In the summer of 1863 Confederate General John Hunt Morgan led his cavalry on a raid through Ohio that caused panic among Ohioans and a problem for the Union Army. Morgan crossed the Ohio-Indiana border with approximately 2,000 soldiers near Cincinnati on July 13 and lead them east with plans to escape across the Ohio River. The Union Army was quickly in pursuit and the chase lead to Buffington Island, a small community near the Ohio River in Meigs County, where the only Civil War battle in Ohio took place.
The Ohio Historical Society worked with the Ohio Department of Transportation and local communities to create the John Hunt Morgan Heritage Trail to commemorate the events of July 1863. Read more about the work to create the trail and the experience of traveling the 561-mile route:
You can read first hand accounts of the Raid in our extensive collection of Ohio newspapers. Click here for a list of Civil War era newspapers accessible online through the Ohio Digital Newspaper Portal or search the Society’s Online Collection Catalog for newspapers available in the Research Room.