COLUMBIANA COUNTY OHIO - HISTORY PART 9 (published 1898)
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HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF OHIO By Henry Howe, LL.D., 1898

                        THE MORGAN RAID THROUGH OHIO

        One of the most exciting events to the people of Ohio in the
Rebellion was the raid of Morgan. When this dashing officer, at the head of
less than 2,000 of his troopers, crossed the entire width of the State from
west to east, and although more than 40,000 men were in arms and in
pursuit, his audacity would have triumphed in his successful escape back
within the Confederate lines but for circumstances which ever wise
foresight could not have anticipated. As his surrender took place within
this county, we here give the history of the raid, mainly from Whitelaw
Reid's "Ohio in the War," and in an abridged form:
        THE OBJECT OF THE RAID. -Little progress had been made in the
organization of the State militia, when in July, 1863, there came another
sudden and pressing demand for it.
        In July, 1863, Rosecrans at Stone River was menacing Bragg at
Tullahoma. Burnside at Cincinnati was organizing a force for service
against Buckner in East Tennessee. The communications of Burnside and
Rosecrans extended through Kentucky, covered by some ten thousand troops
under Gen. Judah. Bragg felt that if these communications were threatened
by a division, the advance of Rosecrans or Burnside would be delayed, and
these officers kept from reinforcing each other. Gen. John Morgan was the
man selected for this service. He had orders to go where he chose in
Kentucky, to attempt the capture of Louisville, but was forbidden to cross
the Ohio river.
        MORGAN'S PLAN -Morgan at once set about preparing for his raid, but
in defiance of orders to the contrary he determined to cross the Ohio river
somewhere near Louisville, make a rapid detour through southern Indiana and
Ohio, and recross the river back into Kentucky at Buffington Island, about
forty miles below Marietta. In pursuance of this plan men were sent into
Ohio to gather information and examine the fords of the upper Ohio.
        His plan was daring and brilliant, as was also its execution, and
but for the unexpected and unprecedented high water for the time of year,
which enabled gunboats to pass up the river with troops to cut off his
escape, he would have brought his daring raiders through in safety.
        MORGAN CROSSES KENTUCKY. -On the 2d of July he crossed the
Cumberland with twenty four hundred and sixty men, and after a skirmish
with Judah's cavalry, was half way to Columbia before Judah (who had
trusted to the swollen condition of the stream to prevent the crossing)
could get his forces together. The next day, he had a severe fight at the
crossing of the Green river with a Michigan regiment under Col. Moore; they
made a determined resistance, and Morgan, having no time to spare, was
obliged to withdraw, found another crossing and hurried on through
Campbellstown to Lebanon. Here were stationed three regiments, but two of
them being some distance from the town he overwhelmed the one in the town
before the other two could get up and hastened on to Springfield, eight
miles north, where he paroled his prisoners and turned northwestward,
marching direct for Brandenburg, on the Ohio river, sixty miles below
Louisville. Having tapped the telegraph wires, he learned that the
forces at Louisville were too strong for him and gave up all designs
against that city, but captured a train from Nashville when within thirty
miles of Louisville.
        Two companies were sent ahead to secure means of transportation
across the Ohio river, which the main force reached on the morning of the
8th, having crossed the State of Kentucky in five days. Here he found the
two companies sent forward had captured two packet boats, the "J.J.
McCombs" and "Alice Dean," and he prepared for crossing when some Indiana
militia on the other side opened fire upon them with musketry and an old
cannon mounted on wagon wheels; Morgan sent two of his regiments across,
and bringing up his Parrott rifles the militia were forced to retreat, the
two rebel regiments pursuing. The main force was about to follow, when a
little tin-clad, the "Springfield," came steaming down the river. "Suddenly
checking her way," writes Basil W. Duke, Morgan's second in command, "she
tossed her snub nose defiantly, like an angry beauty of the coal pits,
sidled a little toward the town, and commenced to scold. A bluish-white
funnel-shaped cloud spouted out from her left-hand bow, a shot flew at the
town; then changing front forward she snapped a shell at the men on the
other side. I wish, I were sufficiently master of nautical phraseology to
do justice to this little vixen's style of fighting; but she was so unlike
a horse, or even a piece of light artillery, that I cannot venture to
attempt it.
        MORGAN CROSSED THE OHIO INTO INDIANA. -It was a critical moment for
the raiders, as every hour of delay brought Hobson nearer in pursuit; but
when Morgan's Parrotts were turned upon her she was compelled to retire,
owing to the inequality in the range of guns; the raiders then crossed the
river, burned their boats, and had marched six miles before night.
        Up to this point the movements of Morgan had created but little
alarm in the North, they had been used to panics from threatened invasions
of Ohio and Indiana. Heretofore such invasions had amounted to little more
than raids through Kentucky for horses, the Ohio river being looked upon as
the extreme northern limit of these expeditions; but when it was learned
that Morgan had crossed the river, consternation spread throughout Indiana
and Ohio, all sorts of rumors and conjectures were circulated as to his
intentions; at first Indianapolis and its State Treasury were said to be
his objectives, then Cincinnati and its banks, then Columbus and its
Treasury, and the alarm extended to the lake shore. Morgan had anticipated
this alarm, desired it and did all he could to circulate delusive and
exaggerated reports of his strength and intentions and by means of expert,
telegraphers, tapped the wires and kept informed of the movements against
him. It was a part of his plan to avoid large towns, and large bodies of
militia, to "cause by false alarms the concentration of forces in the
larger towns for defence, and then by rapid marching pass around the
defended points, cross Indiana and Ohio, and into kentucky before his
purpose could be divined or any adequate force be brought against him.
        REACHES THE OHIO LINE. -He rapidly crossed Indiana, burning
bridges, looting small towns, overwhelming any small force that offered any
opposition, and releasing the prisoners on parole, until on Monday, July
13th, he reached Harrison, on the State line between Indiana and Ohio.
        "Here," writes Duke, "Gen. Morgan began to maneuver the benefit of
the commanding officer at Cincinnati. He took it for granted that there was
a strong force of regular troops in Cincinnati. Burnside had them not far
off, and Gen. Morgan supposed that they would of course be brought there.
If we could get past Cincinnati safely, the danger of the expedition, he
thought, would be more than half over. Here he expected to be confronted by
the concentrated forces of Judah and Burnside, and he anticipated great
difficulty in eluding or cutting his way through them. Once safely through
this peril, his escape would be certain, unless the river remained so high
that the transports could carry troops to intercept him at the upper
crossings. Thinking that the great effort to capture him would be made as
he crossed the Hamilton and Dayton railroad, his object was to deceive the
enemy as to the exact point where he would cross it, and denude that point
as much as possible of troops. He sent detachments in various directions,
seeking, however, to create the impression that he was marching to Hamilton."
        When Morgan entered Ohio his force amounted to less than 2,000 men,
the others having been killed or captured in skirmishes, or, unable to keep
up with the rapid marching of his flying column, had fallen behind
exhausted, to be picked up by the citizen-soldiery, who hovered round his
line of march.
        PASSES AROUND CINCINNATI. -While Cincinnati was filled with
apprehension and alarm at Morgan's advance, he, on the other hand, was
equally apprehensive of danger from that city, and by the greatest march he
ever made slipped around it in the night. Duke says of this march: "It was
a terrible, trying march. Strong men fell out of their saddles, and at
every halt the officers were compelled to move continually about in their
respective companies and pull and haul the men, who would drop asleep in
the road. It was the only way to keep them awake, Quite a number crept off
into the fields, and slept until they were awakened by the enemy....At
length day appeared just as we reached the last point where we had to
anticipate danger. We had passed through Glendale and all the principal
suburban roads, were near the Little Miami railroad.
        "...........We crossed the railroad without opposition, and halted
to feed the horses in sight of Camp Dennison. After a short rest here and a
picket skirmish we resumed our march, burning in this neighborhood a part
of government wagons. That evening at four o'clock we were at Williamsburg,
twenty-eight miles east of Cincinnati, having marched eight miles east of
Cincinnati, having marched since leaving Summansville, in Indiana, in a
period of thirty-five hours, more that ninety miles - the greatest march
that even Morgan had ever made. Feeling comparatively safe here, he
permitted the division to go into camp and remain during the night.
        While Morgan was swinging his exhausted men around Cincinnati the
following despatches were sent to Gen. Burnside in that city:
        "11:30 p.m.  A courier arrived last evening at Gen. Burnside's'
headquarters, having left Cheviot at half-past eight p.m., with information
for the general. Cheviot is only seven miles from the city. He states that
about 500 of Morgan's men had crossed the river at Miamitown, and attacked
our pickets, killing or capturing one of them. Morgan's main force, said to
be 3,000 strong, was then crossing the river. A portion of the rebel force
had been up to New Haven, and another had gone to New Baltimore, and
partially destroyed both of those places. The light of the burning towns
was seen by our men. When the courier left Morgan was moving up, it was
reported, to attack our advance.
        "1 a.m.  A courier has just arrived at headquarters from Colerain.
He reports that the enemy, supposed to be 2,500 strong, with six pieces of
artillery, crossed the Colerain pike at dark, at Bevis, going toward New
Burlington, or to Cincinnati and Hamilton pike, in direction of Springdale."
        "1:30 a.m.  A despatch from Jones' Station states that the enemy
are now encamped between Venice and New Baltimore."
        "2 a.m.  Another despatch says the enemy are coming in, or a squad
of them, from new Baltimore toward Glendale, for the supposed purpose of
destroying a bridge over the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton railroad, near
Glendale.
        "2 a.m.  A despatch from Hamilton says it is believed that the main
portion of Morgan's force is moving in that direction, going east. At this
writing -quarter-past two a.m. -it is in the impression that Morgan's main
force is going east, while he has sent squads to burn bridges on the C.H. &
D.R.R., and over the Miami river, but he may turn and come down this way,
on some of the roads leading through Walnut Hills or Mt. Auburn.
        The next day it was apparent that Cincinnati was not to be
attacked, and the officials began to comprehend something of Morgan's
purpose. The militia, which, owing to incomplete organization, had not been
of much service heretofore, began to be more effectively disposed: some at
Camp Chase, for protection of the capital and to be thrown down into
Southeastern Ohio to head off Morgan in front; others were assembled at
Camp Dennison to be sent after him by rail.
        THE CHASE AFTER MORGAN. -All through the southern part of the State
companies were mustered, and hurried by extra trains to the points of
danger. Hobson, who had done some remarkable marching was only a few hours
behind, and so close that Morgan had but little time for burning bridges or
impressment of fresh horses. Judah, with his troops, was despatched by
boats up the river to head off the galloping column. More than 50,000
militia, called out by Gov. Tod, were preparing to close in upon him from
all parts of the State, and Morgan's raid now became a chase. An
overwhelming force was closing in upon him every side. Thoroughly realizing
his situation, Morgan hastened forward to the ford at Buffington Island.
        EXCITEMENT AND PLUNDERING. -In the meanwhile the excitement and
apprehension throughout Southern Ohio was unprecedented. Horses and cattle
were hurried to hiding-places in the woods; silver plate, jewelry, and
other valuables were buried, while many families left their homes and fled
to more secure territory. Many ridiculous things were done.
        "At least one terrified matron, in a pleasant inland town, forty
miles from the rebel route, in her husbands absence, resolved to protect
the family carriage-horse at all hazards, and, knowing no safer plan, led
him into the house and stabled him in the parlor, locking and bolting doors
and windows, whence the noise of his dismal tramping on the resounding
floor sounded through the livelong night like distant peals of artillery,
and kept half the citizens awake and watching for Morgan's entrance."
        Horses and food were taken whenever wanted by raiding parties on
both sides during the war, but no such plundering was known as that of
Morgan's raid. Duke frankly admits this. He says: "The disposition for
wholesale plunder exceeded anything that any of us had ever seen before.
The men seemed actuated by a desire to pay off in the enemy's country all
scores that the Union army had chalked up in the South. The great cause for
apprehension which our situation might have inspired seemed only to make
them reckless. Calico was the staple article of appropriation. Each man
(who could get one) tied a bolt of it to his saddle, only to throw it away
and get a fresh one at the first opportunity. They did not pillage with any
sort of method or reason; it seemed to be a mania, senseless and
purposeless. One man carried a bird-cage with three canaries in it for two
days. Another rode with a chafing-dish, which looked like a small metallic
coffin, on the pommel of his saddle, till an offi
cer forced him to throw it away. Although the weather was intensely warm,
another slung seven pairs of skates around his neck, and chuckled over the
acquisition. I saw very few articles of real value taken; they pillaged
like boys robbing an orchard. I would not have believed that such a passion
could have been developed so ludicrously among any body of civilized men.
At Piketon, Ohio, some days later, one man broke through the guard posted
at a store, rushed in trembling with excitement, and avarice, and filled
his pockets with horn buttons. They would, with a few exceptions, throw
away their plunder after a while, like children tired of their toys."
        Ridiculous action was not confined to Morgan's men. Some militia
marched from Camp Dennison after Morgan until near Batavia, then halted,
and felled trees across the road, "to check him should he return." A
drawbridge was partially destroyed at Marietta, although Morgan did not
come within twenty miles of that place. At Chillicothe they fired on some
of their own militia, and burned a bridge over a stream always fordable.
        MORGAN REACHES THE FORD AT BUFFINGTON ISLAND. -The evening of July
14 Morgan encamped at Williamsburg, twenty-eight miles east of Cincinnati.
>From there he marched through to Washington C.H., Piketon (Col. Richard
Morgan going through Georgetown), Jackson, Vinton, Berlin, Pomeroy, and
Chester, reaching the ford at Buffington Island on the 18th. "At last the
daring little column approached its goal. All the troops in Kentucky had
been evaded and left behind. All the militia in Indiana had been dashed
aside or outstripped. The 50,000 militia in Ohio had failed to turn it from
its pre-determined path. Within precisely fifteen days from the morning it
had crossed the Cumberland -nine days from its crossing into Indiana -it
stood once more on the banks of the Ohio. A few more hours of daylight and
it would be safely across, in the midst again of a population to which it
might look for sympathy if not for aid. But the circle of the hunt was
narrowing. Judah, with his fresh cavalry was up, and was marching out from
the river against Morgan. Hobson was hard on his rear. Col. Runkle,
commanding a division of militia in advance of him were beginning to fell
trees and tear up bridges to obstruct his progress. Near Pomeroy they made
a stand. For four or five miles his road ran through a ravine, with
occasional intersections from hill-roads. At all these crossroads he found
the militia posted, and from the hills above him they made his passage
gauntlet. On front, flank, and rear the militia pressed; and, as Morgan's
first subordinate ruefully expresses it, "closed eagerly upon our track."
In such plight he passed through the ravine, and shaking clear of his
pursuers for a little, pressed on to Chester, where he arrived about one
o'clock in the afternoon."
        BATTLE OF BUFFINGTON ISLAND. -Here he halted an hour and a half to
breathe his horses and hunt a guide. This delay in the end proved fatal.
This done, he pushed on and reached Portland, opposite Buffington Island,
at eight in the evening. He found at the ford an earthwork, hastily thrown
up and guarded by a small body of men; it was a "night of solid darkness"
as the rebel officers declared it, and the worn-out condition of horses and
men decided him to await the morning before attacking the earthwork and
attempting to cross. Another for him unfortunate delay. "By morning Judah
was up. At daybreak Duke advanced with a couple of rebel regiments to storm
the earthwork but found it abandoned. He was rapidly making the
dispositions for crossing when Judah's advance struck him. At first he
repulsed it and took a number of prisoners, the adjutant-general of Judah's
staff among them. Morgan then ordered him to hold the force on his front in
check. He was not able to return to his command until it had been broken
and thrown into full retreat before an impetuous charge of Judah's cavalry,
headed by Lieutenant O'Neil, of the Fifth Indiana. He succeeded in rallying
them and reforming his line. But now, advancing up the Chester and Pomeroy
road, came the gallant cavalry that over three States had been galloping on
their track -the three thousand of Hobson's command -who now for two weeks
had been only a day, a forenoon, an hour behind them.
        As Hobson's guidons fluttered out in the little valley by the river
bank where they fought, every man of that band who had so long defied a
hundred thousand knew that the contest was over. They were almost out of
ammunition, exhausted, and scarcely two thousand strong. Against them were
Hobson's three thousand and Judah's still larger force. To complete the
overwhelming odds that, in spite of their efforts, had been concentrated
upon them the tin-clad gunboats steamed up and opened fire.
        Morgan comprehended the situation as fast as the hard riding
troopers, who, still clinging to their bolts of calico, were already
beginning to gallop toward the rear. He at once essayed to extricate his
trains, and then to withdraw his regiments by column of fours from right of
companies, keeping up meanwhile as sturdy a resistance as he might. For
some distance the withdrawal was made in tolerable order; then under a
charge of a Michigan cavalry regiment, everything was broken and the
retreat became a rout. Morgan with not quite twelve hundred men escaped.
His brother with Colonels Duke Ward, Huffman, and about seven hundred men,
were taken prisoners. This was the battle of Buffington Island. It was
brief and decisive. But for his two grave mistakes of the night before
Morgan might have avoided it and escaped."
        The loss on the Union side was trifling, but among the killed was
Major Dan'l McCook, father of one of the tribes of the "Fighting McCooks."
        MORGAN CONTINUES HIS FLIGHT. -"And now began the dreariest
experience of the rebel chief. Twenty miles above Buffington he struck the
river again, got three hundred of his command across, when the approaching
gunboats checked the passage. Returning to the nine hundred still on the
Ohio side he once more renewed the hurried flight. His men were worn down
and exhausted by long continued and enormous work; they were demoralized by
pillage, discouraged by the shattering of their command, weakened most of
all by their loss of faith in themselves and their commander, surrounded by
a multitude of foes, harassed on every hand, intercepted at every loophole
of escape, hunted like game night and day, driven hither and thither in
their vain efforts to double on their remorseless pursuers......Yet to the
very last the energy this daring cavalryman displayed was such as to extort
cavalryman displayed was such as to extort our admiration. From the jaws of
disaster he drew out the remnants
of his command at Buffington.
        CROSSED THE MUSKINGUM. -When foiled in the attempted crossing
above, he headed for the Muskingum. Foiled here by the militia under
Runkle, he doubled on his track and turned again, toward Blennerhassett
Island. The clouds of dust that marked his track betrayed the movement and
on three sides the pursuers closed in on him. While they slept in peaceful
expectation of receiving his surrender in the morning, he stole out along a
hillside that had been thought impassable, his men walking in single file
and leading their horses, and by midnight he was once more out of the
toils, marching hard to outstrip his pursuers. At last he found an
unguarded crossing of the Muskingum, at Eaglesport, above McConnellsville,
and then with an open country before him struck out once more for the Ohio.
        THE SURRENDER. -This time Governor Tod's sagacity was vindicated.
he urged the shipment of troops by rail to Bellaire, near Wheeling, and by
great good fortune, Major Way, of the Ninth Michigan Cavalry, received the
orders. Presently this officer was on the scent. "Morgan is making for
Hammondsville," he telegraphed General Burnside on the 25th, "and will
attempt to cross the Ohio river at Wellsville. I have my section of battery
and will follow him closely." He kept his word and gave the finishing
stroke. "Morgan was attacked with the remnant of his command at eight
o'clock this morning, "announced General Burnside on the next day," at
Salineville, by Major Way, who after a severe fight routed the enemy,
killed about thirty, wounded some fifty, and took some two hundred
prisoners." Six hours later the long race ended: "I captured John Morgan
today at two o'clock p.m.," telegraphed Major Rue, of the Ninth Kentucky
Cavalry, on the evening of the 26th, "taking three hundred and
thirty-six prisoners, four hundred horses and arms."
        Morgan and his men were confined in the Ohio penitentiary at
Columbus; on the night of November 27 he with six others escaped by cutting
through the stone floor of his cell (with knives from the prison table)
until they reached an air-chamber below, from which they tunneled through
the walls of the prison and by means of ropes made from their bed clothes
scaled the outer wall; hastening to the depot they boarded a train on the
Little Miami railroad for Cincinnati, and when near that city they jumped
from the train, made their way to the Ohio river, which they crossed and
were soon within the Confederate lines. A year later Morgan was killed
while on a raid in an obscure little village in East Tennessee..


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