The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1902-09-04


down the telegraph wire and connect
ed his pocket instrument. Seated there
under the guard Of the troopers, he
took off all the dispatches passing
through.
At first the telegraph Office at Louis
vile called up the office at Nashville.
and Ellsworth intercepted every word.
The tenor of the dispatches showed
that Morgan was loose in the Blue
Grass region, and orders between
banks and commercial houses to send
money and other valuables by railroad
We're countermanded. Louisville also
sent Nashville the general news Of the
day, and thus war dispatches from
Washington and New York were
placed in the hands of John II. Nor
gan, the Kentucky raider.
Having drained Louisville and stolen
the operators signals and signatures,
Ellsworth ended for the day by send
ing a bogus dispatch dictated by Nor
gan. 1t purported to come from Nash
Vile and stated that Forests Tennes-
see cavalry had attacked Murfreesboro,
Tenn, routed the Federals and was
moving on Nashville. Morgan was
said to be in Tennessee cooperating
with Forrest This dispatch was signed
with the name of the Federal provost
marshal at Nashville, Stanley Mat
thews, and at a glance seemed more
credible than those earlier dispatches
which located Morgan in Kentucky.
The Federals in Kentucky of course
had no knowledge Of Bragg's intended
invasion of the state, and it was rather
comforting than otherwise to think that
Morgan was not over the border on an
extensive foray.
Morgan rode into Glasgow at mid
night the day of Ellsworth's telegraph
ic exploit and captured in the town 200
rifles, which were needed to supply the
unarmed men who had followed him
over the border. The whole Of south
ern Kentucky was alert, and every dis
patch which passed between the COM
manders of the military posts scattered
along the railroads mentioned Morgan's
band, invariably magnifying its num-
bers, its audacity and its conquests.
Morgan's Kentuckians have some
times been recklessly and unfairly
classed with those guerrilla bands that
wage war more in the spirit of vandals
than of organized and disciplined SOL
diers. The command first and last en-
braced the best young blOods of Ken
lucky, many Of them graduates of the
highest eastern colleges and others too
young to be graduated. Among the
leaders were Willie Breckenridge, Hart
Gibson of Yale, at one time Morgan's
adjptant general; Colonel Griggsby, of
an old Virginia family and a graduate
of. the University of Virginia; Colonel
Chenault, Colonel Tucker, Colonel Cic-
. ero Coleman, Governor McCreary and
scores of others whose names are
prominent in the west and, in fact, all
over the Union as honorable and active
citizens.
The ranks of the corps at the begin
ming and all through it's career were
filed with the flower of the youth
around Louisville and the Blue Grass
country where Morgan was known.
cause of his love of horses and his ex-
perience in the Mexican war, where
he had commanded a company. His
men had early been taught horseman-
ship, in fact born in the saddle. With
or without saddle or circingle 1t was
all the same.
The name of Morgan had become
known to the Federal guards in Ken
lucky long before his advent in July,
1862, as raider. He had been in the
field a year at the head of Kentucky
horsemen, first leading a company,
then a battalion, afterward a regi-
ment, and now a brigade. With here
and there surprise of some isolated
garrison, dashing skirmish or a stand
up fight, 1t was easy to impress the
imagination and make the raiders
name a terror. And so while Morgan
struck, and his scientific ally. Ellis
worth, stole dispatches and sent out
bogus ones, the alarm spread all over
the country, and even Washington
awoke to the startling fact that mis-
chief was brewing in Kentucky. On
the 18th of July this characteristic dis
patch was sent from the White House
to the headquarters Of the Federal
army at Corinth, Miss:
Major General Halleck-They are hav-
ing a stampede in Kentucky. Please look
to It. A. LINCOLN.
On the same day a dispatch from
Louisville, signed by the Federal com
mander in Kentucky, had informed the
war department at Washington Of the
raid in the following terms:
The Confederates undoubtedly have con-
troll of telegraph all around us. There
Is great danger in Kentucky.
J. T. BOYLE. Brigadier General.
At that time Morgan was on the
Louisville and Lexington road, threat
ening both cities, and riding farther
and farther toward the interior.
GEORGE L. KILMER.