Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan in Lebanon, Kentucky!

Lebanon was one of only two cities that felt the wrath of Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan and Morgan’s Raiders during all three of their Civil War raids into Kentucky.

Follow Morgan’s activities in Lebanon on this self-guided walking or driving tour that starts at Centre Square and carries five blocks through the historic downtown district. There are wayside exhibits along the route with information and photos.

A guide with map and additional information is available at Visitors Center located inside the Centre Square Convention Center. For more information, call 270.692.0021.

Directions…

♥Just one block north of Centre Square is Myrtledene and Morgan’s Headquarters - Used by Morgan as his headquarters during his July 1862 raid on Lebanon, Myrtledene is completely furnished in antiques and serves as a bed & breakfast now. It has been designated a Kentucky Landmark by the Kentucky Heritage Council.

♥Go one block south to the Lebanon Civil War Park – See a statue of Major Gen. George H. “Rock of Chickamauga” Thomas who led Union forces from Lebanon to Mill Springs in January 1862 for the first major Civil War battle in Kentucky.

♥Go one block west to Kobert Avenue then head south on Kobert to see The Kobert Place – On July 5, 1863, cannon fire missed the train depot and fell on the lawn of this house. The home was also set on fire but neighbors put it out. The wayside exhibit is on the corner of Kobert and ML King Avenue, just past the house.

♥Turn right onto ML King and go one block. Just to the right on Proctor Knott Avenue is Al Bilik Cemetery – This is all that is left of the Presbyterian church that was blown up by cannon fire during the Battle of Lebanon.

♥Continue one block on ML King to Depot Street and see the site where the train depot was located along with the Union Commissary building where the Battle of Lebanon took place. The depot itself is gone now but this was the site of a horrific raid by Morgan on Thomas’ troops.

♥Go one block south to Main Street and turn right. Just down the street is the Hollyhill Inn. The residence at Hollyhill is one of Lebanon's historic landmarks. Known for years as "Sunnyside," the front hall, including its winding stairway, was added in the early 1850s. Some walls are 18 inches thick, the woodwork is hand carved and the floors are ash and poplar. It's the site where Morgan's brother, Tom Morgan, was laid out after falling in the battle in Lebanon July 5, 1863. He was later buried in the garden until the war was over. The motel opened in 1951.

♥Go two blocks east and on the corner is The Shuck Building and Gen. Thomas’ Headquarters. The second floor was used as Gen. Thomas’ headquarters after he was assigned to Lebanon in 1861.

♥Go three blocks east on Main Street and turn left onto Spalding Avenue. Go one block back to Centre Square but across the street from Centre Square, next to the Lebanon United Methodist Church (a lovely architectural sight itself) is the Dr. Maxwell House - Morgan knew Maxwell and knew that Maxwell was a Union sympathizer so he set the house on fire. Maxwell was the surgeon at Camp Crittenden, the Civil War’s fourth largest black soldier encampment, which was also located in Lebanon.

♥The Lebanon National Cemetery, located just outside of downtown, is the final resting place for many of the Union soldiers that fell in the Civil War. It began when space was needed to bury those who were killed during the nearby Battle of Perryville.

 All these sites are located on or just off Scenic Highway/Byway U.S. 68 and carry through an area of beautiful old homes and current renovation projects.

Hours…

♥Visitors Center – Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Closed state and federal holidays.

If that’s not enough…

Lebanon’s trail is part of Kentucky’s John Hunt Morgan Heritage Trail where visitors can retrace the steps of Morgan’s Raiders and discover the history behind all the stories.

More than 60 wayside exhibits are strategically located along the trail to help travelers recreate and interpret the historic routes taken by one of Kentucky's famed Civil War generals.

♥Morgan's First Raid, July 1862 – Morgan crossed the Cumberland River and began a 24-day journey across Kentucky capturing 17 towns and paroling nearly 1,200 Union troops. An exasperated Abraham Lincoln told his advisors, “They are having a stampede in Kentucky. Please look to it!”

On July 8, under the cover of darkness, Morgan slipped out of Celina, Tenn., beginning the First Kentucky Raid. See where in the early morning hours of July 9, 1862, Morgan's men surprised the Union garrison in Tompkinsville. Within two hours, the Confederates had fought and captured the Union soldiers.

After the battle, Morgan's Raiders marched northward through Kentucky stopping in Lebanon and Springfield. From Springfield, Morgan and his men marched north into the Bluegrass and back south crossing the Cumberland into the safety of Tennessee.

Months later, Morgan again returned to Tompkinsville, but this time, he and his Raiders only camped until they began their next Kentucky raid, The Christmas Raid, 1862-63.

♥Morgan's Christmas Raid, 1862 - 1863 – On December 23, with nearly 4,000 men, Morgan crossed into Kentucky near Tompkinsville. Follow the Raiders to Glasgow where on Christmas Eve they captured the town routing a small Union force before the first real resistance took place Christmas Day at Bear Wallow near Cave City.

Visit the site where Morgan's men burned the L&N Railroad bridge across Bacon Creek at Bonnieville.

At Elizabethtown, learn how 600 Union soldiers forced Morgan to fight for the city, street by street and building by building, for several hours before Morgan's numbers and artillery took their toll on the brave men.

The next day, December 28, Morgan's men captured 600 Federals guarding two trestles on Muldraugh Hill. Morgan burned the trestles to ashes creating a huge break in Union Gen. William S. Rosecrans' rail supply line. The following day, Federal pursuit caught up with Morgan at the Rolling Fork River near Boston forcing Morgan to fight his way across. The goal of this raid was to destroy the Union supply line that ran via the L&N Railroad through Kentucky to Nashville.

♥The Great Raid, 1863 –Morgan's Great Raid into Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio began in Cumberland County, Kentucky ending in Ohio, nine miles short of the Pennsylvania line. The 24-day raid covered 1,000 miles making it the longest Confederate raid of the Civil War.

On July 2, 1863, with some 2,500 men, Morgan’s regiments crossed the Cumberland River into Kentucky at Burkesville and Neeley’s ferries. Learn about Marrowbone's Federal camp and the skirmishes at Norris Branch and Columbia.

Make a stop at the site of a supply depot at Camp Billy Williams near Neatsville. Continue the raid where the men camped at Cane Valley before the Rebel disaster at Tebbs Bend where Morgan’s men took 71 casualties. See where troops foraged at the Hiestand House in Campbellsville.

Take a side trip to Greensburg to learn about Union Gen. Edward H. Hobson who pursued Morgan. Visit the site in Lebanon where Morgan’s teenage brother, Tom, was shot in the heart and died in his brother Calvin’s arms. In retaliation, much of the city was burned.

Find out how 25 Union soldiers in Bardstown delayed Morgan for 24 hours and the action that took place at both Bardstown Junction and Lebanon Junction.

See where two steamboats ferried over 2,200 men and their horses across the river at Brandenburg for 16 hours while a detachment of Harrison County, Ind. Home Guards fired at the Raiders with an ancient cannon.