COLUMBIANA COUNTY OHIO - HISTORY PART 10 (published 1898)
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HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF OHIO, By Henry Howe, LL.D., 1898

        The following letter, written a few days after Morgan had passed
through Butler county, is an amusing addition to the history of the raid.
It was written by Mr. C.F. Warren, merchant, of Cincinnati, to his friend,
H.H. Ford, Esq., of Burton, Geauga county, and dated Jones Station, July
19th. It is here for the first time published and is given as an
illustration of the spirit of the times.

        I returned last night, after an absence of two weeks, during which
time Morgan's forces passed through, creating great consternation
throughout the country; they came within a mile and a half of us at the
nearest point, and at Springdale, the little village just below us, they
called up our butcher, Mr. Watson, at one o'clock at night, and bade him
get some breakfast. He began to make excuses, among others no fire; Morgan
suggested that it would be better for Watson to make the fire than for him
to do it, as it might be inconvenient to put his fire out, so Watson took
the hint and got their breakfast. After it was ready and the coffee on the
table, Mrs. Watson was called to take a cup of it first, and none of them
touched it until they were satisfied that she had not poisoned it.
        They took horses from every man along the road, but did not take
other property except forage for their horses and food for themselves. Mr.
Jones (a neighbor), Ned (my brother), and Newton (the hired man) were out
scouting before and after they passed, and took one prisoner in the
graveyard at Springdale and sent him to the city. As soon as he found he
was covered by their rifles he began crying and begging not to be shot.
        Morgan's men were very much fatigued, getting to sleep in their
saddles and falling to the ground without waking. After they passed, Ned
and a neighbor's boy, younger than he, and the darky concluded to follow
them a while, and on their return met Hobson's cavalry just out of
Glendale. As soon as they saw them, Ned and the boy wheeled their horses
into a cross road and called the darky to follow; at the same time the
cavalry were close to Newton and called on him to stop -they wanted his
horse -and also that of the boy. Ned was on an old black and had on my
spurs, and he put the horse to the top of his speed; he had to go round a
half square; two of the cavalry broke through the fence with their horses
and thought to head them, but old black was too sharp for them, and when
they saw they could not catch them, they both discharged their pieces, the
balls striking in a potato patch near them; by this time they had reached
the Princeton pike, where they encountered two more and had another race
and two more shots after them, but the worn-out and jaded horses were no
match for the fresh ones the boys rode, and the latter "made port with
flying colors."
        Newton in the meantime was caught and compelled to swap my bay mare
Kate for a three-year old filly, shoeless, footsore and unbroken to
harness......Nearly all the neighbors kept patrol around their premises, so
there could be an immediate alarm given, and the scouts ere going and
coming to our station to telegraph Gen. Burnside. There are any amount of
incidents connected with the passage of Morgan's troopers through the
county that are interesting, as showing their contempt for Vallandigham
copperheads; one old copper lost three horses and thought to get them back,
if they only knew what he was. So he harnessed up the poorest horse he
could get that would travel fast enough to catch them, and went after them,
overtook the rear guard and told them he wanted to see the officer in
command. The colonel came back and the old doctor began to say "that he was
for Vallandigham, and opposed to the war," etc.
        The colonel bade him drive up into the middle of the regiment, and
as they could not be delayed they would listen to his complaints as they
went along. Very soon word came to the colonel that two soldiers had given
out entirely, and the colonel said to our doctor and his fellow-copperhead
"that he should be under the necessity of using his wagon for the
soldiers." The doctor protested vehemently, "could not ride on horseback at
all." The colonel hinted that he need not trouble himself about that as he
intended him to walk. After trudging along until his feet were blistered he
began to complain again, that his boots hurt him so that he could not walk,
and begged for his wagon again; but the colonel had a more convenient way
of relieving him, and ordered a couple of soldiers to pull off his boots,
which they did, and he went on in his stocking feet until they camped; his
partner driving the wagon had not said anything about his politics all this
time. After they had camped the doctor thought his troubles were over; but
not so. They compelled him to learn a song and sing it, the chorus being,
"I'll bet ten cents in specie, that Morgan'll win the race."
        This was the sentiment, but not the exact words; now, just imagine
an old dignified chap, somewhat corpulent, who never smiled, the oracle of
all the Democrats in the town where he lived, singing a song of that kind,
set to a lively negro minstrel tune, and a soldier standing over him
brandishing a sabre and shouting at the top of his voice, "Go it, old Yank!
Louder! Louder! etc. -and you have the picture complete; after all this
they were about to depart, when the officer in command suddenly concluded
the horse they were driving was better than some he had, and kindly
permitted them to unharness him and put another in his place; they then
took what money he had except nine dollars, and brought him three little
rats of horses, whose backs were raw from the withers to the rump, gave him
three cheers and started him for home.
        Thus far since his return he has not been heard to cry "Peace"
once, or even "Hurrah for Vallandigham!" and it is extremely doubtful
whether he will.
        The doctor's companion was a sort of "Hail fellow, well met," and
although begged not to tell the story could not possibly resist it; it was
entirely too good to keep.

        The capture of Morgan occasioned great rejoicing, and Prentice, of
the Louisville Journal, the newspaper wag of that era, alluding to the
habitual seizure of horses by Morgan's men, suggested that a salute of one
gun be fired before every stable door in the land. One who was present just
after the surrender wrote: "Morgan's men were poorly dressed, ragged, dirty
and very badly used up. Some of them wore remnants of gray uniforms, but
most of them were attired in spoils gathered during the raid. They were
much discouraged at the result of the raid and the prospect of affairs
generally. Morgan himself appeared in good spirits and quite unconcerned at
his ill luck. He is a well-built man, of fresh complexion, sandy hair and
beard. He last night enjoyed for the first time in a long while the
comforts of a sound sleep in a good bed. Morgan was attired in a a linen
coat, black pants, white shirt and light felt hat. He has rather a mild
face, there being certainly nothing in it to indicate unusual intellectual
abilities." Reid says of him: "He left a name second only to those of
Forrest and Stuart among the cavalrymen of the Confederacy, and a
character, amid which much to be condemned, was not without traces of a
noble nature."
        Among the anecdotes told of him during his raid through Ohio is
this. A Union soldier, after his surrender, was in the act of breaking his
musket across a rock, when one of Morgan's officers drew a revolver,
intending to shoot him, which Morgan seeing at once forbade, and then
added: "Never harm a man who has surrendered. In breaking his musket, he
has done just as I would were I in his place."
        Morgan was a lieutenant of cavalry in the Mexican war. At the
opening of the civil war he was engaged in the manufacture of bagging at
Lexington, Ky. During the winter of 1862-63 he commanded a cavalry force
which greatly annoyed Rosecran's communications. By his raids in Kentucky
he destroyed millions in value of military stores, captured railroad trains
and destroyed railroad bridges in rear of the national army, rendering it
necessary to garrison every important town in the State. He moved with
great celerity, and, taking a telegraph operator with him, he misled his
foes and at the same time learned their movements. Morgan was physically a
large, powerful man and could endure any amount of bodily exertion,
outriding and without sleep almost every other man in his command.


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