SAMPLE CHAPTER EXCERPTS

Here are three excerpts from the book. They have been edited and condensed from the original. The first is from the Preface in which the author tells how he went about doing field research. The second is a description of the Battle of Corydon in Harrison County (Indiana). The third describes what happened as the Confederates attempted to cross the Muskingum River at Eagleport in Morgan County (Ohio).

Preface

The stories you about to read are all true. Most of them happened 136 years ago. As James Ramage said in his Foreword, "It was the high moment of adventure in the lives of the people of that generation and they would never forget." What I found was that succeeding generations haven’t forgotten either. Let me tell you about one incident, which is representative of the experiences I encountered as I went about uncovering stories.

On a field research trip, I was accompanied by a friend, Jack Kindell. We were trying to locate a farmhouse where General John Hunt Morgan had stopped for breakfast on the morning of July 14, 1863. It had been the home of John Schenck (pronounce with hard c as "Skaink."), a breeder of prize cattle and a Cincinnati pharmacist. I had found his home on an 1869 map of Hamilton County, Ohio. I read in the Daily Cincinnati Enquirer, dated July 15, 1863, that Morgan had "partaken of breakfast" at John Schenck’s home. Today, his residence is in Deer Park, a Cincinnati suburb. The street has been named Schenck Avenue. Driving up and down the road, we studied the homes to see if any appeared to be old enough to date to the 1860s. Selecting the one that fit that criteria, we rang the doorbell.

An alert, elderly woman by the name of Helen Ward answered the door. We explained that I was writing a book about the raid and asked if this had been the home of John Schenck. Her face of puzzlement changed immediately to a smile and she opened the door wide and invited us in. She led us into her living room and seated us on the sofa. She excused herself and returned in a few moments carrying a cardboard box large enough to hold a pillow. Mrs. Ward pulled up a cushioned chair for herself and placed the box on a cocktail table in front of the couch.

As she opened it, she said, "I’ve been waiting for you for many years." With that, she began handing us yellowed newspaper articles and photographs about Morgan’s raid and John Schenck’s encounter with the raiders. Although she was not a descendant of Mr. Schenck, she gave us the name of Eileen Schenck, who was residing in California. Between Mrs. Ward’s box of memorabilia and the California Schenck source, I was able to piece together the full story of what had happened. A year later, Helen Ward died, but not before she was able to pass her stories and documentation on to be part of this book and an important piece of this historical panorama.

Chapter 12: The Battle of Corydon

11:30am, Thursday, July 9

In the absence of telephones, runners on horseback were dispatched to various parts of the county to alert farmers and townspeople of Morgan’s approach. There were a lot of Paul Reveres on this hot July day. Farmers left their harvest fields, merchants quit their places of business and all hastened to the defensive line just south of Corydon.

The Corydon defenders had built a defensive position and breastworks made of logs, stones and fence rails. Wormwood rails were plentiful, so they were laid and stacked as an impediment to a cavalry charge. There is a "Battle of Corydon" historic marker at this site on Old S.R.135, south of Corydon.

Scouts brought word to the defenders one mile below Corydon that Morgan’s force was approaching on the Mauckport Road. By now the defense line had swelled to 450 home guards and citizens under the command of Col. Lewis Jordan, assisted by Provost John Timberlake and Maj. Jacob Pfrimmer (6^th Legion Cavalry). The defenders formed a battle line about 2,000 feet across with the extreme west wing, resting on Amsterdam (Heidelberg) Road and the opposite end, close to the Laconia Road (S.R. 337), near the brow of the hill south of Ed Aydelott’s home. To the east of Mauckport Road (Old S.R. 135) were heavy woods, uneven slopes and underbrush, which made it difficult for a cavalry charge. The drawback to this terrain was that the land’s elevation prevented either party from seeing each other before the enemy was almost upon them. Fifteen- year-old W.B. Ryan, who was in Capt. Heth’s regiment, described it this way, "Our position was unfortunate, because the brow of the hill obscured our field of vision so that it was impossible to see the enemy until he was upon us."

12:00pm, Thursday, July 9

Scouts brought word to Col. Jordan that the enemy was approaching in strong force along the Mauckport Road. Readying their squirrel guns and old muskets, the raw, untested citizen-soldiers braced themselves. They whispered words of encouragement to one another as they crouched behind their barricades. When the rattling sounds and hoofbeats signaled the approach of Morgan’s advance guard, the militia resolutely aimed their weapons, determined to drive the invaders from their land. The main body of the Confederate force came up the Mauckport Road (Old S.R. 135). They traveled past a patchwork quilt of farms with stitch-lines of trees delineating property boundaries. They approached the cross roads of Old S.R. 135 and Heidelberg Road.

12:30pm, July 9 Major Thomas McGrain, Jr., commanding the Ellsworth Rifles on the line near Amsterdam Road, had a full view of the approaching Confederates who filled the road for nearly a mile. The Ellsworth company was splendidly armed with new Henry repeating rifles, which had just been invented three years earlier (1860). The Henry was the first magazine rifle used in quantity by the Union Army. A tubular magazine under the barrel held from twelve to fifteen rim-fire copper cartridges of caliber .44 short. It weighed about nine and three-quarter pounds and had a brass casing. The Confederates had a similar comment about the Henry rifle complaining "that damn Yankee rifle can be loaded on Sunday and fired all week."

The Ellsworth company didn’t have the natural ground cover enjoyed by the defenders in the center. Their numbers were exposed by the broad flat farmland through which Amsterdam Road ran. Stands of corn, not yet ripened to their full height, offered minimal cover for the crouching farmer-soldiers. Because of the unhindered visibility, the defenders could see the approaching Confederates a mile away. As soon as the raiders came into range, the Ellsworth Rifles opened fire. All along the western wing, the defenders began firing. The Confederate advance was checked and they began to flank both ends of the defensive lines. Because of their overwhelming numbers, Morgan’s men were able to keep up a steady fire in front, while moving large numbers around the flanks. On the left (west), Col. W.W. Ward’s 9^th TN moved around Maj. T. McGrain’s Ellsworth Rifles. On the right (east), Maj. T.B. Webber led the 2^nd KY around Capt. G. Lahue’s Spencer Guards.

Even though Morgan’s men were not clothed in regulation uniforms, their training and experience were far above what the undrilled and undisciplined Harrison County farmers were capable of matching. In their farm clothes and city attire, they crouched behind their barricade of "toothpick" fences.

Col. Richard Morgan’s advance guard and the Quirk Scouts charged the breastworks, but the militia men resolutely defended their rail piles. In the exchange, 2^nd Lt. Spencer Roane Thorpe, Co. A, 2^nd KY was severely wounded in the shoulder and unhorsed. He was serving as Col. Morgan’s Acting Adjutant. The barricade was too high for the horses to jump easily. Some of the horses fell headlong, carrying their riders with them in a violent melee. A few of the riders including Lt. Leland Hathaway, an adjutant in Col. Morgan’s regiment, displaced the top rail, clearing the hurdle.

Nathan McKinzie, a citizen, was killed in the exchange of gunfire. The Ellsworth Rifles and a squad of thirty others held the invaders in check for fifteen minutes, compelling them to dismount. For about twenty-five minutes, the Hoosier men held their ragged defensive line. The overwhelming numbers of Confederate cavalrymen was straining the thin line of defenders. Simultaneous flanking movements by the 2^nd KY on the right and the 9^th TN on the left increased the pressure.

Col. Adam R. Johnson, ordered Lt. Elias D. Lawrence to fire his two Parrotts. The artillery barrage unnerved the militiamen with shells, making an "ugly kind of music" over their heads. Col. Jordan said, "When the enemy opened with three pieces of artillery, with shell and shot, and they appearing in such overwhelming numbers, seeing my forces could no longer successfully contend against such odds, I gave the order to fall back to Corydon." The retreat turned into a rout as the Corydon defenders ran as fast as they could. Isaac Lang, belonging to the Scott Guards, died of heatstroke in the battle. Those who were able to get away were mostly cavalry and mounted citizens. The retreating Corydon defenders raced down the hill, across the Big Indian Creek and headed toward town.

After the field was taken by the Confederates, they planted a battery on the hill south of town. Firing two shells into the village, they struck near the center of the town’s main street. One exploded but did no damage. Seeing that the contest was hopeless and the continuance of the fight would only result in unnecessary loss of life, Col. Jordan hoisted the white flag and surrendered the town. Three hundred and forty-five men were paroled by General Morgan.

Chapter 52: The Eagleport Crossing

Morgan followed the Island Run gorge to where it wound toward the Muskingum River south of Eagleport. On the outskirts of Eagleport, one of the town’s more timid citizens, a Mr. Forgrave, took refuge in a nearby pig pen. A Confederate trooper saw him enter, and following him into the pen, discovered him crouched behind a matronly looking sow that was in the process of feeding a number of newborn offspring. "Halloa!" shouted the Confederate soldier. "How did you git here? Did y’all come in the same litter?" With all the adversity the raiders had endured, their good humor still remained. "Come on out of there you d__m fool," said the young raider, rapping the plank covering the sty with the muzzle of his carbine. "Come out of there before some of our foragers shoot you for a pig."

Another Eagleport-area citizen was watching the raiders ride two abreast down the Island Run from the bluffs above. Twelve-year-old "Lon" Woodward had walked from his farm to Alonzo Jones’ place which stood on a hill overlooking the Run. The two Jones boys had declined Lon’s offer to join him for a look-see.

"The rebels might shoot at us." So he trudged on alone to the brow of a hill near the line of Jim Boal’s farm. Here he found his father’s roan mare, "Julia," tied to a tree. From behind a beech tree, his father, John F. Woodward of Lemon Hill, was shooting at the Confederates with his squirrel rifle. After firing three shots, the raiders sighted Woodward’s location and returned fire. Twenty rounds slammed around the beech tree and flushed Woodward out. He ran for his horse and headed for safety. Young Lon ran along with the 600 raiders, but they were some 300 feet below in the gorge. He watched the action unfold from his perch in the bluffs among the trees. He thought, why go down when the whole play was set before him as a scene upon a stage.

8:00am, Thursday, July 23

Morgan’s advance guard rode toward Eagleport. Lon saw Delphine Devol run for the river just a block away from his Main Street store. Mr. Devol sold general merchandise including dry goods and groceries. Many times, Lon had carried eggs and butter from his family farm to sell to Mr. Devol. Now Devol could be seen jumping into a skiff and he began to row across the Muskingum River toward Rokeby. One of Morgan’s lieutenants shouted to the fleeing Eagleport merchant, "Come back here, d__n you!" On the hill above, Lon could hear Mr. Devol’s reply, "You go to h__l!" and he rowed to the eastern shore and safety.

Another Eagleport merchant, William Price, heard the shooting and realized that Morgan’s men had entered the town. He quickly filled a pocketbook with the contents from his cash drawer. He fled out the store and into a field. Some of the raiders called to him to return or they would shoot. As he turned to walk back through a field of timothy, he dropped the wallet into the tall hay. After the Confederates left town, Price recovered his money.

Hiram Winchell, who lived at Unity Farm and operated the flat boat-ferry at Eagleport, was hiding behind a store near his boat. The Confederates called him out and ordered him to his boat. Men and horses were loaded and moved across the waterway. As the first boatload crossed, a raider took one look at Hi Winchell’s hat and said, "Partner, that’s a darn good hat you’re wearing. Let’s trade." He took the hat from the ferryman’s head and placed it on his own, jamming the old one he was wearing over Winchell’s brow.

As the Confederate riders disembarked, some turned north and some south toward the McElhiney’s farm a quarter of a mile away. Several hundred Bloom and Bristol Township citizens had come to Muskingum to see Morgan’s Raiders. They stopped on the eastern shore above the McElhiney place. A squad of a dozen raiders came out of the hollow and surprised the spectators. Everyone ran. They tumbled over fences and ran for the corn or wherever they could get out of sight. Horses were captured before their owners could unloose them. Others were halted and made to come back to give up their steeds.

Morgan’s group needed more than Winchell’s ferry to get them over the river.
 
They had no time to waste what with Shackelford’s men in close pursuit. They had heard that there was a ford at Eagleport. Unknown to the raiders, the ford was about one hundred yards below the dam and, at low-water mark, as it then was, does not exceed one hundred feet in width, with a depth for a limited space of not more than four feet. Fifty yards above the ford, the river is seven hundred feet wide, varying in depth from ten to forty feet.

Captain Virgil W. Pendleton, Co. D, 8^th KY, rode up to a group of men sitting on the porch of the Devol store. "Do any of you men know the ford?" he asked. Johnny Fouts replied, "I do." Pendleton jerked an order over his shoulder. "Bring a horse!" Pendleton asked, "Does it swim you?" Fouts replied, "No, only in the boat channel. About a hundred feet. I swam cattle there the other day." A private appeared leading a horse. "Get on that horse and show me the ford," said Pendleton. Fouts crossed. When he had reached the eastern bank, the captain shouted, "Now come back." Fouts recrossed and rejoined the raiders on the Eagleport side. Pendleton said, "Now we will cross together," and turning to the raiders behind him he commanded, "Attention! Close up! By twos, march!" and he and Fouts plunged their horses into the Eagleport ford. There is a monument on Ohio Rt. 60 just south of Rokeby Lock across the road from the W.L. McElhiney property now known as the Morgan’s Raid farm. Morgan County Schools now use the Morgan Raider name for their school band and athletic teams.

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