Brigadier-General John Hunt Morgan had escaped from Ohio State Penitentiary in November 1863 after leading a Confederate raid into the North. Since then, Morgan had taken command of the Department of Southwestern Virginia and began planning for another raid meant to deprive Federal armies in the Western Theater of men and materiel.
Morgan submitted a plan to confront and pursue Federals targeting Saltville and Wytheville, and then he led his 800-man cavalry command out of bivouac without waiting for approval. When the plan reached Richmond, Morgan’s troopers had already attacked Federal supply lines and skirmished with enemy troops at Pound Gap, Kentucky. Confederate Chief of Staff Braxton Bragg endorsed Morgan’s raid but called it a “most unfortunate withdrawal of forces from an important position at a very critical moment.” Secretary of War James A. Seddon said, “Unfortunately, I see no remedy for this movement now.”
On June 8, Morgan’s Confederates seized the Federal garrison at Mount Sterling, where the men robbed the local bank of $18,000. Some alleged that the money went to fund anti-U.S. operations in Canada, while others said that Morgan simply had no control over his undisciplined men. Morgan’s guilt was never established, but Kentuckians who had previously greeted his raids into their state now started turning against him.
At dawn the next day, Brigadier-General Stephen Burbridge’s Federals caught up to Morgan’s raiders at Mount Sterling. Since many Confederates had enjoyed the town’s excesses the previous day, they were caught by surprise and driven out of town. Only 450 of the Morgan’s 800 men escaped, and they headed toward Lexington, 40 miles away. The Federals did not pursue.
Morgan’s troopers rode into Lexington in the early hours of the 10th. The looting that had begun at Mount Sterling continued, as the raiders stole 7,000 horses and large amounts of liquor before burning houses, businesses, stables, and the railroad depot. According to a Lexington newspaper, “Though the stay of Morgan’s command in Lexington was brief, embracing but a few hours, he made good use of his time–as many empty shelves and pockets will testify.”
Morgan’s raiders arrived at Cynthiana via Georgetown the next day. The Federals initially refused to surrender but then relented after house-to-house fighting. Morgan reported to superiors: “I was forced to burn a large portion of the town.” Morgan’s men took about 300 prisoners, some of whom belonged to a unit that had helped capture Morgan during his Ohio raid last July. The Confederates continued on toward the capital of Frankfort.
Burbridge’s Federals finally caught up to Morgan once more and attacked his raiders outside Cynthiana on the 12th. The Confederates held firm until they began running out of ammunition; Morgan had been warned of this yesterday. Severely defeated, Morgan’s men scattered in different directions, driving off their captured horses, and losing more than half their total. Morgan and a group of survivors rode off toward Abingdon, in southwestern Virginia, several hundred miles eastward.
Morgan reached Abingdon about a week later. He did not enjoy the success he had in previous raids, largely due to an inexperienced and undisciplined command, a stronger Federal presence than ever in Kentucky, and a citizenry that had turned hostile to his raiders’ lawlessness.
Bibliography
- Foote, Shelby, The Civil War, A Narrative: Red River to Appomattox. New York: Vintage Civil War Library, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group (Kindle Edition), 2011.
- Long, E.B. with Long, Barbara, The Civil War Day by Day. New York: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1971.
- Pollard, Edward A., Southern History of the War (facsimile of the 1866 edition). New York: Fairfax Press, 1990.