Morgan’s First Skirmish in Ohio

Side A: Confederate Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan’s Indiana-Ohio Raid, or Great Raid, from July 2-26, 1863 covered nearly 1,000 miles and penetrated deeper into the North than any other Confederate incursion during the Civil War. The raid was also the only significant military action of the war in Ohio. Union cavalry chased Morgan’s 2,000 cavalrymen across twenty-four Ohio counties after the troopers entered the state from Indiana. On July 13, 1863 Morgan’s main column encountered no resistance as it passed through New Haven, about five miles north from this site. (Continued on other side) Side B: (Continued from other side) Near Miamitown however, Cincinnati police detective Major Bill Raney and 23 Union scouts prepared an ambush. Morgan sent a 500-man detachment down the Harrison Turnpike to burn the Miamitown covered bridge over the Great Miami River. Raney’s men removed the center planks of the bridge and hid behind trees and fences on the east side of the bridge. Around 6:15 P.M. on July 13, Morgan’s troopers discovered the bridge unusable and forded the shallow river just upstream from this site. When they regained the turnpike, Raney’s militia fired a volley at the surprised troopers, killing two, wounding three, and capturing three, including Ike Snow, one of Morgan’s best scouts. The raiders counterattacked and drove Raney’s outnumbered men out of range, capturing one Union scout. Morgan’s detachment rode away, and the bridge was saved.