The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1870-07-15
Correspondence
LETTERS FROM VIRGINIA.
Incidents of the War.
No. a..

No. az.
| MEssRs. EDITORS With your permits
sion, / will venture to enlarge the circle in
| which my thoughts have been revolving,
and give you chapter of incidents grow.
| ing out of the late "unpleasantness,' ~ show
| ing, in some sort, the manner in which our
beloved brethren" beyond the border
waged war upon usza war inaugurated
OstenSibty for the purpose, as they termed
| it, of perpetuating "the best Government
| the world ever saw but really for the EN-
| ancipation of the "man and brother'-to
| wrest from the Southern people at the
| point of the bayonet that which was guar
anteed to them by the compact under
which the South became part and parcel
of the Union. But | do not propose to
argue this question now, as it has been
settled for "time and eternity" but to call
to mind some of the incidents of the strug-
| gle between might and right-in other
words to give you few incidents, some
of which came under my own immediate
| observation, and others related to me by
participants.
| There is not man in Hartford, presume,
who has not heard of John Morgan, the
| gallant Kentuckian who was such Raw
| head-and- bloody bones" to the "Boys in
! Blue" and who thrashed them out in more
than forty battles with less than half their
numbers. Well, to make a long story short,
he had his headquarters in this vicinity for
some time, and | am proud that had the
| pleasure as well as the honor of his acouain-
| lance. Abingdon being located immedi-
ately upon the great thoroughfare from
North to South, subjected it not only to
the passing and foraging squadrons of
our own army, but the more fearful and
destructive raids of the enemy. From the
time of Burnside's entrance into East Ten
nessee, in September, 1868, to the close of
the war in April, 1865, our people had
| scarcely an hour Of quiet, and were con-
stantly kept in the most unhappy and
| anxious suspense.
All the men of the mountains capable of
| bearing arms, as well as many who were
incapable and who had not fallen upon
the bloody fields Of Eastern Virginia and
| your own State, were with Lee and John
| ston hundreds of miles away, while their
| homes and interests, their wives and little
ones, were ut the mercy of our own strae-
glers and traitors, and in perpetual dread of
the approach of the lawless and inhuman
raiders of Averil, Burbridge, Stoneman
and Others, whose numbers enabled them
| to form Gordon around us as fearful as
the folds of an anaconda
| Shortly after Burnside's entrance into
and occupation of Knoxville, 40 miles
west of us, the gallant Gen Morgan, with
his handful of brave Kentuckians and Mis-
sissippians fought his way through inter.
yening legions, and arrived at abingdon
for the purpose of resting and recruiting
his WORKOUT men and horses. Knowing
that his mere name had terror enough in
it to hold ten times his number in check
and finding that the enemy fingered upon
his trail, after few days of rest, the bugle
called his men together, and he returned
to meet the foe as he slowly and cautious.
| ly advanced toward the Virginia line
Arriving at Greenville, Tennessee, tbe
home of Andrew Johnson,) midway be-
tween Abingdon and Knoxville, after a
hurried and fatiguing march of dav and
night, he bivouaced his little command of
500 men short distance from the village
and entered the town with his staff to spend
the night under the roof of friend "a lux.
ury he but seldom enjoyed.
| By some means-and by whom has never
| been satisfactorily ascertained -infDrma-
ton was conveyed to the enemy 1G miles
off, that Gen. Morgan and his staff were
sleeping in the village, while his worn and
wealied men were encamped some half
mile or more away. Notwithstanding
scouts were out and the town supposed to
be securely picketed. overwhelming num-
bers of the enemy, conducted by treachery
arrived before the dawn and quietly sur.
rounded the place, thus cutting off the
General and his staff from his little force
outside.
Being aroused from his slumbers by the
lady of the house, and informed that the
town was swarming with blue coats, and
that the house was surrounded, the General
dressed and armed himself very calmly and
quietly, and said to the few officers with
him-"Gentlemen, they have at last caught
us mapping, through the treachery of pre-
tended friends, but don't surrender, and let
us sell our lives as dearly as possible They
then rushed out in body and attempted
to cut their way through, but were of course
soon overpowered by numbers. Two of
the officers escaped, four or five were cap
tured, but John Morgan, with a revolver
in each hand, hept the whole host at bay
for some time, and was finally murdered by
a cowardly mob that hadn't the courage to
take him alive Thus ended the brilliant
career Of John Morgan, when as brave
soul as ever tenanted human body, wing
ed its flight to another world. How many
went with him on the solemn journey may
never be known, as both of his revolvers
were empty when he fell. AS soon as it
was known that life was extinct, his body
was thrown across the back of horse and
paraded through the streets amid the jeers
and jibes of a regiment of Michiganders,
score of whom would not have faced him
when alive. He was brought to this place
where his wife was then sojourning, and
buried. After short time hisremains were
removed to vault at Hollywood Cemetery,
in Richmond, and eventually to Lexington,
KY, where they now repose with those of
kindred who had gone before.
Gen. Basil w. Duke, his brotherin- Flaw,
succeeded Gen. Morgan who was as popu
lar with the command as his predecessor.
Nj lopor for p,out af Tho fay,y ana ftapaI