Morgan at Midway
Midway, Woodford County, Kentucky
Marker Inscription
Morgan at Midway. Taking 300 abandoned USA horses and mules at Versailles, Morgan's Raiders came here July 15, 1862. Advised of troop train approach from Frankfort he had tracks torn up and howitzers set. Train warned and returned to Frankfort. Morgan took telegraph line and coaxed train at Lexington to come on but it turned back. He and his men reached Georgetown that evening. Erected November 1962.
Erected by Kentucky Historical Society
The Story
On July 15, 1862, John Hunt Morgan's raiders swept into Midway during their first Kentucky raid, having seized hundreds of Union horses and mules at Versailles. Learning of an approaching troop train from Frankfort, Morgan tore up the tracks and set his howitzers—but the warned train reversed course, and a second decoy at Lexington also failed. His men reached Georgetown that evening, having sown confusion across the Bluegrass by rail and telegraph.
Why it matters
Morgan's raids pioneered a new kind of mobile warfare that targeted railroads and telegraphs, showing how the Civil War was fought over the infrastructure of a modernizing nation.
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Related people
- · John Hunt Morgan
Related events
- · Morgan's First Kentucky Raid
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Sue Mundy's Raids at Midway
Midway, KY
After John Hunt Morgan's death in September 1864, Jerome Clarke—notorious under the name 'Sue Mundy'—formed his own guerrilla band and raided Midway that November, killing a resident named Adam Harper. Union forces executed four Confederate prisoners in reprisal. In February 1865, Clarke returned alongside the infamous William Quantrill, burning the depot and stealing fifteen horses, a reminder that Kentucky's guerrilla war raged on to the conflict's very end.
Confederate Governor George W. Johnson
Scott County, KY
This was the home of George W. Johnson, a Scott County native who in November 1861 was named Kentucky's first Confederate governor—leader of a shadow government in a state that never left the Union. When Confederate forces withdrew from Bowling Green into Tennessee in early 1862, Johnson followed. He served as an aide to General John C. Breckinridge but insisted on fighting as a private at Shiloh, where he was mortally wounded in April 1862, still holding the title of governor.
Gen. Basil W. Duke, C.S.A.
Georgetown, KY
Scott County native Basil W. Duke (1838–1916) served the Confederacy as the trusted lieutenant and brother-in-law of John Hunt Morgan, giving discipline and dash to the famed 2nd Kentucky Cavalry. Twice wounded in 1862 and captured during the 1863 Indiana–Ohio raid, he later took command of Morgan's brigade and helped escort Jefferson Davis in the war's final weeks. Afterward he practiced law in Louisville, entered politics, and wrote the History of Morgan's Cavalry.
A Civil War Reprisal
Frankfort, KY
On November 2, 1864, near Frankfort, four Confederate prisoners were shot in reprisal for the murder of Robert Graham, a Union supporter from Peaks Mill. All four were Kentuckians—Elijah Horton, Thomas Hunt, John Long, and Thornton Lafferty—drawn from counties across the state and, the marker notes, innocent of the crime. Their executions reflect the brutal cycle of retaliation that consumed Kentucky as guerrilla warfare tore at the divided commonwealth.