In the summer of 1863, when, at Tullahoma, Tennessee, General Bragg's
army was menaced by superior numbers in flank and rear, he determined to
send a body of cavalry into Kentucky, which should operate upon
Rosecrans's communications between Nashville and Louisville, break the
railroads, capture or threaten all the minor depots of supplies,
intercept and defeat all detachments not too strong to be engaged, and
keep the enemy so on the alert in his own rear that he would lose or
neglect his opportunity to embarrass or endanger the march of the army
when its retrograde movement began. He even hoped that a part of the
hostile forces before him might be thus detained long enough to prevent
their participation in the battle which he expected to fight when he
crossed the Tennessee.

The officer whom he selected to accomplish this diversion was General
John H. Morgan, whose division of mounted riflemen was well fitted for
the work in hand. Equal in courage, dash, and discipline to the other
fine cavalry commands which General Bragg had at his disposal, it had
passed a longer apprenticeship in expeditionary service than had any
other. Its rank and file was of that mettle which finds its natural
element in active and audacious enterprise, and was yet thrilled with
the fire of youth; for there were few men in the division over
twenty-five years of age. It was imbued with the spirit of its
commander, and confided in his skill and fortune; no endeavor was deemed
impossible or even hazardous when he led. It was inured to constant,
almost daily, combat with the enemy, of all arms and under every
possible contingency. During its four years of service the 2d Kentucky
Cavalry, of which General Morgan was the first colonel, lost sixty-three
commissioned officers killed and wounded; Company A of that regiment, of
which Morgan was the first captain, losing during the war seventy-five
men killed. It had on its muster-roll, from first to last, nearly two
hundred and fifty men. The history of this company and regiment was
scarcely exceptional in the command.



Morgan was beyond all men adapted to independent command of this nature.
His energy never flagged, and his invention was always equal to the
emergency. Boldness and caution were united in all that he undertook.
He had a most remarkable aptitude for promptly acquiring a knowledge of
any country in which he was operating; and as he kept it, so to speak,
"in his head," he was enabled easily to extricate himself from
difficulties. The celerity with which he marched, the promptness with
which he attacked or eluded a foe, intensified the confidence of his
followers, and kept his antagonists always in doubt and apprehension.



In his conference with General Bragg, Morgan differed with his chief
regarding the full effect of a raid that should not be extended beyond
the Ohio. General Bragg desired it to be confined to Kentucky. He gave
Morgan _carte blanche_ to go where he pleased in that State and stay as
long as he pleased; suggesting, among other things, that he capture
Louisville. Morgan urged that while by such a raid he might so divert to
himself the attention of General Henry M. Judah and the cavalry of
Rosecrans that they would not molest General Bragg's retreat, he could
do nothing, in this way, in behalf of the other equally important
feature of the plan--the detention of troops that would otherwise
strengthen Rosecrans in the decisive battle to be fought south of the
Tennessee. He contended, moreover, that a raid into Indiana and Ohio,
the more especially as important political elections were pending there,
would cause troops to be withdrawn from Rosecrans and Burnside for the
protection of those States. But General Bragg refused permission to
cross the Ohio, and instructed Morgan to make the raid as originally
designed.





Some weeks previous to this conference, by Morgan's direction I had sent
competent men to examine the fords of the upper Ohio. He had even then
contemplated such an expedition. It had long been his conviction that
the Confederacy could maintain the struggle only by transferring
hostilities and waging war, whenever opportunity offered, on Northern
soil. Upon his return from this interview he told me what had been
discussed, and what were General Bragg's instructions. He said that he
meant to disobey them; that the emergency, he believed, justified
disobedience. He was resolved to cross the Ohio River and invade Indiana
and Ohio. His command would probably be captured, he said; but in no
other way could he give substantial aid to the army. General Bragg had
directed Morgan to detail two thousand men for the expedition. From the
two brigades commanded respectively by myself and Colonel Adam R.
Johnson, Morgan selected twenty-four hundred and sixty of the
best-mounted and most effective. He took with him four pieces of
artillery--two 3-inch Parrotts, attached to the First Brigade, and two
12-pounder howitzers, attached to the Second.

I should state that Morgan had thoroughly planned the raid before he
marched from Tennessee. He meant to cross the Cumberland in the vicinity
of Burkesville, and to march directly across Kentucky to the nearest
point at which he could reach the Ohio west of Louisville, so closely
approaching Louisville as to compel belief that he meant to attempt its
capture. Turning to the right after entering Indiana, and marching as
nearly due east as possible, he would reduce to a minimum the distance
necessary to be covered, and yet threaten and alarm the population of
the two States as completely as by penetrating deeply into them; more
so, indeed, for pursuing this line he would reach the immediate vicinity
of Cincinnati and excite fears for the safety of that city. While he
intended to prolong the raid to the uttermost, he proposed to be at no
time far from the Ohio, so that he might avail himself of an opportunity
to recross. On reaching the borders of Pennsylvania, he intended, if
General Lee should be in that State, to make every effort to join him;
failing in that, to make his escape through West Virginia. Information
he had gotten about the fords of the upper Ohio had induced him to
indicate Buffington's Island as the point where he would attempt to
recross that stream. He deemed the passage of the Cumberland one of the
four chief difficulties of the expedition that might prove really
dangerous and insuperable; the other three were the passage of the Ohio,
the circuit around Cincinnati, and the recrossing of the Ohio.

Before noon on the 2d of July my brigade began to cross the Cumberland
at Burkesville and at Scott's Ferry, two miles higher up the stream. The
river, swollen by heavy and long-continued rains, was pouring down a
volume of water which overspread its banks and rushed with a velocity
that seemed to defy any attempt to stem it. Two or three canoes lashed
together and two small flats served to transport the men and the
field-pieces, while the horses were made to swim. Many of them were
swept far down by the boiling flood. This process was necessarily slow,
as well as precarious. Colonel Johnson, whose brigade was crossing at
Turkey Neck Bend, several miles below Burkesville, was scarcely so well
provided with the means of ferriage as myself. About 3 P.M. the enemy
began to threaten both brigades. Had these demonstrations been made
earlier, and vigorously, we could have gotten over the river.
Fortunately by this time we had taken over the 6th Kentucky and 9th
Tennessee of my brigade--aggregating nearly six hundred men--and also
the two pieces of artillery. These regiments were moved beyond
Burkesville and placed in a position which served all the purposes of an
ambuscade. When the enemy approached, one or two volleys caused his
column to recoil in confusion. General Morgan instantly charged it with
Quirk's scouts and some companies of the 9th Tennessee, and not only
prevented it from rallying, but drove it all the way back to Marrowbone,
entering the encampment there with the troops he was pursuing in a
pell-mell dash. He was soon driven back, however, by the enemy's
infantry and artillery.

The effect of this blow was to keep the enemy quiet for the rest of the
day and night. The forces threatening Colonel Johnson were also
withdrawn, and we both accomplished the passage of the river without
further molestation. That night the division marched out on the Columbia
road and encamped about two miles from Burkesville. On the next day
Judah concentrated the three brigades of his cavalry command in that
region, while orders were sent to all the other Federal detachments in
Kentucky to close in upon our line of march.

General Bragg had sent with the expedition a large party of commissaries
of subsistence, who were directed to collect cattle north of the
Cumberland and drive them, guarded by one of our regiments, to
Tullahoma. I have never understood how he expected us to be able, under
the circumstances, to collect the cattle, or the foragers to drive them
out. The commissaries did not attempt to carry out their instructions,
but followed us the entire distance and pulled up in prison. They were
gallant fellows and made no complaint of danger or hardship, seeming
rather to enjoy it.



There was one case, however, which excited universal pity. An old farmer
and excellent man, who lived near Sparta, had accompanied us to
Burkesville; that is, he meant to go no farther, and thought we would
not. He wished to procure a barrel of salt, as the supply of that
commodity was exhausted in his part of the country. He readily purchased
the salt, but learned, to his consternation, that the march to
Burkesville was a mere preliminary canter. He was confronted with the
alternative of going on a dangerous raid or of returning alone through a
region swarming with the fierce bushwhackers of "Tinker Dave" Beattie,
who never gave quarter to Confederate soldier or Southern sympathizer.
He knew that if he fell into their hands they would pickle him with his
own salt. So this old man sadly yet wisely resolved to follow the
fortunes of Morgan. He made the grand tour, was hurried along day after
day through battle and ambush, dragged night after night on the
remorseless march, ferried over the broad Ohio under fire of the militia
and gunboats, and lodged at last in a "loathsome dungeon." On one
occasion, in Ohio, when the home guards were peppering us in rather
livelier fashion than usual, he said to Captain C.H. Morgan, with tears
in his voice: "I sw'ar if I wouldn't give all the salt in Kaintucky to
stand once more safe and sound on the banks of Calfkiller Creek."



Pushing on before dawn of the 3d, we reached Columbia in the afternoon.
The place was occupied by a detachment of Colonel Frank Wolford's
brigade, which was quickly driven out. Encamping that evening some eight
miles from Columbia, we could hear all night the ringing of the axes
near Green River bridge, on the road from Columbia to Campbellsville.
Three or four hundred of the 25th Michigan Infantry were stationed at
the bridge to protect it; but the commander, Colonel Orlando H. Moore,
deliberately quitting the elaborate stockade erected near the
bridge,--in which nine officers out of ten would have remained, but
where we could have shelled him into surrender without losing a man
ourselves,--selected one of the strongest natural positions I ever saw,
and fortified it skilfully although simply. The Green River makes here
an immense horseshoe sweep, with the bridge at the toe of the horseshoe;
and more than a mile south of it was the point where Colonel Moore
elected to make his fight. The river there wound back so nearly upon its
previous course that the peninsula, or "neck," was scarcely a hundred
yards wide. This narrow neck was also very short, the river bending
almost immediately to the west again. At that time it was thickly
covered with trees and undergrowth, and Colonel Moore, felling the
heaviest timber, had constructed a formidable abatis across the
narrowest part of it. Just in front of the abatis there was open ground
for perhaps two hundred yards. South of the open was a deep ravine. The
road ran on the east side of the cleared place, and the banks of the
river were high and precipitous. The center of the open space rose into
a swell, sloping gently away both to the north and south. On the crest
of the swell Moore had thrown up a slight earthwork, which was manned
when we approached. An officer was promptly despatched with a flag to
demand his surrender. Colonel Moore responded that an officer of the
United States ought not to surrender on the Fourth of July, and he must
therefore decline. Captain "Ed" Byrne had planted one of the Parrott
guns about six hundred yards from the earthwork, and on the return of
the bearer of the flag opened fire, probing the work with a round shot.
One man in the trench was killed by this shot, and the others ran back
to the abatis.

Colonel Johnson, whose brigade was in advance, immediately dashed
forward with the 3d and 11th Kentucky to attack the main position.
Artillery could not be used, for the guns could bear upon the abatis
only from the crest of which I have spoken, and if posted there the
cannoneers, at the very short range, would not have been able to serve
their pieces. The position could be won only by direct assault. The men
rushed up to the fallen timber, but became entangled in the network of
trunks and branches, and were shot down while trying to climb over or
push through them. I reinforced Johnson with a part of Smith's regiment,
the 5th Kentucky, but the jam and confusion incident to moving in so
circumscribed an area and through the dense undergrowth broke the force
of the charge. The enemy was quite numerous enough to defend a line so
short and strong and perfectly protected on both flanks. We had not more
than six hundred men actually engaged, and the fighting lasted not
longer than fifteen or twenty minutes. Our loss was about ninety, nearly
as many killed as wounded. Afterward we learned that Colonel Moore's
loss was six killed and twenty-three wounded. When General Morgan
ordered the attack he was not aware of the strength of the position; nor
had he anticipated a resistance so spirited and so skilfully planned. He
reluctantly drew off without another assault, convinced that to capture
the abatis and its defenders would cost him half his command. Among the
killed were Colonel D.W. Chenault and Captain Alexander Treble of the
11th Kentucky, Lieutenant Robert Cowan of the 3d, and Major Thomas Y.
Brent, Jr., and Lieutenants Holloway and Ferguson of the 5th. These
officers were all killed literally at the muzzles of the rifles.

Colonel Moore's position might easily have been avoided; indeed, we
passed around it immediately afterward, crossing the river at a ford
about two miles below the bridge. Morgan assailed it merely in
accordance with his habitual policy when advancing of attacking all in
his path except very superior forces.

On the same afternoon Captain William M. Magenis, assistant
adjutant-general of the division, a valuable officer, was murdered by a
Captain Murphy, whom he had placed under arrest for robbing a citizen.
Murphy made his escape from the guard two or three days subsequently,
just as the court-martial which was to have tried him was convening.

On the morning of July 5th the column reached Lebanon, which was
garrisoned by the 20th Kentucky Infantry, commanded by Colonel Charles
S. Hanson. The 8th and 9th Michigan Cavalry and the 11th Michigan
Battery, under command of Colonel James I. David, were approaching by
the Danville road to reinforce the garrison, necessitating a large
detachment to observe them. Morgan's demand for surrender having been
refused, artillery fire was directed upon the railroad depot and other
buildings in which the enemy had established himself; but, as the
Federals endured it with great firmness, it became necessary to carry
the town by assault. Our loss was some forty in killed and wounded,
including several excellent officers. One death universally deplored was
that of the General's brother, Lieutenant Thomas H. Morgan. He was a
bright, handsome, and very gallant lad of nineteen, the favorite of the
division. He was killed in front of the 2d Kentucky in the charge upon
the depot. The Federal loss was three killed and sixteen wounded, and
three hundred and eighty were prisoners.

Without delay we passed through Springfield and Bardstown, crossing the
Louisville and Nashville Railroad at Lebanon Junction, thirty miles from
Louisville, on the evening of the 6th. At Springfield two companies of
about ninety men were sent toward Harrodsburg and Danville to occupy the
attention of the Federal cavalry in that quarter. From Bardstown,
Captain W.C. Davis, acting assistant adjutant-general of the First
Brigade, was sent with a detachment of one hundred and thirty men to
scout in the vicinity of Louisville, to produce the impression that the
city was about to be attacked, and to divert attention from the passage
of the Ohio by the main body at Brandenburg. He was instructed to cross
the river somewhere east of Louisville and to rejoin the column on its
line of march through Indiana. He executed the first part of the program
perfectly, but was unable to get across the river. Tapping the wires at
Lebanon Junction, we learned from intercepted despatches that the
garrison at Louisville was much alarmed, and in expectation of an
immediate attack.

The detachments I have just mentioned, with some smaller ones previously
sent off on similar service, aggregated not less than two hundred and
sixty men permanently separated from the division; which, with a loss in
killed and wounded, in Kentucky, of about one hundred and fifty, had
reduced our effective strength at the Ohio, by more than four hundred.

The rapid and constant marching already began to tell upon both horses
and men, but we reached the Ohio at Brandenburg at 9 A.M. on the 8th.
Captains Samuel Taylor and H.C. Meriwether of the 10th Kentucky had been
sent forward the day before, with their companies, to capture
steamboats. We found them in possession of two large craft. One had been
surprised at the wharf, and steaming out on her, they had captured the
other. Preparations for crossing were begun; but, just as the first boat
was about to push off, an unexpected musketry fire was opened from the
Indiana side by a party of home-guards collected behind some houses and
haystacks. They were in pursuit of Captain Thomas H. Hines, who had that
morning returned from Indiana to Kentucky, after having undertaken a
brief expedition of his own. This fire did no harm, the river here being
eight hundred or a thousand yards wide. But in a few minutes the bright
gleam of a field-piece spouted through the low-hanging mist on the
farther bank. Its shell pitched into a group near the wharf, severely
wounding Captain W.H. Wilson, acting quartermaster of the First Brigade.
Several shots from this piece followed in quick succession, but it was
silenced by Lieutenant Lawrence with his Parrotts. The 2d Kentucky and
9th Tennessee were speedily ferried over without their horses, and
forming under the bluff they advanced upon the militia, which had
retired to a wooded ridge some six hundred yards from the river-bank,
abandoning the gun. The two regiments were moving across some open
ground, toward the ridge, sustaining no loss from the volleys fired at
them, and the boats had scarcely returned for further service when a
more formidable enemy appeared. A gunboat, the _Elk_, steamed rapidly
round the bend, and began firing alternately upon the troops in the town
and those already across. The situation was now extremely critical. We
could not continue the ferriage while this little vixen remained, for
one well-directed shot would have sent either of the boats to the
bottom. Delay was exceedingly hazardous, affording the enemy opportunity
to cut off the regiments we had already sent over, and giving the
cavalry in pursuit of us time to come up. If forced to give up the
attempt to cross the river, we must also abandon our comrades on the
other side. So every piece of artillery was planted and opened on the
gunboat, and after an hour or two of vigorous cannonading she was driven
off. By midnight all our troops were over.


About noon of the 9th the column reached the little town of Corydon,
Indiana, which proved not nearly so gentle as its name. Our
advance-guard, commanded by Colonel R.C. Morgan, found a body of militia
there, ensconced behind stout barricades of fence rails, stretching for
some distance on each side of the road. Colonel Morgan charged the
barricade, his horses could not leap it, the militia stood resolutely,
and he lost sixteen men. A few dismounted skirmishers thrown upon the
flanks, and a shot or two from one of the pieces which accompanied the
advance-guard, quickly dispersed them, however, and we entered the town
without further resistance.

Our progress, quite rapid in Kentucky, was now accelerated, and we were
habitually twenty-one hours out of the twenty-four in the saddle, very
frequently not halting at night or going into camp at all. For the first
three or four days we saw nothing of the inhabitants save in their
character as militia, when they forced themselves on our attention much
more frequently than we desired. The houses were entirely deserted.
Often we found the kitchen fire blazing, the keys hanging in the
cupboard lock, and the chickens sauntering about the yard with a
confidence which proved that they had never before seen soldiers.

As the first scare wore off, however, we found the women and children
remaining at home, while the men went to the muster. When a thirsty
cavalryman rode up to a house to inquire for buttermilk, he was
generally met by a buxom dame, with a half-dozen or more small children
peeping out from her voluminous skirts, who, in response to a question
about the "old man," would say: "The men hev all gone to the 'rally';
you'll see 'em soon." We experienced little difficulty in procuring food
for man and horse. Usually upon our raids it was much easier to obtain
meat than bread. But in Indiana and Ohio we always found bread ready
baked at every house. In Ohio, on more than one occasion, in deserted
houses we found pies, hot from the oven, displayed upon tables
conveniently spread. The first time that I witnessed this sort of
hospitality was when I rode up to a house where a party of my men were
standing around a table garnished as I have described, eyeing the pies
hungrily, but showing no disposition to touch them. I asked, in
astonishment, why they were so abstinent. One of them replied that they
feared the pies might be poisoned. I was quite sure, on the contrary,
that they were intended as a propitiatory offering. I have always been
fond of pies,--these were of luscious apples,--so I made the spokesman
hand me one of the largest, and proceeded to eat it. The men watched me
vigilantly for two or three minutes, and then, as I seemed much better
after my repast, they took hold ravenously.

The severe marching made an exchange of horses a necessity, though as a
rule the horses we took were very inferior to the Kentucky and Tennessee
stock we had brought with us, and which had generally a large infusion
of thoroughbred blood. The horses we impressed were for the most part
heavy, sluggish beasts, barefooted and grass-fed, and gave out after a
day or two, sometimes in a few hours. A strong provost guard, under
Major Steele of the 3d Kentucky, had been organized to prevent the two
practices most prejudicial to discipline and efficiency--straggling and
pillage. There were very good reasons, independent of the provost guard,
why the men should not straggle far from the line of march; but the
well-filled stores and gaudy shop-windows of the Indiana and Ohio towns
seemed to stimulate, in men accustomed to impoverished and unpretentious
Dixie, the propensity to appropriate beyond limit or restraint. I had
never before seen anything like this disposition to plunder. Our
perilous situation only seemed to render the men more reckless. At the
same time, anything more ludicrous than the manner in which they
indulged their predatory tastes can scarcely be imagined. The weather
was intensely warm,--the hot July sun burned the earth to powder, and we
were breathing superheated dust,--yet one man rode for three days with
seven pairs of skates slung about his neck; another loaded himself with
sleigh-bells. A large chafing-dish, a medium-sized Dutch clock, a green
glass decanter with goblets to match, a bag of horn buttons, a
chandelier, and a bird-cage containing three canaries were some of the
articles I saw borne off and jealously fondled. The officers usually
waited a reasonable period, until the novelty had worn off, and then had
this rubbish thrown away. Baby shoes and calico, however, were the
staple articles of appropriation. A fellow would procure a bolt of
calico, carry it carefully for a day or two, then cast it aside and get
another.

From Corydon our route was _via_ Salem, Vienna, Lexington, Paris,
Vernon, Dupont, and Sumanville to Harrison, near the Ohio State line and
twenty-five miles from Cincinnati. Detachments were sent to Madison,
Versailles, and other points, to burn bridges, bewilder and confuse
those before and behind us, and keep bodies of military stationary that
might otherwise give trouble. All were drawn in before we reached
Harrison. At this point Morgan began demonstrations intended to convey
the impression that he would cross the Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton
Railroad at Hamilton. He had always anticipated difficulty in getting
over this road; fearing that the troops from Kentucky would be
concentrated at or near Cincinnati, and that every effort would be made
to intercept him there. If these troops lined the railroad and were
judiciously posted, he knew it would be extremely difficult to elude
them or cut his way through them. He believed that if he could pass this
ordeal safely, the success of the expedition would be assured, unless
the river should be so high that the boats would be able to transport
troops to intercept him at the upper fords.

After remaining at Harrison two or three hours, and sending detachments
in the direction of Hamilton, he moved with the entire column on the
Hamilton road. But as soon as he was clear of the town, he cut the
telegraph-wires--previously left intact with the hope that they might be
used to convey intelligence of his apparent movement toward
Hamilton--and, turning across the country, gained the direct road to
Cincinnati. He hoped that, deceived by his demonstrations at Harrison,
the larger part of the troops at Cincinnati would be sent to Hamilton,
and that it would be too late to recall them when his movement toward
Cincinnati was discovered. He trusted that those remaining would be
drawn into the city, under the impression that he meant to attack,
leaving the way clear for his rapid transit. He has been criticized for
not attempting the capture of Cincinnati, but he had no mind to involve
his handful of wearied men in a labyrinth of streets. We felt very much
more at home amid rural surroundings. But if he had taken Cincinnati,
and had safely crossed the river there, the raid would have been so much
briefer, and its principal object to that extent defeated by the
release of the troops pursuing us.



We reached the environs of Cincinnati about ten o'clock at night, and
were not clear of them until after daybreak. My brigade was marching in
the rear, and the guides were with General Morgan in the front. The
continual straggling of some companies in the rear of Johnson's brigade
caused me to become separated from the remainder of the column by a wide
gap, and I was for some time entirely ignorant of what direction I
should take. The night was pitch-dark, and I was compelled to light
torches and seek the track of the column by the foam dropped from the
mouths of the horses and the dust kicked up by their feet. At every halt
which this groping search necessitated, scores of tired men would fall
asleep and drop out of their saddles. Daylight appeared after we had
crossed all of the principal suburban roads, and were near the Little
Miami Railroad. I never welcomed the fresh, invigorating air of morning
more gratefully. That afternoon we reached Williamsburg, twenty-eight
miles east of Cincinnati.

The Ohio militia were more numerous and aggressive than those of
Indiana. We had frequent skirmishes with them daily, and although
hundreds were captured, they resumed operations as soon as they were
turned loose. What excited in us more astonishment than all else we saw
were the crowds of able-bodied men. The contrast with the South, drained
of adult males to recruit her armies, was striking, and suggestive of
anything but confidence on our part in the result of the struggle.

At Piketon we learned that Vicksburg had fallen, and that General Lee,
having been repulsed at Gettysburg, had retreated across the Potomac.
Under the circumstances this information was peculiarly disheartening.
As we approached Pomeroy the militia began to embarrass our march by
felling trees and erecting barricades across the roads. In passing near
that town we were assailed by regular troops,--as we called the
volunteers, in contradistinction to the militia,--and forced a passage
only by some sharp fighting. At 1 P.M. on the 18th we reached Chester,
eighteen miles from Buffington's Island. A halt here of nearly two hours
proved disastrous, as it caused us to arrive at the river after
nightfall, and delayed any attempt at crossing until the next morning.
Morgan thoroughly appreciated the importance of crossing the river at
once, but it was impossible. The darkness was intense, we were ignorant
of the ford and without guides, and were encumbered with nearly two
hundred wounded, whom we were unwilling to abandon. By instruction I
placed the 5th and 6th Kentucky in position to attack, as soon as day
broke, an earthwork commanding the ford, and which we learned was
mounted with two guns and manned by three hundred infantry. At dawn I
moved upon the work, and found it had been evacuated and the guns thrown
over the bluff. Pressing on a few hundred yards to reconnoiter the
Pomeroy road, we suddenly encountered the enemy. It proved to be General
Judah's advance. The 5th and 6th Kentucky instantly attacked and
dispersed it, taking a piece of artillery and forty or fifty prisoners,
inflicting some loss in killed and wounded.

The position in which we found ourselves, now that we had light enough
to examine the ground, was anything but favorable. The valley we had
entered, about a mile long and perhaps eight hundred yards wide at its
southern extremity,--the river running here nearly due north and
south,--gradually narrows, as the ridge which is its western boundary
closely approaches the river-bank, until it becomes a mere ravine. The
Chester road enters the valley at a point about equidistant from either
end. As the 5th Kentucky fell back that it might be aligned on the 6th
Kentucky, across the southern end of the valley, into which Judah's
whole force was now pouring, it was charged by the 8th and 9th Michigan
and a detachment of the 5th Indiana. A part of the 5th Kentucky was cut
off by this charge, the gun we had taken was recaptured, and our
Parrotts also fell into the hands of the enemy. They were so clogged
with dust, however, as to be almost unserviceable, and their ammunition
was expended. Bringing up a part of the 2d Kentucky, I succeeded in
checking and driving back the regiments that first bore down on us, but
they were quickly reinforced and immediately returned to the attack. In
the mean time Colonel Johnson's videttes on the Chester road had been
driven in, and the cavalry under Hobson, which had followed us
throughout our long march, deployed on the ridge, and attacked on that
side. I sent a courier to General Morgan, advising that he retreat up
the river and out of the valley with all the men he could extricate,
while Colonel Johnson and I, with the troops already engaged, would
endeavor to hold the enemy in check. The action was soon hot from both
directions, and the gunboats, steaming up the river abreast of us,
commenced shelling vigorously. We were now between three assailants. A
sharp artillery fire was opened by each, and the peculiar formation we
were compelled to adopt exposed us to a severe cross-fire of small arms.

We were in no condition to make a successful or energetic resistance.
The men were worn out and demoralized by the tremendous march, and the
fatigue and lack of sleep for the ten days that had elapsed since they
had crossed the Ohio. Having had no opportunity to replenish their
cartridge-boxes, they were almost destitute of ammunition, and after
firing two or three rounds were virtually unarmed. To this fact is
attributable the very small loss our assailants sustained. Broken down
as we were, if we had been supplied with cartridges we could have piled
the ground with Judah's men as they advanced over the open plain into
the valley. As the line, seeking to cover the withdrawal of the troops
taken off by General Morgan, was rolled back by the repeated charges of
the enemy, the stragglers were rushing wildly about the valley, with
bolts of calico streaming from their saddles, and changing direction
with every shrieking shell. When the rear-guard neared the northern end
of the valley,--out of which General Morgan with the greater part of the
command had now passed,--and perceived that the only avenue of escape
was through a narrow gorge, a general rush was made for it. The Michigan
regiments dashed into the mass of fugitives, and the gunboats swept the
narrow pass with grape. All order lost in a wild tide of flight.

About seven hundred were captured here, and perhaps a hundred and twenty
killed and wounded. Probably a thousand men got out with General Morgan.
Of these some three hundred succeeded in swimming the river at a point
twenty miles above Buffington, while many were drowned in the attempt.
The arrival of the gunboats prevented others from crossing. General
Morgan had gotten nearly over, when, seeing that the bulk of his command
must remain on the Ohio side, he returned. For six more days Morgan
taxed energy and ingenuity to the utmost to escape the toils. Absolutely
exhausted, he surrendered near the Pennsylvania line, on the 26th day of
July, with three hundred and sixty-four men.

The expedition was of immediate benefit, since a part of the forces that
would otherwise have harassed Bragg's retreat and swollen Rosecrans's
muster-roll at Chickamauga were carried by the pursuit of Morgan so far
northward that they were kept from participating in that battle.

But Morgan's cavalry was almost destroyed, and his prestige impaired.
Much the larger number of the captured men lingered in the Northern
prisons until the close of the war. That portion of his command which
had remained in Tennessee became disintegrated; the men either were
incorporated in other organizations, or, attracted by the fascinations
of irregular warfare, were virtually lost to the service. Morgan, after
four or five months' imprisonment in the Ohio penitentiary, effected an
escape which has scarcely a parallel for ingenuity and daring. He was
received in the South enthusiastically. The authorities at Richmond
seemed at first to share the popular sympathy and admiration. But it
soon became apparent that his infraction of discipline in crossing the
Ohio was not forgiven. Placed for a short time in practical command of
the Department of Southwestern Virginia, he was given inadequate means
for its defense, and bound with instructions which accorded neither with
his temperament nor with his situation. The troops he commanded were
not, like his old riders, accustomed to his methods, confident in his
genius, and devoted to his fortunes. He attempted aggressive operations
with his former energy and self-reliance, but not with his former
success. He drove out of West Virginia two invading columns, and then
made an incursion into the heart of Kentucky--known as his last Kentucky
raid--in the hope of anticipating and deterring a movement into his own
territory. Very successful at first, this raid ended, too, in disaster.
After capturing and dispersing Federal forces in the aggregate much
larger than his own, he encountered at Cynthiana a vastly superior
force, and was defeated. Two months later, September 4, 1864, he was
killed at Greeneville, Tennessee, while advancing to attack the Federal
detachments stationed in front of Knoxville.[5]

[Footnote 5: E.W. Doran of Greeneville, Tenn., gives the following
particulars of General Morgan's death:

General Morgan came to Greeneville on September 3, and stationed his
troops on a hill overlooking the town from the east, while he and his
staff were entertained at the "Williams Mansion," the finest residence
in town. At this time Captain Robert C. Carter, in command of a company
of Colonel Crawford's regiment, was stationed three or four miles north
of the town. He got accurate information of Morgan's whereabouts, and
sent a messenger at once to General A.C. Gillem, at Bull's Gap, sixteen
miles distant. This message was intrusted to John Davis and two other
young men of his company, who rode through a fearful storm, picking
their way by the lightning-flashes and arriving there some time before
midnight. Other messages were probably sent to Gillem that night from
Greeneville, but this was the first received. The report usually given
in the histories to the effect that Mrs. Joseph Williams carried the
news is not correct, as she was known to be in an opposite direction
several miles, and knew nothing of the affair. In an hour after the
message was delivered Gillem's forces were hurrying on their way to
Greeneville, where they arrived about daylight, and surrounded the house
where Morgan was. He ran out, without waiting to dress, to conceal
himself in the shrubbery and grape arbors, but was seen from the street
and shot by Andrew G. Campbell, a private in the 13th Tennessee.
Campbell was promoted to a lieutenancy. Morgan's body was afterward
secured by his friends and given decent burial. But little firing was
done by either army; and after Morgan was killed his forces marched out
of town while the Union forces marched in, in easy range of each other,
yet not a shot was fired on either side.]

The remnant of his old command served during the gloomy winter of
1864-65 in the region where their leader met death, fighting often on
the same ground. When Richmond fell, and Lee surrendered, they marched
to join Joseph E. Johnston. After his capitulation they were part of the
escort that guarded, Jefferson Davis in his aimless retreat from
Charlotte and laid down their arms at Woodville, Georgia, by order of
John. C. Breckinridge, when the armies of the Confederacy were
disbanded, and its President became a fugitive.

II. THE CAPTURE

BY ORLANDO B. WILLCOX

When it was known at Indianapolis that General Morgan, with a large
force, had crossed the Ohio, the city was panic-stricken. The State had
been literally depleted of troops to assist Kentucky, and everybody knew
it. The very worst was apprehended--that railways would be cut up,
passenger and freight trains robbed, bridges and depots burned, our
arsenal pillaged, two thousand Confederate prisoners at Camp Morton
liberated, and Jeffersonville, with all its Government stores, and
possibly Indianapolis itself, destroyed.

Nor was this all. It had been reported, and partly believed, as
afterward indeed proved to be the fact, that the State was literally
undermined with rebel sympathizers banded together in secret
organizations. The coming of Morgan had been looked for, and his
progress through Kentucky watched with considerable anxiety. It was
gloomily predicted that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of "Knights of the
Golden Circle" and of "Sons of Liberty" would flock to his standard and
endeavor to carry the State over to the Confederacy.

Morgan probably had fair reason to believe that his ranks would be at
least largely recruited in the southern counties of Indiana. The
governor of Indiana, Oliver P. Morton, went to work with all his
tremendous energy and indomitable will, in the face of the greatest
opposition that had been encountered in any Northern State, amounting,
just before, almost to open rebellion. He proclaimed martial law, though
not in express terms, and ordered out the "Legion," or militia, and
called upon the loyal citizens of the State to enroll themselves as
minute-men, to organize and report for arms and for martial duty.
Thousands responded to the call within twenty-four hours--many within
two hours.[6] Everything possible was done by telegraph, until the lines
were cut. Some arms were found in the State Arsenal, and more with
accoutrements and ammunition, together with whole batteries of
artillery, were procured from Chicago and St. Louis.

[Footnote 6: According to the report of the adjutant-general of Indiana,
30,000 militia assembled within thirty-six hours, and about the time
Morgan was leaving the State 65,000 men were in the field. In Ohio,
according to a report made to the adjutant-general, 55,000 militia
turned out; many of them refused pay, yet $232,000 were disbursed for
services during the raid. It would appear, therefore, that 120,000
militia took the field against Morgan, in addition to the three brigades
of General Judah's United State cavalry.--EDITOR.]

The disposition of the State levies that came thronging in was left to
me as fast as they were armed. The three great junctions of the Ohio and
Mississippi Railroad in Indiana, over which troops and supplies were
shipped from all points to Rosecrans at Chattanooga--viz., Mitchell,
Seymour, and Vernon,--were first to be made secure; for surely Morgan
must have some military objectives, and these appeared to be the most
likely. The westerly junction was Mitchell. This was quickly occupied
and guarded by General James Hughes, with Legion men, reinforced by the
new organizations rising in that quarter. Seymour was the most central,
and lay directly on the road to Cincinnati and Indianapolis from
Louisville; and at Seymour a brigade was assembled from the center of
the State, with General John Love, a skilful old army officer, to
command it, with instructions to have an eye to Vernon likewise. To this
last point Burnside ordered a battery from Cincinnati; and what few
troops I had in Michigan, though half organized, came down to Vernon and
to General Love. Besides these thus rendezvoused, the people of the
southern counties were called upon to bushwhack the enemy, to obstruct
roads, to guard trains, bridges, etc., and to make themselves generally
useful and pestiferous.

Our militia first came in contact with the enemy opposite Brandenburg,
where he crossed; but it made the stand at Corydon Junction, where the
road runs between two abrupt hills, across which Colonel Lewis Jordan
threw up some light intrenchments. Morgan's advance attempted to ride
over these "rail-piles" rough-shod, but lost some twenty troopers
unhorsed. They brought up their reserve and artillery, flanked, and
finally surrounded Colonel Jordan, who, after an hour's resolute
resistance, surrendered.

This gave the raiders the town, and the citizens the first taste of
Morgan's style, which somewhat disgusted the numerous class of Southern
sympathizers. The shops were given up to plunder, and the ladies levied
on for meals for the whole command.

Throwing out columns in various directions, Morgan pushed for Mitchell,
where no doubt he expected to cut the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, got
as far as Salem in that direction, captured or dispersed a few squads of
badly armed minute-men who were guarding depots and bridges, which he
burned, and doubtless hearing from his scouts, sent out in citizens'
clothes, of Hughes's force collected at Mitchell, he discreetly turned
off northeastward, apparently aiming next for Seymour. This I heard with
great satisfaction.

The panic at Indianapolis began to subside. Still I felt uneasy for
Seymour, as I next heard of Morgan at Vienna, where he tapped the
telegraph-lines and learned what he could of all our plans to catch him.
He came within nine miles of Seymour. General Love sent out a
reconnaissance of sharpshooters under Colonel C.V. De Land, with a
couple of field-pieces. They found that Morgan had turned off eastward.
Love divined his object, and started De Land and two Indiana regiments
of militia for Vernon. Here Morgan next turned up, planted his Parrotts,
and demanded surrender. He was defied until Love's arrival with the rest
of his militia, and then he swept off in a hurry from Vernon, followed
by our men, who captured his pickets and rear-guard, but who, having no
cavalry, were soon outmarched.

Morgan secured a great advantage by seizing all the horses within
reach,[7] leaving none for the militia or for General E.H. Hobson, which
enabled him to gain on his pursuers, and he would then have left Hobson
far out of sight but for the home guard, who obstructed the roads
somewhat, and bushwhacked his men from every hedge, hill, or tree, when
it could be done. But the trouble was that we could not attack him with
sufficient organized numbers.

[Footnote 7: General J.M. Shackelford says in his official report: "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 despatch 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."--EDITOR.]

After he left Vernon we felt safe at Indianapolis. "Defensive sites"
were abandoned, and the banks brought back their deposits which they
had sent off by express to Chicago and the North. Some fears, or hopes,
were entertained as to Madison, toward which Morgan next bent his
way--fears for the safety of that city, and hopes that, with the help of
Judah's troops and the gunboats now on the way up the river, we might
put an end to the raid. From Indianapolis we started General Lew Wallace
with a good brigade of minute-men, and with high hopes that at either
Madison or Lawrenceburg, farther up the river, he might "capture them."
The people ahead were asked by telegraph to coöperate. But after going
down that line as far as Dupont, Morgan turned northeast for Versailles,
where we next heard of him threatening the Cincinnati and Indianapolis
Railway. This was a nice bit of work. He baffled all our calculations,
and did some damage on both the Ohio and Mississippi and Cincinnati
railroads, sending off flying columns in a dozen directions at a time
for the purpose, as well as to throw Hobson off the scent. Some of these
columns looked like traveling circuses adorned with useless plunder and
an excess of clowns. Thus they went through Pierceville and Milan to
Harrison, on White River, and on the Ohio line. Here Hobson's advance
came upon them, but unfortunately it paused to plant artillery, instead
of dashing across the bridge and engaging the raiders until the main
body should arrive. This lost us the bridge, which was burned before our
eyes, and many hours' delay, marching round by the ford. Their next
demonstration was toward Hamilton. Here there was a fine railway bridge
over the Big Miami. Hobson followed in such close pursuit through New
Baltimore, Glendale, and Miamiville that the raiders did little damage.
Their attempt to burn a bridge at Miamiville was repulsed by the home
guard. My last troops were despatched from Indianapolis to head them off
at Hamilton, after five hours' delay caused by the intoxication of their
commander. His successor in command was General Hascall, who swore like
a trooper to find himself "just in time to be too late." He proceeded
through Hamilton, Ohio, as far as Loveland. But Morgan had sent only a
detachment toward Hamilton to divert attention from Cincinnati, toward
which he made a rapid march with his whole united force.

Governor Tod of Ohio had already called out the militia and proclaimed
martial law. He raised men enough, but Burnside had to organize and arm
them. Morgan found the great city guarded, but he passed through the
very suburbs by a night march around it, unmolested. He crossed the
Little Miami Railroad at daylight, and came north in sight of Camp
Dennison, where Colonel Neff half armed his convalescents, threw out
pickets, dug rifle-pits, and threw up intrenchments. His fiery old
veterans saved a railway bridge, and actually captured a lieutenant and
others before they sheered off and went some ten miles northward to
Williamsburg. From that point they seemed to be steering for the great
bend of the Ohio at Pomeroy.

In the vicinity of Cincinnati, Colonel W.P. Sanders, the splendid raider
of East Tennessee, came up from Kentucky with some Michigan cavalry, and
joined Hobson in pursuit, and these were about the only fresh horses in
the chase. Sanders had come by steamer, and, landing at Cincinnati, had
been thrown out from there, it was hoped, ahead of Morgan, who, however,
was too quick for him. They met later on.

Under the good management of Colonel A.V. Kautz in advance, with his
brigade, and of Sanders, the men now marched more steadily and gained
ground. Kautz had observed how the other brigade commanders had lost
distance and blown their horses by following false leads, halting and
closing up rapidly at the frequent reports of "enemy in front," and by
stopping to plant artillery. Marching in his own way, at a steady walk,
his brigade forming the rear-guard, he had arrived at Batavia two hours
before the main body, that had been "cavorting round the country" all
day, "misled by two citizen guides"--possibly Morgan's own men.

Not stopping to draw the rations sent out to him from Cincinnati, Hobson
urged his jaded horses through Brown, Adams, and Pike counties, now
under the lead of Kautz, and reached Jasper, on the Scioto, at midnight
of the 16th, Morgan having passed there at sundown. The next day they
raced through Jackson. On the 18th, Hobson, at Rutland, learned that
Morgan had been turned off by the militia at Pomeroy, and had taken the
Chester road for Portland and the fords of the Ohio. The chase became
animated. Our troopers made a march of fifty miles that day and still
had twenty-five miles to reach Chester. They arrived there without a
halt at eleven at night, and had still fifteen miles to reach the ford.
They kept on, and at dawn of the 19th struck the enemy's pickets. Two
miles out from Portland, Morgan was brought to bay--and not by Hobson
alone. First came the militia, then came Judah. His division had pushed
up the river in steamers parallel with Morgan's course. Lieutenant John
O'Neil, afterward of Fenian fame, with a troop of Indiana cavalry, kept
up the touch on Morgan's right flank by a running fight, stinging it at
every vulnerable point, and reporting Morgan's course to Judah in the
neck-and-neck race. Aided by the local militia, O'Neil now dashed ahead
and fearlessly skirmished with the enemy's flankers from every coign of
vantage. He reached the last descent to the river-bottom near Buffington
Bar, and near the historical Blennerhasset's Island, early on the
morning of the 19th.

The Ohio River was up. It had risen unexpectedly. But here Morgan must
cross, if at all. It could not be forded by night, when he got here. He
tried the ford at Blennerhasset. Failing in this, his men collected
flatboats, and set to work calking them, meantime sending a party to
Buffington Bar, where they found a small earthwork and captured its
guard; and these things delayed them until morning. General Judah
attempted a reconnaissance, resulting in a fight, which he describes as
follows in his report:

 Before leaving Pomeroy I despatched a courier to General Hobson,
 apprising him of my direction, and requesting him to press the
 enemy's rear with all the forces he could bring up. Traveling all
 night, I reached the last descent to the river-bottom at
 Buffington Bar at 5.30 A.M. on the 19th. Here, halting my force,
 and placing my artillery in a commanding position, I determined
 to make a reconnaissance in person, for the purpose of
 ascertaining if a report just made to me--that the gunboats had
 left on a previous evening, the home guards had retreated, and
 that the enemy had been crossing all night--was true. A very
 dense fog enveloped everything, confining the view of surrounding
 objects to a radius of about fifty yards. I was accompanied by a
 small advance-guard, my escort, and one piece of Henshaw's
 battery, a section of which, under Captain Henshaw, I had ordered
 to join my force. I advanced slowly and cautiously along a road
 leading toward the river, ... when my little force found itself
 enveloped on three sides--front and both flanks--by three
 regiments, dismounted, and led by Colonel Basil [W.] Duke, just
 discernible through the fog, at a distance of from fifty to a
 hundred yards. This force, as I afterward learned, had been
 disposed for the capture of the home guards, intrenched on the
 bank of the river. To use Colonel Duke's own expression after his
 capture, "He could not have been more surprised at the presence
 of my force if it had been dropped from the clouds." As soon as
 discovered, the enemy opened a heavy fire, advancing so rapidly
 that before the piece of artillery could be brought into battery
 it was captured, as were also Captain R.C. Kise, my assistant
 adjutant-general, Captain Grafton, volunteer aide-de-camp, and
 between twenty and thirty of my men. Two privates were killed.
 Major McCook (since dead), paymaster and volunteer
 aide-de-camp,[8] Lieutenant F.G. Price, aide-de-camp, and ten men
 were wounded. Searching in vain for an opening through which to
 charge and temporarily beat back the enemy, I was compelled to
 fall back upon the main body, which I rapidly brought up into
 position, and opened a rapid and beautifully accurate artillery
 fire from the pieces of the 5th Indiana upon a battery of two
 pieces which the enemy had opened upon me, as well as upon his
 deployed dismounted force in line. Obstructing fences prevented a
 charge by my cavalry. In less than half an hour the enemy's lines
 were broken and in retreat. The advance of my artillery, and a
 charge of cavalry made by Lieutenant O'Neil, 5th Indiana Cavalry,
 with only fifty men, converted his retreat into a rout, and
 drove him upon General Hobson's forces, which had engaged him
 upon the other road. His prisoners, the piece of artillery lost
 by me, all of his own artillery (five pieces), his camp equipage,
 and transportation and plunder of all kinds, were abandoned and
 captured. We also captured large numbers of prisoners, including
 Colonels Basil [W.] Duke, Dick [R.C.] Morgan, and Allen [Ward?],
 and the most of General Morgan's staff.

[Footnote 8: Major Daniel McCook, father of the famous fighting family,
who pushed himself in, against remonstrance, to find the slayer of his
son (General Robert L. McCook), reported to be with Morgan.]

Yet with a considerable force Morgan succeeded in making his escape, and
started into the interior like a fox for cover. Passing around the
advanced column of his enemy, he suddenly came upon the end of
Shackelford's column, under Wolford, whom he at once attacked with his
usual audacity. Shackelford reversed his column, selected his best
horses, and gave pursuit. He overtook the enemy at Backum Church, where
Wolford's Kentucky fellows rushed upon Morgan's men with drawn sabers
and Kentucky yells, and chased them until next afternoon, when they were
found collected on a high bluff, where some hundreds surrendered; but
Morgan again escaped, and with over six hundred horsemen gave our
fellows a long chase yet by the dirt road and by rail. Continuing north
through several counties, he veered northwest toward the Pennsylvania
line, even now burning buildings, car-loads of freight, and bridges by
the way, though hotly hounded by Shackelford, and flanked and headed off
by troops in cars.

Among the latter was Major W.B. Way, of the 9th Michigan, with a
battalion of his regiment. Way had left the cars at Mingo and marched
over near to Steubenville,[9] where he began a skirmish which lasted
over twenty-five miles toward Salineville, away up in Columbiana County.
Here he brought Morgan to bay. The latter still fought desperately,
losing 200 prisoners, and over 70 of his men killed or wounded, and
skipped away. Another Union detachment came up by rail under Major
George W. Rue, of the 9th Kentucky Cavalry, joined Shackelford at
Hammondsville, and took the advance with 300 men.

[Footnote 9: Mr. E.E. Day makes the following statement in regard to
Morgan's brief stay at Wintersville:

 Defeated at Buffington Bar, Morgan abandoned his plan of making a
 watering trough of Lake Erie, and fled north through the tier of
 river counties, keeping within a few miles of the Ohio. The river
 was low, but not fordable except at Coxe's Riffle, a few miles
 below Steubenville. Headed at this point also, he struck across
 the country and passed through Wintersville, a small village five
 miles west of Steubenville. That was a memorable Saturday in
 Wintersville. Morgan's progress across the State had been watched
 with the most feverish anxiety, and the dread that the village
 might lie in his path filled the hearts of many. The wildest
 rumors passed current. Morgan and his "guerrillas," it was said,
 would kill all the men, lay the village in ashes, and carry off
 the women and children. The militia, or "hundred-day men," who
 lived in or near the village, drilled in the village streets, and
 fired rattling volleys of blank cartridges at a board fence, in
 preparation for the coming conflict. On Friday evening word came
 that Morgan would attempt to force a passage at Coxe's Riffle the
 next morning, and the militia marched to Steubenville to help
 intercept him. A bloody battle was expected. About the middle of
 the forenoon a horseman dashed into the village shouting,
 "Morgan's coming! He's just down at John Hanna's!" and galloped
 on to warn others. Mr. Hanna was a farmer living about a mile
 south of the village. He had shouldered his musket and gone with
 the militia, leaving his wife and two children at home. About ten
 o'clock Morgan's men were seen coming up the road. Mrs. Hanna
 with her children attempted to reach a neighbor's house, but they
 were overtaken and ordered to the house, which they found full of
 soldiers. Morgan and his officers were stretched, dusty clothes,
 boots, and all, upon her beds, and a negro was getting dinner.
 While the third table was eating, a squad of militiamen appeared
 on a neighboring hill. Morgan ordered their capture, saying,
 "What will those Yankees do with the thousand men I have?" A
 number of Morgan's men started to carry out their chief's
 command, but the militia made good their escape. Soon after, word
 came that Shackelford's men were near, and Morgan left so
 hurriedly that he neglected to take the quilts and blankets his
 men had selected.

 In the village all was consternation. Many of the women and
 children gathered at the Maxwell Tavern. Their terror upon
 hearing that Morgan was "just down at Hanna's" cannot be
 described. Word had been sent to Steubenville, and Colonel James
 Collier marched out with a force of about eight hundred militia,
 sending a squad under command of Captain Prentiss to reconnoiter.
 They galloped through the village, and as Morgan's advance came
 in sight began firing. The fire was returned, and a private named
 Parks, from Steubenville, was wounded. Morgan's men charged the
 scouting party, sending them through the village back to the main
 body in a very demoralized condition. The frightened women, and
 still worse frightened children, no sooner saw the "dust-brown
 ranks" of the head of Morgan's column than they beat a hasty
 retreat down the alley to the house of Dr. Markle, the village
 physician. This change of base was made under fire, as Morgan's
 men were shooting at the retreating militia, and also at a house
 owned by William Fisher, in which they had heard there were a
 number of militiamen. At the doctor's house all crowded into one
 room, and were led in prayer by the minister's wife. The retreat
 of the scouting party did not have a very cheering effect upon
 the advancing militia. As they passed a field of broom-corn
 several men suddenly disappeared, their swift course through the
 cane being easily followed by the swaying of the tassels. The
 militia were met by rumors that the village was in ashes. Morgan
 did not set fire to the village, but his men found time to
 explore the village store, and to search the Fisher house, in the
 second story of which they found a flag. Morgan's men were hardly
 out of sight on the Richmond road when Colonel Collier and the
 militia appeared. They formed line of battle on a hill east of
 the village just in time to see Shackelford's advance coming
 along the road over which they were expecting Morgan. The colonel
 at once opened fire with his six-pounder loaded with scrap-iron.
 The first shot did little damage. One piece of scrap-iron found
 its way to the right, and struck with a resounding thwack against
 the end of the Maxwell Tavern. The second shot did not hit
 anything. One of Shackelford's officers rode across the field and
 inquired, "What are you fools shooting at?" The colonel then
 learned, to his astonishment, that Morgan was at least two miles
 out on the Richmond road. Many who had been conspicuously absent
 then showed themselves, and the daring deeds and hairbreadth
 escapes which came to light are not to be lightly referred to. At
 least a dozen dead rebels, it was said, would be discovered in
 the fields when the farmers came to cut their oats, but for some
 reason the bodies were never found.]

At Salineville he found Morgan, pursued by Major Way, pushing for
Smith's Ford on the Ohio. Breaking into trot and gallop, he outmarched
and intercepted the fugitives at the cross-roads near Beaver Creek, and
had gained the enemy's front and flank when a flag of truce was raised,
and Morgan coolly demanded his surrender. Rue's threat to open fire
brought Morgan to terms, when another issue was raised. It was now
claimed that Morgan had already surrendered, namely, to a militia
officer, and had been by him paroled. This "officer" turned out to be
"Captain" James Burbick, of the home guard.[10] Rue held Morgan, with
364 officers and men and 400 horses, till General Shackelford came up,
who held them as prisoners of war.

[Footnote 10: General W.T.H. Brooks says in his report:

 Morgan had passed a company of citizens from New Lisbon, and
 agreed not to fire upon them if they would not fire upon him. He
 had taken two or three of their men prisoners, and was using them
 as guides. Among them was a Mr. Burbick, of New Lisbon, who had
 gone out at the head of a small squad of mounted men. When Morgan
 saw that his advance was about to be cut off by Major Rue, he
 said to this Captain Burbick: "I would prefer to surrender to the
 militia rather than to United States troops. I will surrender to
 you if you will agree to respect private property and parole the
 officers and men as soon as we get to Cincinnati." Burbick
 replied that he knew nothing about this business. Morgan said,
 "Give me an answer, yes or no." Burbick, evidently in confusion,
 said, "Yes."

James Burbick sent a statement to Governor Tod, in which he said that he
was not a prisoner with Morgan, but that he was guiding him voluntarily
away from the vicinity of New Lisbon, after Morgan had agreed not to
pass through that town. Burbick reported that he accepted Morgan's
surrender, and started for the rear with a handkerchief tied to a stick
to intercept the advancing troops, while Lieutenant C.D. Maus, a
prisoner with Morgan, was sent with another flag of truce across the
fields.]

And thus ended the greatest of Morgan's raids. By it Bragg lost a fine
large division of cavalry, that, if added to Buckner's force,--already
equal to Burnside's in East Tennessee,--might have defeated Burnside;
or, if thrown across Rosecrans's flanks or long lines of supply and
communication, or used in reconnaissance on the Tennessee River, might
have baffled Rosecrans's plans altogether. As it was, Rosecrans was able
to deceive Bragg by counterfeit movements that could easily have been
detected by Morgan.

On the 31st of July and the 1st of August, 1863, General John H. Morgan,
General Basil W. Duke, and sixty-eight other officers of Morgan's
command, were, by order of General Burnside, confined in the Ohio State
Penitentiary at Columbus. Before entering the main prison we were
searched and relieved of our pocket-knives, money, and of all other
articles of value, subjected to a bath, the shaving of our faces, and
the cutting of our hair. We were placed each in a separate cell in the
first and second tiers on the south side in the east wing of the prison.
General Morgan and General Duke were on the second range, General Morgan
being confined in the last cell at the east end, those who escaped with
General Morgan having their cells in the first range.

[Footnote 11: Condensed from "The Bivouac" of June, 1885.]

From five o'clock in the evening until seven o'clock in the morning we
were locked into our cells, with no possible means of communication with
one another; but in the day, between these hours, we were permitted to
mingle together in the narrow hall, twelve feet wide and one hundred and
sixty long, which was cut off from the other portion of the building,
occupied by the convicts, by a plank partition, in one end of which was
a wooden door. At each end of the hall, and within the partitions, was
an armed military sentinel, while the civil guards of the prison passed
at irregular intervals among us, and very frequently the warden or his
deputy came through in order to see that we were secure and not
violating the prison rules. We were not permitted to talk with or in any
way to communicate with the convicts, nor were we permitted to see any
of our relatives or friends that might come from a distance to see us,
except upon the written order of General Burnside, and then only in the
presence of a guard. Our correspondence underwent the censorship of the
warden, we receiving and he sending only such as met his approbation; we
were not permitted to have newspapers, or to receive information of what
was going on in the outside busy world.

Many plans for escape, ingenious and desperate, were suggested,
discussed, and rejected because deemed impracticable. Among them was
bribery of the guards. This was thought not feasible because of the
double set of guards, military and civil, who were jealous and watchful
of each other, so that it was never attempted, although we could have
commanded, through our friends in Kentucky and elsewhere, an almost
unlimited amount of money.

On a morning in the last days of October I was rudely treated, without
cause, by the deputy warden. There was no means of redress, and it was
not wise to seek relief by retort, since I knew, from the experience of
my comrades, that it would result in my confinement in a dark dungeon,
with bread and water for diet. I retired to my cell, and closed the door
with the determination that I would neither eat nor sleep until I had
devised some means of escape. I ate nothing and drank nothing during the
day, and by nine o'clock I had matured the plan that we carried into
execution. It may be that I owed something to the fact that I had just
completed the reading of Victor Hugo's "Les Misérables," containing such
vivid delineations of the wonderful escapes of Jean Valjean, and of the
subterranean passages of the city of Paris. This may have led me to the
line of thought that terminated in the plan of escape adopted. It was
this: I had observed that the floor of my cell was upon a level with the
ground upon the outside of the building, which was low and flat, and
also that the floor of the cell was perfectly dry and free from mold. It
occurred to me that, as the rear of the cell was to a great extent
excluded from the light and air, this dryness and freedom from mold
could not exist unless there was underneath something in the nature of
an air-chamber to prevent the dampness from rising up the walls and
through the floor. If this chamber should be found to exist, and could
be reached, a tunnel might be run through the foundations into the yard,
from which we might escape by scaling the outer wall, the air-chamber
furnishing a receptacle for the earth and stone to be taken out in
running the tunnel. The next morning, when our cells were unlocked, and
we were permitted to assemble in the hall, I went to General Morgan's
cell, he having been for several days quite unwell, and laid before him
the plan as I have sketched it. Its feasibility appeared to him
unquestioned, and to it he gave a hearty and unqualified approval. If,
then, our supposition was correct as to the existence of the air-chamber
beneath the lower range of cells, a limited number of those occupying
that range could escape, and only a limited number, because the greater
the number the longer the time required to complete the work, and the
greater the danger of discovery while prosecuting it, in making our way
over the outer wall, and in escaping afterward.




With these considerations in view, General Morgan and myself agreed upon
the following officers, whose cells were nearest the point at which the
tunnel was to begin, to join us in the enterprise: Captain J.C. Bennett,
Captain L.D. Hockersmith, Captain C.S. Magee, Captain Ralph Sheldon, and
Captain Samuel B. Taylor. The plan was then laid before these gentlemen,
and received their approval. It was agreed that work should begin in my
cell, and continue from there until completed. In order, however, to do
this without detection, it was necessary that some means should be found
to prevent the daily inspection of that cell, it being the custom of the
deputy warden, with the guards, to visit and have each cell swept every
morning. This end was accomplished by my obtaining permission from the
warden to furnish a broom and sweep my own cell. For a few mornings
thereafter the deputy warden would pass, glance into my cell, compliment
me on its neatness, and go on to the inspection of the other cells.
After a few days my cell was allowed to go without any inspection
whatever, and then we were ready to begin work, having obtained, through
some of our associates who had been sent to the hospital, some
table-knives made of flat steel files. In my cell, as in the others,
there was a narrow iron cot, which could be folded and propped up to the
cell wall. I thought the work could be completed within a month.

On the 4th of November work was begun in the back part of my cell, under
the rear end of my cot. We cut through six inches of cement, and took
out six layers of brick put in and cemented with the ends up. Here we
came to the air-chamber, as I had calculated, and found it six feet wide
by four feet high, and running the entire length of the range of cells.
The cement and brick taken out in effecting an entrance to the chamber
were placed in my bed-tick, upon which I slept during the progress of
this portion of the work, after which the material was removed to the
chamber. We found the chamber heavily grated at the end, against which a
large quantity of coal had been heaped, cutting off any chance of exit
in that way. We then began a tunnel, running it at right angles from the
side of the chamber, and almost directly beneath my cell. We cut through
the foundation wall, five feet thick, of the cell block; through twelve
feet of grouting, to the outer wall of the east wing of the prison;
through this wall, six feet in thickness; and four feet up near the
surface of the yard, in an unfrequented place between this wing and the
female department of the prison.



During the progress of the work, in which we were greatly assisted by
several of our comrades who were not to go out, notably among them
Captain Thomas W. Bullitt of Louisville, Kentucky, I sat at the entrance
to my cell studiously engaged on Gibbon's Rome and in trying to master
French. By this device I was enabled to be constantly on guard without
being suspected, as I had pursued the same course during the whole
period of my imprisonment. Those who did the work were relieved every
hour. This was accomplished, and the danger of the guards overhearing
the work as they passed obviated, by adopting a system of signals, which
consisted in giving taps on the floor over the chamber. One knock was to
suspend work, two to proceed, and three to come out. On one occasion, by
oversight, we came near being discovered. The prisoners were taken out
to their meals by ranges, and on this day those confined in the first
range were called for dinner while Captain Hockersmith was in the
tunnel. The deputy warden, on calling the roll, missed Hockersmith, and
came back to inquire for him. General Morgan engaged the attention of
the warden by asking his opinion as to the propriety of a remonstrance
that the general had prepared to be sent to General Burnside. Flattered
by the deference shown to his opinion by General Morgan, the warden
unwittingly gave Captain Hockersmith time to get out and fall into line
for dinner. While the tunnel was being run, Colonel R.C. Morgan, a
brother of General Morgan, made a rope, in links, of bed-ticking,
thirty-five feet in length, and from the iron poker of the hall stove we
made a hook, in the nature of a grappling-iron, to attach to the end of
the rope.

The work was now complete with the exception of making an entrance from
each of the cells of those who were to go out. This could be done with
safety only by working from the chamber upward, as the cells were daily
inspected. The difficulty presented in doing this was the fact that we
did not know at what point to begin in order to open the holes in the
cells at the proper place. To accomplish this a measurement was
necessary, but we had nothing to measure with. Fortunately the deputy
warden again ignorantly aided us. I got into a discussion with him as to
the length of the hall, and to convince me of my error he sent for his
measuring-line, and after the hall had been measured, and his statement
verified, General Morgan occupied his attention, while I took the line,
measured the distance from center to center of the cells,--all being of
uniform size,--and marked it upon the stick used in my cell for propping
up my cot. With this stick, measuring from the middle of the hole in my
cell, the proper distance was marked off in the chamber for the holes in
the other cells. The chamber was quite dark, and light being necessary
for the work, we had obtained candles and matches through our sick
comrades in the hospital. The hole in my cell during the progress of the
work was kept covered with a large hand-satchel containing my change of
clothing. We cut from underneath upward until there was only a thin
crust of the cement left in each of the cells. Money was necessary to
pay expenses of transportation and for other contingencies as they might
arise. General Morgan had some money that the search had not discovered,
but it was not enough. Shortly after we began work I wrote to my sister
in Kentucky a letter, which through a trusted convict I sent out and
mailed, requesting her to go to my library and get certain books, and in
the back of a designated one, which she was to open with a thin knife,
place a certain amount of Federal money, repaste the back, write my name
across the inside of the back where the money was concealed, and send
the box by express. In due course of time the books with the money came
to hand. It only remained now to get information as to the time of the
running of the trains and to await a cloudy night, as it was then full
moon. Our trusty convict was again found useful. He was quite an old
man, called Heavy, had been in the penitentiary for many years, and as
he had been so faithful, and his time having almost expired, he was
permitted to go on errands for the officials to the city. I gave him ten
dollars to bring us a daily paper and six ounces of French brandy.
Neither he nor any one within the prison or on the outside had any
intimation of our contemplated escape.

It was our first thought to make our way to the Confederacy by way of
Canada; but, on inspecting the time-table in the paper, it was seen that
a knowledge of the escape would necessarily come to the prison officials
before we could reach the Canadian border. There was nothing left, then,
but to take the train south, which we found, if on time, would reach
Cincinnati, Ohio, before the cells were opened in the morning, at which
time we expected our absence to be discovered. One thing more remained
to be done, and that was to ascertain the easiest and safest place at
which to scale the outside wall of the prison. The windows opening
outward were so high that we could not see the wall. In the hall was a
ladder resting against the wall, fifty feet long, that had been used for
sweeping down the wall. A view from the top of the ladder would give us
a correct idea of the outside, but the difficulty was to get that view
without exciting suspicion.

Fortunately the warden came in while we were discussing the great
strength and activity of Captain Samuel B. Taylor, who was very small of
stature, when it was suggested that Taylor could go hand over hand on
the under side of the ladder to the top, and, with a moment's rest,
return in the same way. To the warden this seemed impossible, and, to
convince him, Taylor was permitted to make the trial, which he did
successfully. At the top of the ladder he rested for a minute and took a
mental photograph of the wall. When the warden had left, Taylor
communicated the fact that directly south of and at almost right angles
from the east end of the block in which we were confined there was a
double gate to the outer wall, the inside one being of wooden uprights
four inches apart, and the outside one as solid as the wall; the wooden
gate being supported by the wing wall of the female department, which
joined to the main outer wall.



On the evening of the 27th of November the cloudy weather so anxiously
waited for came; and prior to being locked in our cells it was agreed to
make the attempt at escape that night. Cell No. 21, next to my cell, No.
20, on the first range, was occupied by Colonel R.C. Morgan, a brother
of General Morgan. That cell had been prepared for General Morgan by
opening a hole to the chamber, and when the hour for locking up came,
General Morgan stepped into Cell 21, and Colonel Morgan into General
Morgan's cell in the second range. The guard did not discover the
exchange, as General Morgan and Colonel Morgan were of about the same
physical proportions, and each stood with his back to the cell door when
it was being locked.

At intervals of two hours every night, beginning at eight, the guards
came around to each cell and passed a light through the grating to see
that all was well with the prisoners. The approach of the guard was
often so stealthily made that a knowledge of his presence was first had
by seeing him at the door of the cell. To avoid a surprise of this kind
we sprinkled fine coal along in front of the cells, walking upon which
would give us warning. By a singular coincidence that might have been a
fatality, on the day we had determined upon for the escape General
Morgan received a letter from Lexington, Kentucky, begging and warning
him not to attempt to escape, and by the same mail I received a letter
from a member of my family saying that it was rumored and generally
believed at home that I had escaped. Fortunately these letters did not
put the officials on their guard. We ascertained from the paper we had
procured that a train left for Cincinnati at 1.15 A.M., and as the
regular time for the guard to make his round of the cells was twelve
o'clock, we arranged to descend to the chamber immediately thereafter.
Captain Taylor was to descend first, and, passing under each cell,
notify the others. General Morgan had been permitted to keep his watch,
and this he gave to Taylor that he might not mistake the time to go.

At the appointed hour Taylor gave the signal, each of us arranged his
cot with the seat in his cell so as to represent a sleeping prisoner,
and, easily breaking the thin layer of cement, descended to the chamber,
passed through the tunnel, breaking through the thin stratum of earth
at the end. We came out near the wall of the female prison,--it was
raining slightly,--crawled by the side of the wall to the wooden gate,
cast our grappling-iron attached to the rope over the gate, made it
fast, ascended the rope to the top of the gate, drew up the rope, and
made our way by the wing wall to the outside wall, where we entered a
sentry-box and divested ourselves of our soiled outer garments. In the
daytime sentinels were placed on this wall, but at night they were on
the inside of the walls and at the main entrance to the prison. On the
top of the wall we found a cord running along the outer edge and
connecting with a bell in the office of the prison. This cord General
Morgan cut with one of the knives we had used in tunneling. Before
leaving my cell I wrote and left, addressed to N. Merion, the warden,
the following:

 CASTLE MERION, CELL NO. 20, November 27, 1863.--Commencement,
 November 4, 1863; conclusion, November 24, 1863; number of hours
 for labor per day, five; tools, two small knives. _La patience
 est amère, mais son fruit est doux._ By order of my six honorable
 Confederates. THOMAS H. HINES, _Captain, C.S.A._

Having removed all trace of soil from our clothes and persons, we
attached the iron hook to the railing on the outer edge of the wall, and
descended to the ground within sixty yards of where the prison guards
were sitting round a fire and conversing. Here we separated, General
Morgan and myself going to the depot, about a quarter, of a mile from
the prison, where I purchased two tickets for Cincinnati, and entered
the car that just then came in. General Morgan took a seat beside a
Federal major in uniform, and I sat immediately in their rear. The
general entered into conversation with the major, who was made the more
talkative by a copious drink of my French brandy. As the train passed
near the prison-wall where we had descended, the major remarked, "There
is where the rebel General Morgan and his officers are put for
safe-keeping." The general replied, "I hope they will keep him as safe
as he is now." Our train passed through Dayton, Ohio, and there, for
some unknown reason, we were delayed an hour. This rendered it extra
hazardous to go to the depot in the city of Cincinnati, since by that
time the prison officials would, in all probability, know of our escape,
and telegraph to intercept us. In fact, they did telegraph in every
direction, and offered a reward for our recapture. Instead, then, of
going to the depot in Cincinnati, we got off, while the train was moving
slowly, in the outskirts of the city, near Ludlow Ferry, on the Ohio
River. Going directly to the ferry we were crossed over in a skiff and
landed immediately in front of the residence of Mrs. Ludlow. We rang the
door-bell, a servant came, and General Morgan wrote upon a
visiting-card, "General Morgan and Captain Hines, escaped." We were
warmly received, took a cup of coffee with the family, were furnished a
guide, and walked some three miles in the country, where we were
furnished horses. Thence we went through Florence to Union, in Boone
County, Kentucky, where we took supper with Daniel Piatt. On making
ourselves known to Mr. Piatt, who had two sons in our command, we were
treated with the most cordial hospitality and kindness by the entire
family. We there met Dr. John J. Dulaney of Florence, Kentucky, who was
of great benefit in giving us information as to the best route. That
night we went to Mr. Corbin's, near Union,--who also had gallant sons in
our command,--where we remained concealed until the next night, and
where friends supplied us with fresh horses and a pair of pistols each.



On the evening of the 29th of November we left Union with a voluntary
guide, passed through the eastern edge of Gallatin County, and after
traveling all night spent the day of the 30th at the house of a friend
on the Owen County line. Passing through New Liberty, in Owen County,
and crossing the Kentucky River at the ferry on the road to New Castle,
in Henry County, we stopped at the house of Mr. Pollard at 2 A.M.,
December 1. Our guide did not know the people nor the roads farther than
the ferry, at which point he turned back. Not knowing the politics of
Mr. Pollard, it was necessary to proceed with caution. On reaching his
house we aroused him and made known our desire to spend the remainder of
the night with him. He admitted us and took us into the family room,
where there was a lamp dimly burning on a center-table. On the light
being turned up I discovered a Cincinnati "Enquirer" with large
displayed head-lines, announcing the escape of General Morgan, Captain
Hines, and five other officers from the Ohio penitentiary. The fact that
this newspaper was taken by Mr. Pollard was to me sufficient evidence
that he was a Southern sympathizer. Glancing at the paper, I looked up
and remarked, "I see that General Morgan, Hines, and other officers have
escaped from the penitentiary." He responded, "Yes; and you are Captain
Hines, are you not?" I replied, "Yes; and what is your name?" "Pollard,"
he answered. "Allow me, then, to introduce General Morgan," I found that
I had not made a mistake.

After rest and a late breakfast and a discussion of the situation, it
was deemed inexpedient to remain during the day, as the house was
immediately on a public highway, besides the danger of such unexplained
delay exciting the suspicion of the negroes on the place. We assumed the
character of cattle-buyers, Mr. Pollard furnishing us with cattle-whips
to make the assumption plausible. Our first objective point was the
residence of Judge W.S. Pryor, in the outskirts of New Castle. After
dinner Judge Pryor rode with us some distance, and put us in charge of a
guide, who conducted us that night to Major Helm's, near Shelbyville,
where we remained during the day of the 2d, and were there joined by
four of our command in citizen's dress. That night we passed through
Taylorsville, and stopped on the morning of the 3d near Bardstown.

The night of the 4th we resumed our journey, and stopped on the morning
of the 5th at Mr. McCormack's at Rolling Fork Creek, in Nelson County,
thence through Taylor, Green (passing near Greensburg), Adair, and
Cumberland counties, crossing Cumberland River some nine miles below
Burkesville. We crossed the Cumberland, which was quite high, by
swimming our horses by the side of a canoe. Near the place of crossing,
on the south side, we stopped overnight with a private in Colonel R.T.
Jacob's Federal cavalry, passing ourselves as citizens on the lookout
for stolen horses. Next morning, in approaching the road from
Burkesville to Sparta, Tennessee, we came out of a byway immediately in
the rear of and some hundred yards from a dwelling fronting on the
Burkesville-Sparta road, and screening us from view on the Burkesville
end. As we emerged from the woodland a woman appeared at the back door
of the dwelling and motioned us back. We withdrew from view, but kept in
sight of the door from which the signal to retire was given, when after
a few minutes the woman again appeared and signaled us to come forward.
She informed us that a body of Federal cavalry had just passed, going in
the direction of Burkesville, and that the officer in command informed
her that he was trying to intercept General Morgan. We followed the
Burkesville road something like a mile, and in sight of the rear-guard.
We crossed Obey's River near the mouth of Wolf, and halted for two days
in the hills of Overton County, where we came upon forty of our men, who
had been separated from the force on the expedition into Indiana and
Ohio. These men were placed under my command, and thence we moved
directly toward the Tennessee River, striking it about fifteen miles
below Kingston, at Bridges's Ferry, December 13. There was no boat to be
used in crossing, and the river was very high and angry, and about one
hundred and fifty yards wide. We obtained an ax from a house near by,
and proceeded to split logs and make a raft on which to cross, and by
which to swim our horses. We had learned that two miles and a half below
us was a Federal cavalry camp. This stimulated us to the utmost, but
notwithstanding our greatest efforts we were three hours in crossing
over five horses and twenty-five men. At this juncture the enemy
appeared opposite, and began to fire on our men.



Here General Morgan gave characteristic evidence of devotion to his
men. When the firing began he insisted on staying with the dismounted
men and taking their chances, and was dissuaded only by my earnest
appeal and representation that such a course would endanger the men as
well as ourselves. The men, by scattering in the mountains, did
ultimately make their way to the Confederacy.

General Morgan, myself, and the four mounted men crossed over a spur of
the mountains and descended by a bridle-path to a ravine or gulch upon
the opposite side, and halted in some thick underbrush about ten steps
from a path passing along the ravine. Not knowing the country, it was
necessary to have information, or a guide, and observing a log cabin
about a hundred yards up the ravine, I rode there to get directions,
leaving General Morgan and the others on their horses near the path. I
found at the house a woman and some children. She could not direct me
over the other spur of the mountain, but consented that her ten-year-old
son might go with me and show the way. He mounted behind me, and by the
time he was seated I heard the clatter of hoofs down the ravine, and,
looking, I saw a body of about seventy-five cavalry coming directly
toward me, and passing within ten steps of where the general and his men
were sitting on their horses. I saw that my own escape was doubtful, and
that any halt or delay of the cavalry would certainly result in the
discovery and capture of General Morgan. I lifted the boy from behind me
and dashed to the head of the column, exclaiming, "Hurry up, Major, or
the rebels will escape!" He responded, "Who are you?" I answered, "I
belong to the home-guard company in the bend: hurry, or they are gone."
We dashed on, I riding by the major at the head of the column about half
a mile, when we came to where a dry branch crossed the road, and, as it
had been raining that day, it was easily seen from the soil that had
washed down from the side of the mountain that no one had passed there
since the rain. Seeing this, the command was halted, and the major again
demanded to know who I was. I replied that I was a member of General
Morgan's command. "Yes, ---- you! You have led me off from Morgan; I have
a notion to hang you for it." "No, that was not General Morgan. I have
served under him two years and know him well, and have no object in
deceiving you; for if it was Morgan, he is now safe." "You lie, for he
was recognized at the house where you got the ax. I would not have
missed getting him for ten thousand dollars. It would have been a
brigadier's commission to me. I will hang you for it." Up to this time I
had taken the situation smilingly and pleasantly, because I did not
apprehend violence; but the officer, livid with rage from
disappointment, directed one of his men to take the halter from his
horse and hang me to a designated limb of a tree. The halter was
adjusted around my neck, and thrown over the limb. Seeing that the
officer was desperately in earnest, I said, "Major, before you perform
this operation, allow me to make a suggestion." "Be quick about it,
then." "Suppose that _was_ General Morgan, as you insist, and I have led
you astray, as you insist, wouldn't I, being a member of his command,
deserve to be hung if I had not done what you charge me with?" He
dropped his head for a moment, looked up with a more pleasant
expression, and said, "Boys, he is right; let him alone."



I was placed under guard of two soldiers and sent across the river to
camp, while the officer in command took his men over the mountain in
search of General Morgan, who succeeded in making good his escape. The
next evening the major returned with his command from his unsuccessful
pursuit. He questioned me closely, wanting to know my name, and if I
was a private in the command, as I had stated to him at the time of my
capture. Remembering that in prison the underclothing of Captain Bullitt
had been exchanged for mine, and that I then had on his with his name in
ink, I assumed the name of Bullitt.

On the evening of the second day in this camp the major invited me to go
with him and take supper at the house of a Unionist half a mile away. We
spent the evening with the family until nine o'clock, when the major
suggested that we should go back to camp. On reaching the front gate,
twenty steps from the front veranda, he found that he had left his shawl
in the house, and returned to get it, requesting me to await his return.
A young lady of the family was standing in the door, and when he went in
to get the shawl, she closed the door. I was then perfectly free, but I
could not get my consent to go. For a moment of time while thus at
liberty I suffered intensely in the effort to determine what was the
proper thing to do. Upon the one hand was the tempting offer of freedom,
that was very sweet to me after so many months of close confinement;
while, on the other hand was the fact that the officer had treated me
with great kindness, more as a comrade than as a prisoner, that the
acceptance of his hospitality was a tacit parole and my escape would
involve him in trouble. I remained until his return. He was greatly
agitated, evidently realizing for the first time the extent of his
indiscretion, and surprised undoubtedly at finding me quietly awaiting
him. I had determined not to return to prison, but rather than break
faith I awaited some other occasion for escape. Notwithstanding all
this, something excited suspicion of me; for the next morning, while
lying in the tent apparently asleep, I heard the officer direct the
sergeant to detail ten men and guard me to Kingston, and he said to the
sergeant, "Put him on the meanest horse you have and be watchful or he
will escape." I was taken to Kingston and placed in jail, and there met
three of our party who had been captured on the north side of the
Tennessee River at the time we attempted to cross. They were R.C.
Church, William Church, and ---- Smith. After two days' confinement
there, we were sent under guard of twelve soldiers to the camp of the 3d
Kentucky Federal Infantry, under command of Colonel Henry C. Dunlap. The
camp was opposite the town of Loudon, and was prepared for winter
quarters. The large forest trees had been felled for a quarter of a mile
around the camp, and log huts built in regular lines for the occupation
of the troops. We were placed in one of these huts with three guards on
the inside, while the guards who delivered us there were located around
a campfire some ten steps in front of the only door to our hut, and
around the whole encampment was the regular camp guard. The next day, as
we had learned, we were to be sent to Knoxville, Tennessee, which was
then General Burnside's headquarters; and as I knew I would there be
recognized, and, on account of my previous escape, that my chances for
freedom would be reduced to a minimum, we determined to escape that
night.

It was perfectly clear, the moon about full, making the camp almost as
light as day; and as the moon did not go down until a short time before
daylight, we concluded to await its setting. The door of the cabin was
fastened by a latch on the inside. The night was cold. We had only
pretended to sleep, awaiting our opportunity. When the moon was down we
arose, one after another, from our couches, and went to the fire to warm
us. We engaged the guards in pleasant conversation, detailing incidents
of the war. I stood with my right next the door, facing the fire and the
three guards, and my comrades standing immediately on my left. While
narrating some incident in which the guards were absorbed, I placed my
right hand upon the latch of the door, with a signal to the other
prisoners, and, without breaking the thread of the narrative, bade the
guards good night, threw the door open, ran through the guards in front
of the door, passed the sentinel at the camp limits, and followed the
road we had been brought in to the mountains. The guards in front of the
door fired upon me, as did the sentinel on his beat, the last shot being
so close to me that I felt the fire from the gun. Unfortunately and
unwittingly I threw the door open with such force that it rebounded and
caught my comrades on the inside. The guards assaulted them and
attempted to bayonet them, but they grappled, overpowered, and disarmed
the guards, and made terms with them before they would let them up. All
three of these prisoners, by great daring, escaped before they were
taken North to prison.

In running from the camp to the mountains I passed two sentinel fires,
and was pursued some distance at the point of the bayonet of the soldier
who had last fired at me. All was hurry and confusion in the camp. The
horses were bridled, saddled, and mounted, and rapidly ridden out on
the road I had taken; but by the time the pursuers reached the timber I
was high up the mountain side, and complacently watched them as they
hurried by. As I ran from my prison-house I fixed my eye upon Venus, the
morning star, as my guide, and traveled until daylight, when I reached
the summit of the mountain, where I found a sedge-grass field of about
twenty acres, in the middle of which I lay down on the frozen ground and
remained until the sun had gone down and darkness was gathering. During
the day the soldiers in search of me frequently passed within thirty
steps, so close that I could hear their conjectures as to where I was
most likely to be found. I remained so long in one position that I
thawed into the frozen earth; but the cool of the evening coming on, the
soil around me froze again, and I had some difficulty in releasing
myself.

As it grew dark I descended the mountain, and cautiously approached a
humble dwelling. Seeing no one but a woman and some children, I entered
and asked for supper. While my supper was being prepared, no little to
my disappointment, the husband, a strapping, manly-looking fellow, with
his rifle on his shoulder, walked in. I had already assumed a character,
and that was as agent to purchase horses for the Federal Government. I
had come down that evening on the train from Knoxville, and was anxious
to get a canoe and some one to paddle me down to Kingston, where I had
an engagement for the next day to meet some gentlemen who were to have
horses there, by agreement with me, for sale. Could the gentleman tell
me where I could get a canoe and some one to go with me? He said the
rebels were so annoying that all boats and canoes had been destroyed to
keep them from crossing. He knew of but one canoe, owned by a good Union
man some two miles down the river. Would he be kind enough to show me
the way there, that I might get an early start and keep my engagement?

After supper my hospitable entertainer walked with me to the residence
of the owner of the canoe. The family had retired, and when the owner of
the premises came out, there came with him a Federal soldier who was
staying overnight with him. This was not encouraging. After making my
business known and offering large compensation, the owner of the canoe
agreed to start with me by daylight. During my walk down there, my guide
had mentioned that a certain person living opposite the place where the
canoe was owned had several horses that he would like to sell. I
suggested that, in order to save time and get as early a start as
possible for Kingston, the canoe-owner should take me over to see to the
purchase of these horses that night. The river was high and dangerous to
cross at night, but by promises of compensation I was taken over and
landed some quarter of a mile from the house. With an injunction to
await me, when the canoe landed I started toward the house; but when out
of sight I changed my course and took to the mountains.

For eight days I traveled by night, taking my course by the stars, lying
up in the mountains by day, and getting food early in the evening
wherever I could find a place where there were no men. On the 27th of December
I reached the Confederate lines near Dalton, Georgia.