In all, gunners aboard the Moose fired 40 rounds of artillery into the Confederates, heading off their river crossing, as Union infantry and cavalry on the Ohio side of the river encircled them. At least 52 Morgan's Raiders were killed, more than 100 were wounded and an additional 750 were taken prisoner. Union losses were 25 killed and wounded, including Seaman John Napenberger of the Moose who was shot through the arm, and a crewman on the Allegheny Belle whose buttock stopped a minie ball.
Morgan's second-in-command, Col. Basil Duke, later wrote that he wished the Union Navy gunners' sense of security "could have been subjected to two or three shots through their hulls."
Morgan and about 700 of his men managed to escape the federal trap by following a narrow path through the woods on the Ohio side of the river, and heading north toward another ford near the site of the present-day Belleville Lock and Dam.
The Moose and Allegheny Belle, paddling upriver at about 6 miles per hour, pursued the troops, firing on them when they came within range. The gunboats arrived at Belleville in time to once again fire on an attempt by Morgan's Raiders to ford the river. About 300 Confederates managed to cross into West Virginia and eventually return to their lines before the Moose's shells began landing.
Morgan, who was reportedly in mid-stream when the gunboats began shelling the ford, opted to return to the Ohio shore to lead the larger group of surviving raiders.
"Weather warm and clear," wrote acting Master's Mate Charles W. Spooner in the Moose's logbook for the noon to 4 p.m. watch on July 19, 1863. "Had a second engagement with a portion of Morgan's men. Killed nine."
Morgan and his remaining men fled westward, away from the gunboats, then traveled north to Salineville, Ohio. There, on July 26, 1863, the exhausted raiders were captured by federal troops.
Most of Morgan's captured cavalrymen were taken to Camp Chase, the Confederate prisoner-of-war camp in Columbus. Morgan and several of his officers were also taken to Columbus, but were held in the Ohio State Penitentiary.
But Morgan's days of roaming the Ohio countryside were not yet over. On Nov. 27, 1863, the Confederate general and five of his officers tunneled out of their cell into an airshaft, which gave them access to the prison yard. From there, they scaled a wall, using a rope fashioned from tied-together prison uniforms.
Once free, Morgan bought a train ticket to Cincinnati, using money his sister had smuggled into the prison in a Bible. From Cincinnati, he walked across a bridge into Kentucky and eventually reached Confederate lines.
Morgan returned to duty in the Confederate army, and was given command of the Department of Southwestern Virginia. In September 1864, while in Greenville, Tenn., where he was planning a cavalry raid on Union-occupied Knoxville, he was killed by a raiding party of Union cavalrymen.
Morgan's Raid gave Confederate civilians some hope that their army could still achieve success following defeats at Gettysburg and Vicksburg. The raid also raised fears among northerners that they may not be immune to attack. But overall, the raid was viewed as a failure, since no significant harm came to the Union's transportation or communication infrastructure, and the Confederates lost almost an entire division of cavalrymen.
The USS Moose spent the remainder of the war patrolling the Ohio, Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, occasionally shelling Confederate artillery positions and guerrilla camps.
The battle's namesake, 1.5-mile long Buffington Island, is now a part of the Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge.
On Saturday and Sunday, the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Buffington Island will be commemorated with a living history weekend at the Buffington Island State Memorial and nearby Portland Community Center, on Ohio Route 124, about five miles north of Ravenswood, off U.S. 33. Wagon tours of the battlefield and living history encampments of Union and Confederate soldiers will be among the activities. For more information, visit www.ohiohistory.org/museums-and-historic-sites/museum--historic-sites-by-name/buffington-island/Battle-of-Buffington-Island-150th-anniversary.
Reach Rick Steelhammer at rsteelham...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5169.