"The Longest Raid of the Civil War"

donna

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Forum Host
Joined
May 12, 2010
Location
Now Florida but always a Kentuckian
"The Longest Raid of the Civil War" by Lester V. Horwitz is a very exciting book to read on John Hunt Morgan's raid of July 1863 through Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio. It is a very thorough account of each day of the raid from the viewpoint of the raiders to those who were raided. Horwitz draws on hundreds of unpublished stories as well as historic photos from the raid.

I highly recommend this book to all who enjoy reading about the Civil War and especially those who enjoy the stories on John Hunt Morgan.
 
The book was published in 1999. Mr Horwitz, the author and his wife Florence, purchased a historic home in Cincinnati in 1979. They learned the house had been raided by Confederates during the Civil War. Thus began two decades of research to learn about Morgan's raid. In 1995 he began collecting stories and writing about the raid. The product of all his research and talking with people whose relatives had been there during the raid, was this book. I highly recommend it.
 
In those days women wore hairnets and net veils on their hats. One unforgettable image I took away from the book I read was that the raiders helped themselves to these items from various stores along the way. They wore them to keep the dust out of their eyes. What a picture.
 
Uh.....

Didn't Morgan cover about 1,000 miles and loose most of his force? I believe Shelby covered about 1,500 miles in his 1863 raid and he brought most of his people home.

I admit my knowledge of both raids is superficial. Maybe there's more to it than what I'm aware of?

Anyone?
 
Morgan's raid was a grueling ride on horseback for over one thousand miles through four states beginning in McMinnville, Tennessee to West Point, Ohio. General Morgan began his raid with 2500 cavalry and surrendered in Columbiana County with 350 very tired men.

The raid was the northernmost penetration of the Confederacy into the Union North. In all Morgan's men raided 6576 homes and shops north of the Mason-Dixon line. There were 4375 in Ohio and 2201 in Indiana.
 
Morgan was too loose with his tactics that caused alot of his losses of men. Although his losses were high, family accounts recall my ancestor's devotion and loyalty to him. It was stated that he said many times that he was lucky to get out of the war alive.
 
Didn't Morgan cover about 1,000 miles and loose most of his force? I believe Shelby covered about 1,500 miles in his 1863 raid and he brought most of his people home.

I admit my knowledge of both raids is superficial. Maybe there's more to it than what I'm aware of?

Anyone?

Shelby's Raid of 1863 did cover 1500 miles, damaged over 1 million dollars in Federal property , $800,000 dollars of RR property was damaged or destroyed , 6,000 head of horses and mules were captured and returned to Confederate lines along with 800 Confederate Recruits from Northern Missouri returned to Confederate lines, along with the bulk of then Colonel Shelby's command. Shelby was Brigadered for that Raid. Shelby's raid was 30 days long where as Morgans was roughly 46 days long.

http://www.civilwarstlouis.com/History/shelby.htm
 
I have read this book, actually have an autographed copy of it that I bought on a whim. I did wind up visiting Salineville Ohio as a result of reading it. I hope to visit some of the other places mentioned in it in the future.
 
My girlfriend got this one for me for my birthday and just finished it up. GREAT BOOK. I am a little partial because I'm an Indiana native and Morgan's Raid ran through my home state but still a great read. It follows the raid day by day and Horwitz goes into great depth about each day down to the hour. He also makes note of each and every Morgan's Raid historical marker that can be found in Kentucky, Indiana, & Ohio. I also really enjoyed some of the short unique stories from individual raiders. For instance...
  • One of Morgan's men took a fresh horse from a farmer plowing his field in Southern Indiana and left his worn out horse he had ridden through Kentucky and Indiana to that point. The raider would live out the war and ended up moving west to Kansas in later life. When he first moved to Kansas he noticed his neighbors kept giving him funny looks and he couldnt figure out why. Turns out that couple was the same couple he had traded out horses with back in Indiana during the raid...small world.
  • Another short story I really enjoyed was how a young telegraph operator in Indiana saved his town by sending a bogus message that there were thousands of Union troops and home guards in the area when there were only a handfull present. In turn he saved his town from being raided and for years the town turned that day into a holiday in his honor. Pretty neat little story.
These are just a few of the many stories from this book. Horwitz did a fantastic job and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in war. A ton of knowledge within this book.
 
Glad you enjoyed the book. It is one of my favorites. I recommend it to all who want to read about General Morgan. He is one of my favorites from the war.

I love how the northern press of the time portrayed him as a monster but he was actually very courteous for the most part to all civilians he came into contact with during the raid...even with the most loyal northerners he still left them alone (especially the women whom he treated with great respect) according to the accounts recorded in this book.
 
I really liked near the end of the book, the author had included the poem written about Morgan by a Louisville resident on the return of Morgan's body for burial in Lexington Cemetery. Lexington Cemetery is a beautiful cemetery. I have several relatives buried there. My great grandmother is buried there. She was daughter of Nathaniel Cook, my great great grandfather who fought and died in Civil War.

The poem:

"Although no marble column rise,
Above the hero's bed,
To mark the spot where Morgan lies,
Among the honored dead;
Although no sculptured stone shall tell,
The stranger passing by
The mournful story how he fell,
His name will never die;
For glory with a jealous care,
Shall guard the hero resting there."
 
I will put this book on my wish list...sounds wonderful. Growing up in Indiana, Morgan's Raid is the part of the war that touched "my state". Thanks for bumping the thread, i had never seen it before.
 
Of course Morgan and his officers were incarcerated in the Ohio State Penn. He and others escaped and if memory serves, left a note complaining about the food. Morgan was killed in 1864 in Greenville, Tenn.
 
Back
Top