Beschreibung:

An incomparably rare autograph book containing the autograph of General John Hunt Morgan "The Thunderbolt of the Confederacy," and most of his officers, apparently assembled while he was prisoner at the Ohio Penitentiary, Columbus, Ohio. Quarto size, bound in red-tooled leather, containing 53 autographs, all but one on a single page side. Free end paper inscribed "Autographs of Genl. Jno. H. Morgan and his Officers Confined in the Ohio Pennitentiary, Columbus, Ohio. July 30th, 1863." After terrorizing the citizens of Indiana and Ohio with his daring raid, Morgan, along with nearly his entire command was captured near New Lisbon, Ohio on July 26th, 1863. Morgan and his men were initially moved down river to Cincinnati. From this embarkation point, enlisted men were sent to Camp Douglas near present-day Chicago, Illinois. In late July, Morgan, and sixty-eight of his officers were sent to Columbus and interred in the Ohio State Pennitentiary. By late October Captain Thomas E. Hines, had devised an escape plan after discovery of ventilation shaft below his cell floor from which a tunnel was ulitmately dug through two six foot thick walls and 12 feet of grouting to reach the prison wall. On the night of November 24th, Morgan, Hines, Captains J. C. Bennett, L. D. Hockersmith, C. S. Magee, Captain Ralph Sheldon, and B. Taylor escaped. Hines and Morgan traveled by train to Cincinnati, crossed the Ohio River into Kentucky and wound their way back to Confderate lines in Georgia. The album contains the autographs of Morgan, Colonels R.C. Morgan (John Hunt's brother), W.W. Ward Jos. R. Docteur; 3 Lt. Colonels Cicero Coleman and Thos. W. Bullitt ( a Louisvillian credited with helping dig the tunnel); Captains Basil Duke, Thos, Morgan, C.H. Morgan, and C.C. Morgan (relatives of John Hunt and 30 additional captains or ADCs. Included among the signatures are those of four of the six escapees: Morgan, Thomas Hines, R. Sheldon and L.D. Hockersmith. Morgan's men were primarily kept on the same ground floor wing of the Pennitentiary, and at least two of the inmates signed their autograph page with their cell numbers. Virtually all signatories list their unit and rank. In the rear of the album are six pencilled signatures, five officers of the 40th Kentucky mounted infantry, all clearly in the same hand, and all dated May 15, 1864. The significance of these pages is unknown. While we believe there is some similarity with the inscribed fly-leaf and Morgan's signature we cannot confirm this was his personal album. Recently found in Central Kentucky. An incomparable Confederate rarity. Condition:Album shaken and in need of a new backstrip. Flyleaf soiled from use, some pages with smudging or foxing, several with later pencil scribblings.