John Hunt Morgan in Kentucky Trail Opens Memorial Day
May 2004

The John Hunt Morgan Trail in Kentucky will open on Memorial Day.

On behalf of the trail partners, Joseph E. Brent, who has consulted on the project, invites people to follow General Morgan's raids through Kentucky. "Ride the roads he rode, stand at the forts that were built to stop him, visit the homes and the final resting places of those who rode with him and after him. Come see Civil War history and the most beautiful part of Kentucky," says Brent.

The trail is designed to highlight three of Morgan's raids in Kentucky: the summer 1862 raid, known as the First Kentucky Raid; the winter 1862-63 raid, known as the Christmas raid; and the summer 1863 raid, the Great Raid. The trail not only highlights Morgan's offensive action but the defensive measures of the Union army and the loyal people of Kentucky to defend the state against his raids.

The trail project began in 1997 and evolved from an attempt to highlight the Civil War in the Second District to a focus on John Hunt Morgan. Morgan was chosen because his troops crisscrossed the area of the district. Due to local interest, the project grew beyond the boundaries of the Second District to include Monroe, Cumberland and Adair counties.

Trail partners include Campbellsville University, Congressman Ron Lewis, the Kentucky Department of Transportation, the West Kentucky Corporation, the Kentucky Heritage Council and the people in Allen, Adair, Barren, Bullitt, Cumberland, Green, Hardin, Hart, Marion, Meade, Monroe, Nelson, Taylor Warren and Washington counties which are a part of the trail. The completed trail will include up to four interpreted waysides in each county, a four-color brochure and a website.

The major funding for the project was provided by TEA-21 funds, federal transportation enhancement money administered through the Kentucky Department of Transportation. Brent says these funds are being used to pay for the waysides, brochure and website. The cash match for the project came from the 14 counties that make up the trail. In addition to cash each provided text and images for the waysides.

Brent says the John Hunt Morgan in Kentucky Trail will bring to life the people and places that played an important role in Morgan's raids. They include Col. Frank Lane Wolford and Gen. Edward H. Hobson, who helped captured Morgan at Buffington Island in Ohio, who were from Columbia and Greensburg respectively. And the forts Glasgow, Shepherdsville and Bowling Green that were built to protect the L&N Railroad from Morgan's raids.

Indiana and Ohio also have Morgan Raid trails and Tennessee plans to develop one.