[
750]
This writing was suggested by the perusal of a sketch of the
Morgan raid of 1863, by
General Basil W. Duke, printed in the
Weekly times of April 7th, 1877.
I have followed the thread of his narrative, when necessary to the continuity of my story, accepting, without question, his account of what his own forces did, and adding to its value by corroborating it when I could.
I have corrected,where their historical importance seemed to demand it, his errors as to the numbers and movements of the forces which followed and captured
Morgan's command.
The summer of 1863 opened on a favorable outlook for the
Federal forces in the departments south of the
Ohio.
They had been recruited from the “six hundred thousand more” who went afield in August and September, 1862.
The new levies had been weeded of worthless material by a severe winter's work-guarding lines of communication, or facing the enemy under
Grant,
Burnside, or
Rosecrans.
Stone River, though a “drawn battle,” resulted in a considerable balance to the credit of the “invader,” who held the field, fortified it and kept his lines open by rail and wagon train to the
Ohio river.
These armies were, in short, on the 1st of June, 1863, strong in numbers, in vigorous health, full of confidence, thoroughly disciplined and splendidly equipped.
Grant's Army of the Tennessee, and the Army of the Cumberland, had been reorganized into corps, and had become well used to that system.
The scattered troops in
Kentucky were being placed on the same basis by
Burnside, who commanded the Department of the Ohio, with headquarters at
Cincinnati.
On the 10th of
