Sojourn Chronicles

After a restful night’s sleep, I wake up on Eastern Time in a Central Time bed. It’s early and I don’t want to wait to begin the day’s ride. Secondly, the Weather Channel says today, Wednesday, will be great, but Thursday will be wet. I start to rethink my riding plans.

My original plans were to stop at the Ohio River for the night in Brandenburg, KY. But, if I make it to the river early enough, I will press forward on the route towards home in Cincinnati. I can always double back to restart where I left off.

The early morning air is cool and dew is on the ground. The road out of Dale Hollow Lake State Park is a ribbon of new blacktop. An old barn catches my eye for a photo.

I turn north on KY 61 and ride through Burkesville where the raid started, and headed towards Columbia. The road is in great shape, but there are sections of not-so-wide older road. Along one of these sections, I stopped to photograph an old building. The owners, Waneta and Ralph Cole, spotted me and came to investigate. They say a lot of people stop to photograph the building. It’s going to be torn down soon as Kentucky DOT is going to widen the road. The building has to be demolished.

In Columbia, I stop for a coffee and blackberry turnover for a snack. The John Hunt Morgan marker is on the south side of the courthouse. I am always amazed at the grand architecture of rural county courthouses.

Kentucky 55 north to Campbellsville, meeting up with US 68 to Lebanon is a wonderful ride of hills and curves–perfect for rural road cruising. Approaching Lebanon, I spotted a sign for a National Cemetery, and decide to stop for a quick visit. It is impressive yet somber to see all the markers of fallen soldiers. The oldest section, Section 1, is for Civil War casualties. The grave stones are marked with name and state. Men from Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio. There were a few unknown soldiers, too. As I walked through the rows of stones, I noticed a shadow on the ground in Section 1–a shadow of our American flag.

After the cemetery, I rode to the downtown area looking for a site that no longer exists. General Morgan burned down the railroad depot after a fierce battle with Union troops. How does one find such a place? When I saw a street sign for Depot St., I figured I was very close, and in fact was two blocks from the site. Several markers were erected on the site commemorating all of the Civil War history in Lebanon.

The building on the right stood at the time of the raid and was used as a Union supply depot. Many of the Union soldiers took refuge in the building during the 7-hour siege.

In Lebanon, the Morgan Trail continues up KY 55 while US 68 splits off towards Harrodsburg and Lexington. Morgan took his Union prisoners north to Springfield to be “paroled.” During the Civil War, a parole was a signed pledge not to fight again. Soldiers were paroled and released. Many of them returned to their units to do exactly what they pledged not to do.

The courthouse in Springfield was erected in 1816.

Turning west on US 150, the route proceeds to Bardstown, KY, which is a fascinating town. It seemed there was history on nearly every corner. It is also the location of My Old Kentucky Home, which said to have inspired Stephen Foster to write the famous song. The county courthouse is one of the grandest in architecture. Morgan Trail historical signage is on the square.

From Bardstown, Morgan rode west than north towards Louisville to give the impression that he was going to attack the river city. But instead, he turned west again at Shephardsville to stop in what is now Otter Creek State Park before crossing the Ohio River at Brandenburg. My route is nearly the same, but I have to ride around Fort Knox. Obviously, there are some changes to the geography, highways and geo-political lines from 145 years ago.

Finally, I reach the Ohio River at Brandenburg at 2 p.m. I’ve ridden about 200 miles in 6.5 hours. It is too early to stop for the day, and there is about seven hours of daylight remaining. I decide to press on, and cancel my motel reservation for the evening at the Super 8.

I cross the river on the KY 79 bridge to Indiana, just west of town, and immediately find Indiana’s efforts at the trail.

My next stop is Corydon, Indiana, and Battle Park. Corydon is Indiana’s first capital. It was moved to Indianapolis long before the Civil War, but the town is rich with history.

The stone memorial below lists the name of the Confederates killed on the south side of the marker and northern militia killed on the north side of the marker.

Indiana’s first capital on the square in downtown Corydon.

The Morgan Trail rides straight north on IN 135 to Palmyra and then jogs to the west and then north again, which was a good thing. Rt. 135 at Palmyra is under re-construction and all traffic is diverted quite a ways west and then northeast again back to Salem. I took the trail, which turned out to be some gravel.

The V-Strom did surprisingly well. It’s not like I’m really comfortable on gravel, but I managed to do 35-40 mph on the loose surface, and applied appropriate techniques when the front wheel felt like it was digging in. In other words, I accelerated!

Finally popping back out onto SR 135, I headed north to Salem and then east. It was during this stretch that I started making some alternate route choices. If you want to follow the nearly exact route of the General John Hunt Morgan Trail, the State of Indiana has provided the best map and signage to do exactly that. You will go down some gravel roads, and you will be in very rural areas where gas, food and restrooms will not be readily available. If you want to see the field where they camped during the night, take the true route. If you want to see the places where there were encounters with militia and troops, stick to the larger towns, for most of Morgan’s actions were in the towns and county seats.

Vernon, Indiana, is the only place where Home Guard and Militia actually repelled Morgan’s Raid. The town refused to surrender, and Morgan feared too many casualties. So, he turned southeasterly towards Madison before turning east and north again. In Versailles, he plundered the Ripley County Courthouse of about $5,000. The Union troops were about two hours behind.

From Versailles, I decided to head home, arriving at 8 p.m. I’ll circle back and finish Indiana on another day when rain does not threaten. For the day, I rode 385 miles in 12.5 hours. The V-Strom performed flawlessly. My wrist and butt were sore.

Analyzing the Morgan route, I’ve concluded there are three different strategies and routes during his great raid. In Kentucky, many of the locals were friendly, after all, Morgan himself was from Kentucky as were many of his men. So, his offensive route was direct. With all the troops, wagons and four pieces of artillery, he stayed on the main roads.

In Indiana, he was in the north, and the Union troops were after him. Here, he employed a strategy of strike and evasion. He stayed on main roads, but took secondary roads as his scouts directed in order to evade and throw off the pursuers. Today’s Morgan Trail seems to reflect that strategy.

In Ohio, after getting around Cincinnati, his mission was to escape. Speed was essential, and finding a place to cross the Ohio River back into Kentucky was imperative. If the John Roebling Bridge in Cincinnati had been completed, he probably would have tried to cross there, but the bridge construction was slowed during the Civil War and was not complete until 1867. Instead, he raced east looking for a place to cross the river. He aimed at Portland, OH and Buffington Island.

There’s more to come as I ride additional pieces of the route. If you want to learn more about this incredible piece of Civil War history, buy the book, The Longest Raid, by Lester Horwitz.

Here is a slideshow of photos from the trail so far.

DBrent