Raiding with MorganDunn, Byron A. (Byron Archibald)
History
Raiding with Morgan
Dunn, Byron A. (Byron Archibald)
Morgan, John Hunt, 1825-1864 -- Fiction; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Fiction
The order to cross the river was hailed with enthusiasm by every man in
Morgan’s command. Where they were going they knew not, cared not; they
would go where their gallant leader led. He had never failed them, he
would not fail them now. They knew only that they were to invade the land
of their enemies; that was enough. The war was to be brought home to the
North as it had been to the South. Calhoun caught the fever which caused
the blood of every man to flow more swiftly through his veins. He had been
full of doubts; he trembled for the results if that river were once
passed. He had been through the North and noted her resources, how
terribly in earnest her people were that the Union should be saved. What
if there were thousands of traitors in their midst? There were enough
loyal men left to crush them. What if the state of Indiana was honeycombed
with camps of the Knights of the Golden Circle? The lodges of the Union
League were fully as numerous. He now forgot all these things. Did not the
Knights come to his relief in his hour of sore distress? Surely they would
not forget their oaths, when Morgan came. So he tossed his hat in the air,
and shouted, “Boys, over there is Yankee land! we will cross over and
possess it.”
The order to cross once given, was obeyed with alacrity. In an incredibly
short time the three thousand men and horses were ferried across the
river.
“Burn the boats,” was Morgan’s order.
The torch was applied, and as the flames wrapped them in their fiery
embrace, lo! on the other side came the eager troopers of Hobson. Like
beasts baffled of their prey, they could only stand and gnash their teeth
in their rage. Between them and Morgan rolled the river, and they had no
means of crossing.
“Why don’t you come across, Yanks?” Morgan’s men shouted in derision.
“Got any word you want to send to your mammy? We are going to see her,”
they mockingly cried.
And thus with taunt and laugh and hurrah, Morgan’s men rode away, leaving
their enemies standing helpless on the farther bank.
“Twenty miles to Corydon,” said Calhoun, as he galloped with his scouts to
the front to take the advance. “I wonder if I shall meet my friend Jones,
and whether, when he sees us, he will throw his hat on high, and give us a
royal welcome? If he spoke the truth, the bells of Corydon will ring a
joyful peal when the people see us coming, and we shall be greeted with
waving flags, and find hundreds of sturdy Knights ready to join us.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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