The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1909-12-02
Capture of General Morgan.

and never settled so long as any OF the
participants are alive. One OF these
Is around the death Of General John
II. Morgan, the Confederate leader,
who led raid into Ohio and Indiana
and penetrated farther into northern
territory than any other Southern COM
mander. General Morgan was cup
tured near the Ohio river. carried to
the Ohio penitentiary, escaped. reor-
ganized his command and was killed
at Greenville. Tenn.
n. II. Gaines, a dentist at No. 1116
Main street. Kansas City, vas an adj
jutant in General Morgan's command
and saw his commander killed at
Greenville. He had investigated the
| causes of the surprise. capture and
shooting of Morgan. An answer to a
letter written to Greenville recently
| is. he believes, the true story.
Il had always believed that a young
woman. the daughter-in-law of Mrs.
| Catherine D. Williams. whose husband
was with the Union army. gave the
Federals information which led 10 the
surprise. capture and death of General
Morgan Mr.. Gaines said. when We
approached the Williams home on the
day before Morgan was killed we saw
this young woman ride away from the
| house General Morgan was supicious
and asked Mrs. Williams who the
young woman was and where she was
going. The reply was that the young
woman was going TO neighbOrS
| house for watermelons. The answer
was frankly given and we believed it
at the time. But after the generals
death every one believed that the wo-
| man who was seen TO ride away from
| Gillem, the Federal commander. was
camped and told him where Morgan
could be found. Morgan stayed all
night in the Williams house and was
captured early the next morning. He
was shot after he had surrendered and
given up his arms.
Il wrote to Greenville some time
| ago, asking the postmaster to refer
my letter 10 some one who knew of
| the circumstances of General Nor
gan's death. / received an answer
| from A B. Wilson. of that place. who
looked into the matter His answer
acquits the young woman Of treachery
| forty-five years after the death of
Morgan"
Mr.. Wilson's account of the death of
roiJo~
1T is impossible 10 down or refute
all reports in relation to this event
| Because woman left the home of
Mrs. Williams shortly after the arrival
of Morgan. General Duke jumped to
the conclusion that she had acted trail
tor and reported Morgan's where
abouts to General Gillem. This is
false. The young Mrs. Williams,
| daughter-in-law of Mrs Catherine d.
Williams, while her husband was.
Federal lines. was a Southern sympa-
thizer just the same. She was. before
her marriage, a Runbaugh, one of the
/ best families Of Virginia. and had two
! brothers in the Southern army. One
was captain and the other a major.
/ The truth is that she went 10 II
! farm owned by her mo:her-in-law,
/ four miles from Greenville. where she
was seen by a number of persons.
She intended TO return with water.
] On account of a heavy rain she did
not return until the next day. but
| spent the night with Mrs Bartly. a
! tenant on the farm, and came into
| Greenville that morning just after
| the Federals had entered the town. She
was escorted into town by Federal
pickets. thus arousing the suspicion
that she had betrayed Morgan.
81 have also seen a dispatch from
I Washington giving the credit of Nor
gan's death to Mrs. Sarah Z. ThOmp
son, who died August 90. this year
This is equally false. Mrs. Thompson
had been married about four times
Her first husband. Thompson. whose
name she chose TO go by. was Fed
eral scout. or. perhaps. a bushwhacker,
her setting up the claim of having
caused the death of Morgan with the
idea OF getting pension by act of
Congress. / am certain that she had
nothing whatever to do with the mat.
ter 1t would have been impossible
! for a woman to have made the trip of
eighteen miles to General Gillem's
camp.
The person who did give The in
! formation to General Gillem. which
caused Morgan's death and the capture
of his command was a boy named
John Leady and others, who gave the
directions as to how to move in order
to effect the surprise of General Nor
| gan. In fact General Gillem sent a
dispatch to his superior officers in
tended to put an end 10 the rumors of
woman having betrayed the Con
federate general In this he stated
that no woman had given him the in
formation that led to the capture and
killing of General Morgan"
The young woman who was suspect
ed of the treachery seems never to
have denied the charge. Mr.. Gaines
| does not know what became of her.
Memory of Ball Run.
The following extraordinary letter
was written by Horace Greeley to
President Lincoln after the battle OF
Bull Run. 1t will be remembered that
before the battle Mr. Greeley kept a
standing headline in his paper urging
/ the armies Forward TO Richmond
Forward TO Richmond:
New York, Monday, July 20, 1861
midnight-Dear Sir: This is my sew
enth sleepless neighbours too, doubt
less-yet / think | shall not die, be-
cause I have no right to die | must
! struggle to live, however bitterly. But
to business. You are not considered
great man, and | am a hopelessly