General Morgan's Kentucky Confederate Officers

Confined in Pennsylvania Penitentiary

From the Courier Journal Louisville Kentucky, November 10, 1929
Headline: Old Files Bare Fate of 117 Morgan's Men
Published in the Kentucky Ancestors Vol. 23-4 1988

Pittsburgh, Nov. 9.--Musty files in the Western State Penitentiary here after a search of twelve years have revealed the particulars in the confinement of 117 Kentuckians, officers of Gen. John H. Morgan's cavalry who were imprisoned behind its grim walls in 1863.

Convicts in the present prison examined thousands of files and documents in the search for the records of the Confederate prisoners, the work being authorized by the prison officials upon the suggestion of Mrs. John P. Cowan, president of the Pittsburgh Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy.

Crossing the Ohio River at Brandenburg on 8 and 9 July 1863, General John Hunt Morgan and his Confederate cavalry were thereafter pursued by Brigadier Generals Edward Henry Hobson and James M. Shackelford (both of whom were also Kentuckians). Reaching Buffington, Ohio, on the 18th, Morgan planned to recross the Ohio, but after a severe beating from the Federals on the 19th, he attempted to reach Pennsylvania. Pursued by Hobson, Morgan was forced to surrender his remaining three hundred sixty-four officers and men on the 26th at New Lisbon.

General Morgan and his staff were placed in the Ohio State Penitentiary (Columbus), from where he and others escaped on 26 November and rejoined the Confederacy. Many of Morgan's men were sent to the Union prison camp on Johnson Island in Sandusky Bay of Lake Erie. Others were placed in the Western State Penitentiary at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The records show that 118 of Morgan's men, captured in Ohio late in July, 1863, were taken to Pittsburgh and on orders from Gen. J. T. W. Brooks, commander of the department of the Monongahela, were locked up in the penitentiary. It has since been denied that Confederate prisoners of war had been placed in felon's cells and the research was undertaken by the Daughters of the Confederacy to establish the facts. For sixty-six years the prison records were "lost" until unearthed in an extraordinary search.

It was shown that Morgan's men were allowed privileges not enjoyed by the ordinary prisoners until a plot to escape was discovered about three months after their commitment. Severe discipline was then imposed until the entire body of officers was transferred to another prison early in 1864. According to the records, there was one private soldier in the contingent of prisoners, he being L. R. Payton (private).

All were line officers, including majors, captains, and lieutenants. According to the prison records all were members of Kentucky regiments. The officers were:

William B Albright, Adjutant
James W Alcorn, Lieut.
Marcus Aldridge, Lieut.
James S Bentley, Lieut.
George W Bower, Lieut., Bourbon County;
Henry D Brown, Lieut. Lancaster, Ky.
F F Brown
J D Bryan, Lieut., Franklin, Ky.
Thomas F Burgess
David N Carr
Isaac C Chadwin
L W Chambers, Lieut., Georgetown
Anderson Chew; U. Q. Christy, Lieut.
Andrew J Church, Lieut., Lexington
L H Coon
Samuel Cowan, Lieut.
Christ Corobert (Chris Corober)
F B Crockett
H C Cromwell
John H Crossary
William P Crow, Lieut.
Robert Cunningham, Lieut., Clark County
W. E. Carry (Curry), Captain, Winchester
George W Dillake (Didlake), Adjutant
Benjamin S Drake, Lieut.
Q P Dunlap
W T Dunlap
F G Eakins
R W Fendwick (Fenwick)
W S Fogg Lieut., Woodford County
William B Ford, Lieut., Clark County;
I A Fox
J W Gordon
J W Green
Thornton M Hancock
F S Harris
John W Hart
 Suland (Lee) Hathaway, Adjutant, Mt. Sterling
Robert B Haynes
William Hays, Lieut., Covington
J W Hewitt
William L Hickman
T J Hoggard
James H Hoggins (Huggins)
John S Hughes
W J Hulsell (Hutsell)
George W Hunter
T C Ireland
Michael Jewett
Henry S Jones
John W Jones
Philip B Jones
Samuel Kemper
William A Kendall, Lieut.
James K P Lafoon
Benjamin F Lancaster
William F Leathers
John B Libsey, Lieut.
J O Meadows, Lieut.
James C Merritt
B B Mitchell
Hanson Holes (Moles)
George W Moore
J D (James D) Morris, Lieut., Clark County
D K (David K.) Morton, Lieut., Clark County
James A Munday
J W McLane
J W (John W) McMichael, Lieut., Lexington
Benjamin F McNair, Lieut., Owenton
George C Nash, Lieut., Owenton
Lewis D Newton, Lieut.
W F Nickelson
A C Norris
Joseph F Oldham
Henry L Pace
W W (William W) Page, Lieut., Cave City
Robert F Park
John D Parks, Lieut.
Frank P Peak
K F Peddicord
T B Pierson
D M (David M) Prewitt, Lieut., Fayette County
F B Price
A B Prince
L Purdon (Purdom)
Alan A Rankin
Charles E Richards, Lieut., Lexington
John M Riddle
Howell Rux
Van J Sellers, Lieut., Woodsville, Ky.
J J Shackelford
J T (John T) Sinclair, Lieut., Scott County
William H Smith, Lieut., Lexington
Solomon Spears, Lieut., Bourbon County
Richard A Spurr, Lieut., Fayette County (transferred to a prison camp at Fort Delaware, Del.) Michael C Stanley
John D Stalker
Charles W Stones
Alfred Surber (Surker), Lieut.
Alex (Alexander) Talbot (Tabot), Lieut., Clark County
J B Tabot
B W Taylor
C M Taylor
J R Thompson
Thomas Toll (Towles), Lieut., Anderson County
James Travis
Dudley Tribble, Lieut., Clark County
Carmel Warfield
James R Webb
James L Webster
J P Wellington
Thomas Wells, Lieut., Estill County
L J Williamson
Sherwood Woolfork (Woolford)