Morgan’s raid video.

[Dan Kohli]

I came across this video about Morgan's Raid through Indiana and Ohio by The History Guy.

 

[JOHN42768]

Thanks for posting

 

[Nathan Stuart]

The narrator in this video mentions the disputed reputation of Morgan. Some called Morgan a guerrilla and a bandit (see 14:21). The presenter poses the question of whether the cavalry commander can be considered as a dashing cavalier or a shameless horse thief (14:28).

This issue of Morgan's reputation reminds me of the controversial circumstances of Morgan's death.

One of Morgan's staff officers, Major Charles Withers, gave an eyewitness account of Morgan's death in an 1871 letter he wrote. Withers asserted that Morgan was shot after he surrendered and that he heard a Yankee afterwards shout, …'I've killed the damned horse thief'…It's been claimed that the fatal shooter was Pvte. Andrew Campbell of the 13th TN Cavalry (Union), who thereafter threw the General's dead body across a mule and paraded the body about the town.

It seems that at least in the minds of his Union pursuers that day, Morgan was regarded (and treated) as a low-life horse thief, and an appropriate punishment by summary execution was meted out that was thought fitting for these offenses.