I’ve enjoyed most of your posts, especially on the cavalry. Good job bringing to light many of the cavalry soldiers who get lost in the focus on Stuart and Custer.

I must disagree to some extent with your rather harsh criticism of John Hunt Morgan, however. I am a Civil War reenactor and ride in the 4th Kentucky Cavalry, which was a Morgan unit. We have thus done a considerable amount of studying of Morgan and his campaigns.

Militarily, Morgan did quite a bit to advance the use of combined arms, and cavalry as a dismounted fighting force. Any discussion of his effectiveness as a commander also should take into consideration Bragg’s limited ability to wisely utilize cavalry, which frustrated Forrest and Morgan regularly. Had he been better utilized, I have little doubt his effectiveness rating would be considerably higher. As it was, Morgan destroyed considerable railroad and other military assets of the federals in TN and KY on his raids.
I would also point out the numerous times Morgan occupied hundreds, if not thousands, of federal troops in chasing him throughout Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio, when those troops could otherwise have been engaged in attacking Bragg and Confederate forces in Tennessee.

There is little doubt that Duke was an excellent tactician and disciplinarian, but any effort to parse his accomplishments away from Morgan’s is mostly assumption of those who like the joke that when you hit Morgan in the head, Duke’s brains fall out. Certainly, your view of Morgan was not that held by Duke, as evidence by Duke’s “History of Morgan’s Cavalry.”

As for Morgan’s “chilly reception” after his return from prison, I believe that counts him in with some other pretty good officers who were disliked by the High Command in Richmond – e.g., Joseph Johnston and Patrick Cleburne to name two. Given the absurd support for Bragg held by President Davis, there is little question that he would be critical of Morgan and slow to reassign him to command. Objective merit often had little to do with how well-liked any officer was in the WBTS.

Disagreements aside, though, keep up the good work and I will look forward to reading more on your site.

DCT

We all have our dirty little secrets. 🙂

Thanks for the information. Having gotten interested in Morgan’s Raid, I need to visit those sites, and plan to do so next year.

Eric

Salem was a neat little old midwestern village, with markers in front of the courthouse commemorating the wicked day, 10 July 63 when Morgan’s raiders reassembled in Salem, exacted monies to keep from burning the place down, and moved on.

Salem is actually home to a venerable concrete 1/2 mile race oval known to stock car buffs. (He admits, red faced, that it was the real reason for my first visit ;). )

I agree, and think that you’re quite right in your assessment of the value of Morgan and his command. They certainly weren’t good fighters in the battlefield sense, and they had no value in any of the conventional roles of cavalry.

Today, Buffington is absolutely pristine, but for a handful of 20th Century structures. However, a major portion of the battlefield is going to be destroyed when the sand and gravel pit begins operation. It’s a tragedy.

I haven’t been to Corydon. Is there much of anything to see there?

Eric

Everybody seems to have known that the 9th Corps had left the area (although they were slow to realize where they went off to – Vicksburg.)
Guess the presence of 25th Corps was a surprise to Morgan.

Never been to Buffington; did do Corydon and Salem IN when I was in the midwest.