How many of us have read all thirteen Confederate State, and one territory, secession documents, the Constitution of the Confederate States of America, the Confederate States declaration of war against the United States, the terms for Confederate surrenders or the last minute proposals to enlist slaves into the Army of the Confederate States of America? Now we have a chance to study these and many other seldom seen Confederate documents.
When Reading about Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan's July 1863 Indiana-Ohio Raid we sometimes wonder what the Confederate and Union officers involved in the raid looked like. Now we can see photographs of the Officers from both sides.
Have you ever wondered why the Union Army had to chase Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan through Kentucky, across part of Indiana and then across Ohio almost to Pennsylvania before they caught him? After reading these dispatches and telegrams you will know why. We are going to view the messages sent by the Union Army and Navy during Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan's July 1863 Indiana-Ohio Raid. Not all of these messages can be used as historical fact. Some have wildly inflated head counts for General Morgan's forces. Some exaggerate the amount of artillery General Morgan had. Some are just fantasy.Right or wrong, they are the information that was passed back and forth during General Morgan's raid. Sometimes it was helpful to Union commanders trying to decide what to do next and sometimes it was very misleading. I am presenting all of the messages concerning the Indiana-Ohio Raid that are preserved in Series 1, Volume 23, Part 1 of "The War of the Rebellion" and Series 1, Volume 25 of "Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion" so you can see for yourself what was sent up the chain of command and down the chain of command. Let me stress to use caution in considering any specific message as proven fact of what happened.
There are several lines of thought about how Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan and six of his officers escaped from the Ohio Penitentiary November28, 1863. Some feel that the accounts of digging a tunnel written by Captain Thomas Hines and Captain Lorenzo Hockersmith are correct. Some feel that a tunnel was completed but bribery was used to get supplies and make certain that prison officials looked the other way while work on the tunnel was in progress and the escape was made. Some feel that there never was a tunnel and bribe money allowed the men to just walk out the door. We are going to examine documents and reports made by the participants, Union and Confederate, involved in the escape and the investigations of the escape. By having the opportunity to read the original reports and documents you will be able to decide for yourself just what happened. You will read about the treatment General Morgan and his officers received when they arrived at the Ohio penitentiary and you will read about prison life before the escape and, for those who remained, after the escape. You will be able to read the Investigation of the escape ordered by Governor Tod, the investigation ordered by the Ohio Legislature and the investigation ordered by U. S. Secretary of War Stanton. You will be able to read the newspaper interview in which General Morgan describes the escape. You will be able to read the descriptions of the escape written by Captain Thomas Henry Hines, Captain Lorenzo Hockersmith and Captain Thomas Bullitt.You will also be able to read some of the numerous conspiracy theories that dispute the escape by tunnel story.
We will read period reports, descriptions and newspaper accounts of Captain George A. Elsworth's life before, during and after the Civil War. We will see descriptions of General John Hunt Morgan's first Kentucky raid, his 1862 Gallatin raid and his July 1863 Indiana-Ohio raid that are actually written by Captain Elsworth. We will also see the six part description of his entire Civil War experience that was written by Captain Elsworth. We will see proof that George Elsworth was indeed a Captain and we will see proof that his last name was Elsworth, spelled with one L.
