General John Hunt Morgan - Greeneville, TN - Specific Veteran Memorials on Waymarking.com

A small grey granite marker about two feet wide by a foot tall and 5 inches thick erected by the Morgan's Men Association in 1999 is placed in memorial here in the garden where Morgan was shot and killed on September 4, 1864. If you walk up to the steps of the mansion the marker is just to the left of the steps near the bottom of a pole with a large birdhouse on it.

The cannon ball that hit the Church about 150 yards from where Morgan fell was fired from the old Harmony Cemetery area near the present Police Department, about 400 yards from the mansion. It's a hilltop above the Big Spring, and easily defended from that vantage point.

Marker text:

IN MEMORY OF
GENERAL JOHN HUNT MORGAN

CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA

KILLED NEAR THIS SPOT BY UNION FORCES ON SEPTEMBER 4, 1864

ERECTED BY THE MORGAN'S MEN ASSOCIATION
1999

From the Tennessee Civil War discovery trail marker here on site:

Death of Gen. John Hunt Morgan "... bring Morgan out dead or alive."
On September 3-4, 1864, Lt.Col. William H. Ingerton led the 13th Tennessee Cavalry (USA) to Greeneville's outskirts, where he learned that Gen.John Hunt Morgan was at the Dickson-Williams Mansion. He told his company commanders, Capts. C.C. Wilcox and S.E. Northington, "to dash into town, surround the Williams residence and bring Morgan out dead or alive."

The Federal cavalry surprised the Confederates. Some escaped on their horses while many others were shot or captured. Nicknamed the Thunderbolt of the Confederacy, Morgan bolted from the house and searched for an escape route. His officers urged him to remain in the mansion and await reinforcements. Morgan refused: "The boys can not get here in time. The Yankees will never take me prisoner again." Morgan and his staff officers ran to St.James Episcopal Church nearby, where they hid under the floor until Morgan heard Union soldiers enter the church. He then rushed out toward the grape arbors here near the Williams's stables and his horse, Sir Oliver. As Wilcox's troopers surrounded the area, Morgan tried to walk away in the confusion. Union Pvt. Andrew J. Campbell ordered him to halt, and when Morgan failed to obey the order, Campbell shot and killed him.

The death of Morgan was a blow to the morale of Confederates in East Tennessee and throughout the South.

(Sidebar):

After local residents viewed Morgan's body at the Dickson-William Mansion, the remains were returned to his wife, Mattie Ready Morgan, in Abingdon, Virginia. Morgan's funeral was the largest Abingdon had ever seen. His body was interred in a stone tomb in Sinking Spring Cemetery, then removed after a few days and taken by rail to Richmond, where he had a Confederate state funeral in the Capitol. He was again placed in a stone tomb, this time in Hollywood Cemetery. In April 1868, Morgan's remains were taken to Lexington, Kentucky, where more than 2,000 mourners attended his third and final funeral. Afterward, the veterans formed the Morgan's Men Association. Morgan rests today in the Hunt-Morgan plot in Lexington Cemetery.

Website pertaining to the memorial: [Web Link] List if there are any visiting hours: Daylight hours Entrance fees (if it applies): None Type of memorial: Monument

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