the woods, and fearing that Morgan's army would march down Manchester Ridge and find Lawrenceburg undefended, the militia at Sunman boarded their train at about four o'clock in the morning, ''^ and started for Lawrenceburg by rail.'® Moving an hour later at about five o'clock on Monday morning,'''' in two converging columns, Morgan's advance crossed the Indianapolis and Cincinnati railroad at Weisburg, sixteen miles from Lawrenceburg, and at VanWeddon's Switch, two miles farther west, stopping only to tear up the railroad tracks and cut the telegraph wires, and turned toward New Alsace.''* His rear guard, ten miles behind, having burned two Ohio and Mississippi railroad bridges near 71 Official Records, Series 1, Vol. XXIII, pages 740, 741. 72 Morgan's Cavalry, page 439. Ajt. Gen. Terrell's Report, Vol. 1, page 165, 192. 73 Official Records Series, 1 Vol. XXIII, page 741. Indianapolis Journal, July 13, 1863. 74 Official Record, Series 1, Vol. XXIII, pages 740, 741. 75 Indianapolis Journal, July 14, 1863. 76 Official Records, Series 1, Vol. XXIII, page 741. New Albany Daily Ledger, July 13, 1863. Indianapolis Journal, July 13, 14, 1863. Morgan's Cavalry, page 439. 77 Morgan's Cavalry, page 439. 78 Official Records, Series 1, Vol. XXIII, page 740, 743. History of Ohio and Dearborn Counties (Ind.), p. 222. Morgan's Raid in Indiana 177 Moores Hill, and the depot at that place, left Moores Hill at one o'cloclc Monday morning,''® and at about noon, on Monday, reached a point east of New Alsace, in Big Tanner's creek and on the Logan Ridge beyond, where they stopped to feed their horses. A small party of the scouts rode south from New Alsace along the ridge about three miles, looking for horses, where they shot and killed a neighbor of my father's, John Sawdon, in his front door yard, without cause or provocation so far as those who saw the act could learn. The total number of persons who were thus killed by Mor gan's men in their passage through the State has never been compiled, but it was probably not less than eighteen or twen ty. On the next ridge, a mile away across the creek, two of my father's neighbors who resisted the scouts with shotguns and turned them back, escaped a like fate by dropping their guns and running away through the woods. The Confederate advance pressed on and reached Harri son, where they crossed the White Water river, and passed into Ohio, the advance guard arriving at about one in the afternoon.*® So close was the pursuit that General Hobson's advance passed through New Alsace only two hours after the last of Morgan's men were gone. As they approached Harrison, the scouts riding in advance of the Union army were within four miles, about one hour's ride on worn out horses, of the last of the raiders.*^ The first of the Union troops reached Harrison about dark,*- and this was near the middle of July, when the sun did not set until long after seven. 79 New Albany Daily Ledger, July 13, 14, 1863. Madison Courier, July 13, 1863. 80 Morgan's Cavalry, page 439. 81 Official Report, Series 1, Vol. XXIII, page 659. Madison Courier, July 16, 1863. 82 Official Records, Series 1, Vol. XXIII, page 659. 178 Morgan's Raid in Indiana As they rode down the hill toward the river, west of Harrison, they could see the long line of Confederate cavalry stretch ing away toward the east as they climbed the hill on the other side. But the bridge over the White Water had been burned an hour before, and the rest of Hobson's command straggled for miles in the rear, so that it was nearly morning (before the last of his men, detained in getting the artillery over the hills and fording the river, at last marched into Harrison.** At each place the sdldiers passed there was an interval between the arrival of the advance scouts and the departure of the rear guard of either army, which was sometimes sev eral hours long. But the distance between the front and rear of the Confederate army shortened as their pursuers gained on them, in the race eastward, while Hobson's advance, in the eagerness of the pursuit, fairly ran away from his artil lery and rear guard, and at the last had left it seven or eight hours, perhaps twenty miles, behind. One company of the Confederates stopped to feed their horses east of New Alsace at a farm where the barn had just been filled with newly cut oats, and compelled the owner to carry out oats for the horses until he was nearly exhausted, menacing him with a gun when he showed signs of stopping. Instead of sym pathizing with him, his numerous family were delighted with his treatment. For while he had brothers and uncles, cousins and second cousins, and more distant relatives in the Union army, he had the reputation of being the only southern sympathizer in the county who bore his name. At this place also occurred one of the many clashes between the Confed erates and the Home Guards, which gave rise to so many con tradictory reports as to where the rebels were and where they were going. Governor Morton's proclamation, four days before, had merely commanded the loyal citizens to form 83 Official Records, Series 1, Vol. XXIII, page 659. Morgan's Raid in Indiana 179 themselves intO' companies, elect officers, arm and mount themselves, and hold themselves subject to further orders. No provision had been made for forming the companies into regiments, except as this might be done by "further or ders." But it was not to be expected that a company of fifty or sixty energetic men, organized in a township where there was no military command, having reported at the nearest telegraph office and learned that the wires from Indianapolis had been cut, would sit idly down and wait for some one to lead them against an enemy that was stealing the horses and pillaging the homes of their neighbors, and advancing toward their own farms. Scores of these bands, left without any directing authority, set out on their own account to "find John Morgan." One of these companies was commanded by Doctor Jonathan Flood, a physician who also was a Metho dist preacher, in charge of a circuit of three country churches in Dearborn county, varying in distance from three to seven miles from the route taken by the rebel troops. His com pany was made up of members of his several congregations, most of them fathers of famihes, for nearly all the young men were away in the army. It had been reported that Mor gan's troops were seen on Sunday night near Sunman, and everybody knew that small parties bent on horse stealing were often many miles from his main army. So, in default of orders. Flood and his men set out that Monday morning, ranging the country north of their homes. As they came out on top of the ridge, they saw a picket guard of several men on the other side of a ravine and began shooting at them. But shots fired by untrained men from the backs of horses not accustomed to stand under fire were not very dangerous, especially when the guns were only shotguns loaded with slugs, and the long, heavy, muzzle loading rifles, ordinarily used only in the squirrel season, and for shooting hogs at the 180 Morgan's Raid in Indiana annual butchering. The pickets retreated slowly through the woods, over the brow of the hill, as the foremost of the Home Guards charged down into the hollow and up the hill after them. As the pursuers came up on level ground they saw great numbers of soldiers on horseback stretching away in each direction, hastily formed in line of battle to meet an attack. Wheeling about they galloped madly away, be lieving and telling everybody they met that Morgan's whole army was after them. And though frightened off the direct road to Lawrenceburg by an unfounded report that Confeder ate troops had been seen on that road, they galloped in a roundabout course, eighteen or twenty miles, and never stopped until they rode into Lawrenceburg, still firmly con vinced that an army was on their track. But Morgan's men, glad to see them running away, had hastened off toward the east. Two or three of the foremost Home Guards, however, had followed so closely after the fleeing pickets, that the pickets turned on them after giving the alarm and took them prisoners. Their horses (and each was mounted on the fleetest and best horse he had) were taken from them, and they were compelled to accompany their captors on foot to Harrison, where they were detained until evening, after the bridge had been burned. They were then released, and having waded the river through water up to their necks they started to climb the long hill toward home. Two or three miles out they met a column of horsemen, in nondescript clothes cov ered with dust, who halted them and demanded to know who they were. They answered that they were farmers on the way home from town. But, believing these were some more of the rebels, one of the men added that they were southern sympathizers, which the others did not contradict. Th'e questioners proved to be the Union advance guard, and the men again found themselves prisoners, and were compelled Morgan's Raid in Indiana 181 to walk back to Harrison and wade across the river. At Har rison they were recognized, and were again released, long after dark, and permitted to wade the river a third time, and to start on a ten mile walk toward home. The invasion of Indiana was at an end, but not the blood shed. A report that Morgan was at Harrison reached Law renceburg, with the further report that he had turned south and was advancing upon Lawrenceburg to capture it and cross into Kentucky. Two regiments of militia were imme diately ordered to positions two or three miles northeast of the town, near where Lawrenceburg Junction is now located. A canal then led up the valley of the Miami river, along a right of way on which the Indianapolis and Cincinnati rail road was afterward built, and at this point a great bend in the old channel of the river brought it nearly to the foot of a steep hill along which ran the highway with the canal just below it. This narrow place in the valley west of the Miami river was chosen to make a stand against the expected in vasion. In marching out to the position assigned to it one of the regiments came to where the road doubled sharply on itself and climbed twenty-five or thirty feet up the hill side in getting from a little hamlet called Hardentown out upon the highway leading toward Harrison. Some of the men in the rear, not knowing of this turn in the road, and doubtless made nervous by the darkness and fear of an at tack, saw the men at the head of the regiment outlined against the sky on the bank above, apparently marching toward them, and mistook them for rebels. A gun that accidently went off at the front made those in the rear sure they were meeting the enemy and they fired. The advance, of course, believed the enemy was in front of them and returned the fire. Five men were killed and nineteen wounded, one so severely that he died. Besides the private soldiers, the wounded included 182 Morgan's Raid in Indiana two captains, two lieutenants and three sergeants, while a sergeant was killed, and the man who died of his wounds was also a lieutenant. Nor did the lack of military rank in the Home Guards indicate that the soldiers were men of no distinction. For among the wounded who held no mili tary office was David S. Gooding, then a political power among the radicals, who had been a state senator and was afterwards a circuit judge. And men of ever}' rank and station in civil life were carrying muskets during the trying days of that week.** The people along the line of the flight and pursuit, who had been plundered by the invaders, and had then been com pelled to furnish horses, food and forage to their pursuers, waited several years for compensation for their losses. At length, in 1867, under a resolution of the General Assembly, a commission was appointed to pass on the claims, amounting to nearly half a million dollars. The State finally allowed and paid claims amounting to $413,599.48, of which more than $85,000 was paid for damage done and property taken in Washington county, including the sacking of 'Salem, and $1,661.97 was for military supplies requisitioned for the State and Federal troops in Marion county. In the meantime many of the losers had sold their claims at a heavy discount. After years of haggling the United States government finally re imbursed the State in part.*^ Here our tale ends, for the theme is exhausted. Morgan fled with his army several hundred miles through Ohio, checked and turned aside, and losing men by capture and in battle as he went, and was finally captured with the remnant 84 Adj. Gen. Terrell's Report, Vol. 1, page 165, 195. History of Dearborn and Ohio Counties, (Ind.), page 223. Smith's History of Indiana, page 379. 85 Smith's History of Indiana, page 380. Morgan's Raid in Indiana 183 of his command, far toward the north, hastening in the direction of Pennsylvania. But that all occurred outside of our State. And since that Monday night, on the thirteenth of July, 1863, when the last of the Confederates rode through Harrison into Ohio, there have been no acts of war by hostile troops within the state of Indiana. The Indiana Historical Society has issued four volumes of publications, 'which are sold, bound and in dexed, at $1.50 per volume, net, plus 25 cents evpressr age. Send all orders to The Bobbs-Merrill Co, Indi anapolis. Vol. VI is in preparation. H^SShU Bit iBj "ti fj ' ^Tr ' 1 i' *-¦