From July 13-26, 1863, Confederate Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan led a daring group of more than 2,000 men across Southern Ohio. His mission: to distract and divert as many Union troops as possible from the action in Middle Tennessee and East Tennessee. Union troops under the command of Major General Ambrose Burnside gave chase. Although they were ultimately successful, ending Morgan's raid was a much harder job than anyone anticipated. With the John Hunt Morgan Heritage Trail, you too can follow Morgan's route through southern and eastern Ohio. Fifty-six interpretive signs covering 557 miles through nineteen counties tell the story of the raid's successful beginnings, the battle with Union forces at Buffington Island, Morgan's desperate escapes, and finally his capture.

A military operation unlike any other on American soil, Morgan's Raid was characterized by incredible speed, superhuman endurance and innovative tactics. One of the nation's most colorful leaders, Confederate general John Hunt Morgan, took his cavalry through enemy-occupied territory in three states in one of the longest offensives of the Civil War. The effort produced the only battles fought north of the Ohio River and reached farther north than any other regular Confederate force. With twenty-five maps and more than forty illustrations, Morgan's Raid historian David L. Mowery takes a new look at this unprecedented event in American history, one historians rank among the world's greatest land-based raids since Elizabethan times.

This lively Civil War biography presents an unbiased chronicle of the controversial Confederate General who led the 2nd cavalry in Morgan’s Raid. Whether one thinks of him as a dashing cavalier or shameless horse thief, it is impossible not to regard John Hunt Morgan as a fascinating Civil War figure. Morgan led his men into the most dangerous adventures by convincing them that the honor of the South was at stake; yet he did not always heed his own sense of honor when temptations of easy theft drew the Raiders from military objectives to wanton pillage. In John Hunt Morgan and his Raiders, Edison H. Thomas gives us a balanced view of these controversial men and their raids, including rare insight into their disruption of rail communications. In a fast-paced narrative he follows the cavalry unit from the evening they set out to join the Confederate forces to the morning of Morgan's death in Greeneville, Tennessee. Basil Duke, St. Leger Grenfell, Lightning Ellsworth, and the beautiful Martha Ready all receive their due, as does the truly remarkable story of the Raiders' newspaper.

A military operation unlike any other on American soil, Morgan's Raid was characterized by incredible speed, superhuman endurance and innovative tactics. One of the nation's most colorful leaders, Confederate general John Hunt Morgan, took his cavalry through enemy-occupied territory in three states in one of the longest offensives of the Civil War. The effort produced the only battles fought north of the Ohio River and reached farther north than any other regular Confederate force. With twenty-five maps and more than forty illustrations, Morgan's Raid historian David L. Mowery takes a new look at this unprecedented event in American history, one historians rank among the world's greatest land-based raids since Elizabethan times.

Based on the diaries and memoirs of the men who made the legend, on newspapers and official records, and illustrated with contemporary photographs, this story of a famous regiment in action creates a feeling of actual participation in the entire Civil War, from Shiloh to the fall of the Confederacy.