Corydon

On July 9, 1863, a small but notable clash unfolded just outside Corydon, the town that had once served as Indiana's first capital before losing that status in 1825 and that remained the seat of Harrison County government. This skirmish formed part of Morgan's Raid, a Confederate incursion in which 2,500 horsemen pushed northward to bolster the Tullahoma Campaign then underway. Corydon holds the distinction of being the site of the only formal battle fought on Indiana soil during the entire conflict, a record that still stands today since no engagement has taken place in the state since.

Word of the approaching raiders spread quickly, prompting Governor Oliver P. Morton to mobilize the Indiana Legion, the state's militia, in hopes of blunting the assault. Not realizing how large the Confederate column actually was, roughly one hundred militiamen drawn from four companies of the Legion's 6th and 8th Regiments tried to block the crossing of the Ohio River. Confederate artillery proved too much for them, killing two defenders and forcing the rest to fall back toward Corydon. There they joined the bulk of the 6th Regiment, led by Col. Lewis Jordan, and together with local residents they threw up breastworks south of town to create a defensive line. Reinforcements had been promised by Legion commanders stationed in New Albany, yet only about 450 men, nearly all of them townspeople and area residents, ended up holding the position.

When the raiders' advance guard arrived from the south, they deployed into a battle line, pressed a direct assault, and attempted a flanking maneuver on the eastern edge of the Legion's earthworks, though that maneuver failed. Soon the main Confederate force arrived with artillery support, tipping the numbers heavily in their favor. Backed by cannon fire, a two-pronged assault threatened to encircle the militia, forcing them to abandon their line rather than risk being trapped. Many Legion members were seized while trying to flee through the town, while Jordan and a handful of others managed to rally downtown. The Confederates then captured the Legion's stockpiled supplies at the town's outskirts and fired a pair of warning artillery rounds into the downtown area. Convinced that further defense was pointless, Jordan chose to surrender both his remaining men and the town itself.

Although Confederate losses in the brief fight ran twice as high as those suffered by the smaller militia force, the outcome favored Morgan's cavalry, allowing Brig. Gen. John H. Morgan to replenish supplies and funds before pushing on through Indiana and eventually into Ohio. Yet the time lost at Corydon would matter greatly, since it gave the pursuing Union forces the opening they needed to eventually catch up with and capture Morgan along with his command.

Prelude

A Union cavalry regiment took up defensive positions in south central Indiana starting in December 1862, guarding against possible Confederate incursions. Months of patrolling the border produced no actual raids, and by March 1863 the regiment was pulled out, leaving the area's defense to local militia forces alone.

Brig. Gen. John H. Morgan set his cavalry division in motion from Tennessee on June 23, 1863, heading north with nearly 2,500 men organized into two brigades along with two artillery batteries. What started as a plan to strike into Kentucky and cut Union communications for the Army of the Cumberland, supporting Gen. Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee during the Tullahoma Campaign, had specific limits attached to it. Bragg authorized Morgan to hit whatever Kentucky towns he wished but explicitly forbade crossing the Ohio River into enemy territory, fearing his cavalry commander might range too far to assist the main army if called upon. Morgan, however, had no intention of honoring these restrictions and had already dispatched scouts across the river before his men even left Tennessee. After fording the Cumberland River near Burkesville, Kentucky, his column pushed toward the Green River, where a Union regiment turned them aside at Tebbs Bend on July 4. Morgan's men then caught the Lebanon garrison off guard and captured it, continuing their northward march through Springfield, Bardstown, and Garnettsville.

To mask his true intentions, Morgan had his troops intercept Union telegraph lines and transmit false information about troop strength and objectives, much of it suggesting Louisville, Kentucky as his target. Indiana's governor, Oliver P. Morton, took no chances with this threat and wired orders mobilizing the entire Indiana Legion militia south of the National Road.

Confederate forces reached Brandenburg, Kentucky on the afternoon of July 7, linking up there with Capt. Thomas Hines, who took charge of the advance element. Hines had previously scouted Indiana territory hoping to rally Confederate sympathizers ahead of Morgan's arrival, an effort that failed to produce results. During that scouting mission, soldiers from the 6th and 8th Indiana Legion regiments had hunted down his party, killing three men and capturing several more before the survivors fled back across into Kentucky. Hines had remained near Brandenburg ever since, awaiting Morgan's main force. Heavy rains had swollen the Ohio River past any hope of fording, forcing the Confederates to seize boats for the crossing. Following Hines' plan, they ambushed and captured the steamship John T. McCombs when it docked at Brandenburg to drop off mail. Since a single vessel could not ferry the whole division quickly enough, the Confederates used the McCombs to fake a distress signal, drawing in the swift sidewheeler Alice Dean. When that ship pulled alongside, hidden Confederate soldiers sprang into action, tied the two vessels together, and seized control. Both boats were brought back to the landing, where the crew and passengers were released just as Morgan's main force reached the town. Several passengers managed to slip away and warned Union commanders in Louisville that Confederates now held Brandenburg.

News of Morgan's seizure of Brandenburg, located ten miles south of Corydon, along with his evident plan to push into Indiana, reached Indiana militia leadership through a dispatch from regular army officers stationed in Louisville. Since every northbound route Morgan might take converged at Corydon, urgent calls for reinforcements went out from the town in every direction. Leaders in New Albany pledged a thousand men, while other militia companies throughout Harrison County mobilized at once and marched toward Corydon. Roughly one hundred men from three companies of the 6th Indiana Legion Regiment, stationed at Mauckport, took position at Morvin's Landing on the river's north bank, directly across from Brandenburg, to oppose any crossing attempt. Overnight, the steamer Lady P

Battle

As dusk fell, portions of Morgan's division pushed to a point just five miles from Corydon. The four Legion companies attempting to block the river crossing had by then gained support from four more companies out of Corydon itself, along with one each from Elizabeth and New Amsterdam, bringing their combined strength to roughly four hundred men. This force drew an unwary company of Confederates into a trap, surrounding them and capturing sixteen, who were marched off to the jail in Corydon. In separate skirmishes, the invaders also seized about thirty more defenders, who were herded together and confined in a schoolhouse near Laconia. Once Morgan had gotten his men across the river, he spoke to these captives and offered a deal: return home, stay out of the fight, and they could keep their weapons and go free. Every man accepted, and all were released.

Morgan's troops bedded down that night at Frakes' Mill, just above Mauckport, in a district emptied of its residents, who had all fled. At the house Morgan occupied, a meal had been left on the table, which he and his men consumed before turning in. Once again tapping into the telegraph wires, Morgan's soldiers spread false word that the column was bound for New Albany, a ruse that kept that town's Legion commanders from dispatching the sizable reinforcement they had assembled for Corydon's defense. Marching north again the following morning, the Confederates were moving along a county road when a shot rang out and killed one of their soldiers. In response, scouts fired into a nearby house they believed was the source, killing a Lutheran minister and wounding his son.

Corydon, seat of Harrison County and once the state capital, held about a thousand people counting the surrounding countryside. Through the night, its residents had labored to erect a log breastwork atop a ridge south of town. Two Confederate spies had already slip

Aftermath

When Morgan's division rode into Corydon, the county commissioner stepped out of the courthouse holding a rifle and was shot down, the last man to die that day. Morgan treated the Legion members as though they were regular troops, granting them parole while confiscating or destroying their weapons and ammunition and forcing them to pledge they would not take up arms again for a set period. He also emptied the county jail, releasing everyone inside, including Confederates who had been taken prisoner the day before.

That afternoon the cavalrymen turned to looting and extortion. Morgan threatened to burn down three mills unless the owners each paid $1,000, a figure the owners managed to talk down to $500. To keep the courthouse standing, the county treasurer handed over $690, while two of the town's major stores paid $600 apiece. Beyond these formal payments, the soldiers helped themselves to whatever they wanted from the townspeople, carrying off everything from ice skates and bonnets to firearms and horses. Between