Thursday - January 14: Last evening the Wellsville Carnegie Library hosted EL Attorney Tim Brookes who presented a program on Civil War General John Hunt Morgan and his Morgan Raiders. In addition to being a lawyer Brookes is the President of the EL Historical Society, a position he's served several times. Brookes is a noted area historian and is probably one of the most knowledgeable ones on Civil War history around here. He has written articles for both Time Line and the Military Images publications.
Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan was born in Alabama. The city of Huntsville is named after his family. His unit was made up with mostly small, wiry farm boys. The average height of his men was 5'2" to 5"6". Brookes said this was common with the Confederate Army with the south being mostly an agricultural region at that time. Being easier on their horses is one of the reasons men of their stature were selected as cavalry men.
Morgan's unit got the name of Raiders by concentrating mostly on conducting raids on various types of supply lines used by the North. They would destroy bridges and lay ruin to railroad lines, etc. Morgan wasn't a strict military man. His attention to discipline and uniform compliance was lax. He liked to have fun.
On June 6, 1863 Morgan and his Raiders set out from McMinnville, TN with about 2,500 men. According to Brookes they traveled nearly 2,000 miles before being captured out near West Point on July 26, 1863. Once captured Morgan and his men were brought to Wellsville and held prisoners in the Whittacre House on the 4th St. Square until arrangements could be made to move them to Columbus.
In gratitude to the hotel proprietor's son keeping them supplied with fresh water Morgan gave his sword & scabbard to the young man. That sword was donated by the late Frances Whittacre Morton to the Wellsville Historical Society. To this day it is displayed at the Riverside Museum.
Our thanks to the Wellsville Library for hosting this most interesting presentation. Also, thanks to Tim Brookes. It's always a pleasure.
According to this morning's MJ the Library is continuing their community service with having Story Hours for the young ones beginning February 9. There will be two sessions each Tuesday. The first is for preschool children, age 3 - 5, from 11 o'clock to noon. The second is for ages 5 and up from 3:30 - 4:30. With limited space registration is required. Call 330-532-1526 to register.
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