Morgan's Raid into Ohio
July 1863

In the meantime, Confederate General John Hunt Morgan was ordered by his superior, General Braxton Bragg, to raid into Kentucky and make a demonstration that would threaten Louisville. Bragg's goal was to distract Union General Ambrose Burnside, and delay his advance into Tennessee. On July 2, 1863, Morgan and 2,460 cavalry crossed the Cumberland River at Burkesville, Kentucky, and rushed across the state. Morgan, however, disobeyed Bragg's orders and crossed the Ohio River into Indiana on July 8, then turned eastward on July 13 and pressed across southern Ohio.⁴³ (See Figure 6, below.) On July 18, his advance reached the ford at Portland, Ohio, near Buffington Island, where he had planned to recross the Ohio River. His raiders, however, found the ford guarded by Union troops and the river swollen, making crossing practically impossible. In the meantime, two brigades of cavalry under Union General Henry M. Judah, having been sent by Burnside, were harassing Morgan's rear elements.⁴⁴

Figure 6 - Morgan's Raid, July 2-16, 1863

On General Scammon's orders, Hayes left Fayetteville with two regiments, the Thirteenth West Virginia and the Twenty-Third Ohio.⁴⁵ Colonel Brown reported that on July 17 the troops "embarked on transports Victress, Victor No. 2 & General Meigs at Loup Creek" and traveled to Gallipolis, Ohio. Companies A, B, and H had rejoined the regiment during the trip down the Kanawha River.⁴⁶ On July 19, Hayes' brigade proceeded up the Ohio River to Pomeroy and halted to wait for Morgan. He arrived about noon and they skirmished. Hayes said: "Seeing we were `regulars and not militia' . . . he hurried off. . . ."⁴⁷ The Thirteenth then returned to the boats awaiting them on the river, and proceeded to Buffington Island.⁴⁸

That night Morgan reached Buffington Island. Cut off at the ford by the Federal forces, and encumbered with wagons of sick and wounded, he chose to wait until morning and fight his way out. The next morning there was an engagement between Morgan and Judah which lasted a little less than one hour. Shelled by gunboats on the river, Morgan's group was routed. Seven hundred of them were taken prisoner and 120 were killed.⁴⁹ Colonel Brown reported that the Thirteenth "was ordered up the river in pursuit of the flying rebels as far as Big Hocking River, in Ohio."⁵⁰ Hayes wrote that his men went "on to Hockingport; guarded the ferries over the Ohio at Lee's Creek, Belleville, and Hocking."⁵¹ The remainder of Morgan's men fled and some, including Morgan, tried to ford the river upstream at Belleville Island, but the gunboat U.S.S. Moose got within range and opened fire. Many, including Morgan, were forced back to the Ohio side. Two hundred eighty succeeded in crossing, but several men and horses drowned.⁵² Those of Morgan's men who had succeeded fled through West Virginia and crossed into the safety of Virginia at Salt Sulphur Springs. Morgan and 800 men were on the run for a week, but he surrendered himself and 300 men on July 26 at Salineville, near East Liverpool, Ohio.⁵³

Next: Back in the Kanawha Valley, July 1863-May 1864
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Copyright © Kimberly Ball Hieronimus Brownlee, 1998-2003. All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in any manner for any media without the express written agreement of the author.