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The most exciting event in
Cumberland during the Civil War was the raid of John Morgan
and his men. News of the approach of the raid of John Morgan
and his men. News of the approach of the raiders was shouted
to the family of James McClelland, about two miles southeast
of the town, by Dr. James McCall, riding by from Zeno. All
the men of the family were in the field at work some
distance from the house. Mrs. McClelland and her
daughter-in-law, Mrs. Alexander McClelland with her small
daughter Alta, and step-daughter, Mary, were in the house.
The men had left one horse “Bonnie Blink”, a three year old
filly yet unbroken. Mary McClelland, then but a slip of a
girl hurried to the pasture and caught the filly after some
effort, succeeded in bridling it, jumped on its back with
neither saddle nor blanket, and started to spread the alarm
and find the men. The girl was as spirited as the filly and
hung on when the latter cleared the bars to the field, which
the girl had not laid down, fearing the animal might go
through and escape her. Mary started sidewise, the only
proper way for women in that day, but she now threw one leg
over the back of the filly and rode astride, clutching its
mane. Before she reached the men in the field she saw the
guns of Morgan’s men facing her, the sun shining on the gun
stocks making them seem like a phalanx of spears. She rode
right through them, paying no attention to the command to
halt, but digging her heels into the sides of the filly.
When she reached the men in the field she was so exhausted
that the men lifted her from her steed, which they hid in a
thicket some distance from the road.
Later in the afternoon Morgan’s
men took possession of her grandfather’s house, Morgan and
several of his officers being quartered in the parlor. With
his army blanket for a shawl Morgan was lying on the floor
trying to get some sleep, when he received word that the
Union men were near. He rushed out, forgetting to take the
blanket, which has been a prized trophy of the war in the
McClelland family ever since. The heroine of this ride
married Thomas Hathaway and lived in Cumberland many years.
She died in 1921, leaving a son and daughter. The latter,
Miss Eva Hathaway, still lives in the home. The son
William, died in New York some years ago. Another daughter,
Edna, died many years ago.
At the time of Morgan’s raid
Theodore March Frazee was living on a farm between
Cumberland and Zeno. He had come to Ohio in early forties.
He was a harness maker and a dealer in horses. In the early
days he had gone to the eastern market on horseback, leading
the horses he had to sell. At time of Morgan’s raid Mr.
Frazee heard the raiders coming and took his seat on the
front porch of his residence. When the rebels came up they
jumped off their horses and started toward the house and
shop, when Morgan called, “Halt! The first man who enters
that house or shop without orders will be shot.” That
stopped any raiding. Mrs. Frazee thought that the signal of
Free-masonry had been given between her husband and Morgan.
The family had a southern girl working for them and she was
told to prepare the best dinner she could for the men.
Morgan, Basil Duke, his second in command, and the rest of
his staff sat at the table and the others were fed as long
as the food lasted. All they took from the farm were
horses. One of the men, John Devol, from Kentucky, gave
Agnes, the young daughter of the Frazees, his horse, called
Robin, which he said his sister had given him when he first
joined the cavalry. He said the horse was exhausted but
might live. Later Union men came through and took this
horse, but left it at the fairgrounds in Zanesville. When
Mr. Frazee went to get it the horse was dead.
When they reached Cumberland
the members of the Morgan staff became the self-invited
guests of the Globe House, demanding supper of the
proprietor, while the other soldiers made the same demand of
other families. It was here they began plundering, taking
from the store of J. J. Squier goods valued at four hundred
dollars, and from the Albert J. Holmes store three hundred
dollars worth. In both cases it was clothing and food which
they needed. From Thomas Lindsay they took a pocketbook
containing twenty-five dollars. They took guns from other
citizens. Many of the men were so exhausted by the long and
hard ride to elude the Union forces hot on their trail that
they went to sleep. One man slept tool long and was riding
fast to catch up with his company, when he was told to
stop. He kept on and was shot in the stomach and badly
wounded, but he recovered. More than a hundred horsed were
taken from the Cumberland district, fifteen from the Mc
Clelland families. Those who could hid their horsed in the
woods. Morgan was so closely pursued by an army greater
than his own, that his men exhausted their horses and
abandoned them for fresh ones. A valuable horse was taken
from Dr. Stone. He offered the Confederates seventy-five
dollars if they would leave it, saying he had a critically
ill patient he must visit at once. They took the money and
left the horse, but the doctor forgot his patient, and
another squad of raiders came along and took the horse. The
doctor having no more money to offer, they were not
impressed by his repeated story of his patient. A
Confederate, shot by mistake by one of his comrades, was
found lying in the road in front of the home of William
LaFollette on the ridge between Cumberland and Point
Pleasant, now called Pleasant City. The LaFollettes cared
for the man, who said his name was John Happs. When, after
four months, he was able to leave, Union officers took him
to prison and the LaFollettes never heard of him again.
More horses were taken by
General Shackleford in his pursuit of Morgan than were taken
by the raiders. Claims for these horses were allowed by the
state, amounting to more than ten thousand dollars. But it
was hard in many cases to prove these claims as horses had
been picked up and left all over the state.
Morgan was in the Ohio
penitentiary for four months when he escaped with six of his
officers. With knives taken from the kitchen they cut
through nine inches of concrete floors in their cells and
nine inches of brick work that formed the roof of the air
chamber under the cells. They tunneled under the stone wall
of the building into the prison yard and scaled the outer
walls with ropes made of towels and bed ticking. Mr. Wolfe
in his history comment s that there were many “fifth
columnists; during the Civil war, and there are still those
who believe Morgan and his men walked out the prison doors.
Morgan himself said it was his wife’s prayers that delivered
him. His adventures before he reached his home in
Lexington, Ky., are a thrilling tale of daring and
persistence.
John H. Morgan, nephew and
namesake of the raider, told Mr. Wolfe that his uncle John
was kind, generous and very religious, he and his wife being
members of the Episcopal church in their home city, and
beloved for their deeds of charity. He never harmed women
or children nor did he plunder and burn as most invaders do,
with the exception of bridges destroyed to impede the
advance of the enemy. The Ohio State Journal declared that
the escape of Morgan was the most humiliating thing that had
ever taken place in the history of Ohio.
When Morgan reached Ohio,
Governor Todd proclaimed martial law and called for men,
more than fifty thousand responding to the call. It was
rumored that the invaders were burning, plundering, killing
and taking everything of value. More than half the adult
men of Guernsey County entered the army. One of these,
George McEndree, who had lived in Virginia before moving to
Cumberland, and had fought with the rebel forces of that
state, now joined the Union forces and fell wounded on the
field of Gettysburg. Several Valley township residents,
especially those who had come from the Shenandoah Valley and
settled near Pleasant City, fought on both sides in the
Civil War. |
