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by Basil Wilson Duke (Author)
This is a classic work about John Hunt Morgan's legendary exploits, written by Morgan's brother-in-law and a brigadier in his own right. The narrative describes many soldiers of Morgan's command in their adventures in Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and elsewhere. A focused military narrative of Morgan's operations, this work is valuable for Basil Duke's eyewitness recollections recorded so soon after the war. The raid on which the 11th regiment was embarked would become the stuff of American military legend. It was the brainchild of the regiment's divisional commander, Brig. Gen. John Hunt Morgan, a transplanted Kentuckian who combined an ease in the saddle with the most necessary trait of a successful cavalry leader - supreme self-confidence. The dashing Morgan's reputed fondness for women was exceeded only by his love for fighting. A juvenile argument at Lexington's Transylvania University had led to a duel and expulsion in 1844, and Morgan experienced a dose of real fighting three years later when he served as a lieutenant in the 1st Kentucky Cavalry during the Mexican War, seeing action at the hard-fought and narrowly won American victory at Buena Vista. Morgan would be killed on September 4th, 1864, at Greeneville, Tennessee. Ironically, he was not supposed to be there, having yet again defied orders.. He was also under investigation for the criminal activities that had occurred in Kentucky.
