Forrest Reconnoitered (Madisonville)
Madisonville, Hopkins County, Kentucky
Marker Inscription
Forrest Reconnoitered. CSA General Nathan Bedford Forrest, on reconnaissance and foraging mission toward the Ohio River Nov. 24 to Dec. 5, 1861, passed here with 300 cavalry on way to Caseyville. There he found large supply of hogs and took some along. After he left, USA picked up remainder. While returning to Hopkinsville Forrest captured horses, cattle and more hogs. Map on other side. Installed July 31, 1964.
Erected by Kentucky Historical Society
The Story
In the late autumn of 1861, Confederate cavalry under Nathan Bedford Forrest passed through this area on a reconnaissance and foraging expedition toward the Ohio River. Riding with 300 horsemen, Forrest gathered hogs, horses, and cattle for the Confederate army as he ranged toward Caseyville and back to Hopkinsville. It was early work for a commander who would become one of the war's most feared cavalry leaders.
Why it matters
The raid marks the opening moves of Nathan Bedford Forrest's storied cavalry career and shows how western Kentucky's farms and rivers became vital supply grounds in the Civil War.
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Related people
- · Nathan Bedford Forrest
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Forrest Reconnoitered (Providence)
Providence, KY
Late in 1861, Confederate cavalry under Nathan Bedford Forrest passed near Providence during a reconnaissance and foraging sweep toward the Ohio River. Leading 300 riders, Forrest collected hogs, horses, and cattle to supply the Confederate army as he moved toward Caseyville and back to Hopkinsville. The expedition was among the first of the aggressive cavalry operations that made his name.
Forrest Reconnoitered (Greenville)
Greenville, KY
Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest and his cavalry rode through Greenville three times on reconnaissance missions out of Hopkinsville during the winter of 1861–62. Here they captured Union arms and equipment, and in late December passed through on the way to a victory over a larger Federal force at nearby Sacramento. They returned in January to burn the Pond River bridges and slow the Union advance.
Grace Episcopal Church
Hopkinsville, KY
Organized in 1831 by Hopkinsville laymen with help from an early missionary who became its first rector, Grace Episcopal grew alongside the young town of western Kentucky. Its first sanctuary rose around 1850, and in 1875 the parish welcomed Jefferson Davis—an Episcopalian and Christian County native—to worship. The present church was built in 1883–84 and became a hub of the community's social and cultural life, surviving a tornado that toppled its tower in 1978.
Gov. Charles S. Morehead
Hopkinsville, KY
Born near Bardstown and trained at Transylvania University, Charles S. Morehead built a long public career—state legislator, attorney general, U.S. congressman, and governor of Kentucky from 1855 to 1859. As the nation fractured, he joined the 1861 Washington Peace Conference in a last effort to avert war; though he stayed officially neutral, his sympathy for the Confederacy and criticism of Lincoln led to his arrest and months of imprisonment. Warned of a second arrest, he fled abroad and died at his Mississippi plantation in 1868.