The Twenty-Five Days of Morgan - July 4, 1863

In the early morning hours, Captain Tom Franks and his scouts report to General Morgan that they had heard trees being felled near the Union outpost at the Green River Bridge of the Campbellsville Turnpike, at a place called Tebbs Bend. However, they had failed to scout the Tebbs Bend position thoroughly. They do not know the size of the Union force nor the strength of its defenses. It will be left to Morgan’s officers to gain this critical intelligence on the field of battle. Morgan resolves to attack whatever Union outpost is located at the bridge, even though he can easily ford the river and bypass the bridge completely. Duke indicates that Morgan does not want to leave an enemy in his rear; on the other hand, perhaps the general is a bit overconfident in his troops’ ability to surmount incomplete intelligence.

Defending the turnpike bridge over the Green River are 266 men of Colonel Orlando H. Moore’s 25th Michigan Infantry. Moore also leads a company of troops detached from the 8th Michigan Infantry and the 79th New York Infantry. Moore is a tough, battle-hardened soldier. He had fought the Cheyenne Indians before the war. The 25th Michigan is a green regiment, but Moore has ensured that they are well-trained and disciplined. They are quite good marksmen with their new Enfield rifles.

Moore had been alerted to Morgan’s crossing at Burkesville. As early as July 1, Moore had started preparing entrenchments across the top of a razorback ridge just south of the bridge. Designed with ditches and abatis (spiked logs sticking out of the ground), the Wolverines had finished their earthwork defenses by the time Morgan’s troops arrive in the morning. Moore has no artillery.

General Morgan places his troopers in full view of the entrenchments, and then to further scare his opponent, he has Captain Byrne open on the Union lines with one of his four cannons (two 12-pounder field howitzers and two 10-pounder Parrott rifles). Ceasing fire, Morgan sends his adjutant general, Lieutenant Colonel Robert A. Alston, under a flag of truce to speak with Colonel Moore. The message Alston hands to Moore is simple: Morgan demands an immediate and unconditional surrender of Moore’s force. With a grin on his face, Moore replies, “Present my compliments to General Morgan, and say to him that, this being the fourth day of July, I cannot entertain his proposition.”

About 7:15am, Morgan orders Captain Byrne’s four cannons to bombard the Union trenches. Michigan soldiers in the main breastwork pick off Byrne’s artillerymen in rapid succession, and soon the battery falls silent. Morgan will not have the advantage of artillery in this fight.

Undaunted, Morgan orders Colonel Johnson to lead an assault on the Federal rifle pit fronting the main entrenchment. The 11th Kentucky Cavalry and 7th Kentucky Cavalry, charging dismounted over an open field, successfully scatter the Union defenders in the rifle pit, and the Confederates seek cover there. Morgan joins Johnson in the rifle pit to survey Moore’s main breastwork, because Franks’s scouts had not done so earlier that morning. It’s formidable, with abatis and another cleared field of approach ahead of it. Johnson protests when Morgan proposes to make a direct assault upon the breastwork, but Morgan overrules him. Morgan will send into the fray behind Johnson the 5th Kentucky Cavalry regiment of Duke’s brigade. Morgan is confident they can take the works.

With bugles sounding, the 11th and 7th Kentucky cavalry regiments burst into the open field and run toward the main Union trench. Instantly, Moore’s Wolverines let loose a devasting volley upon the Confederates, but despite their heavy losses, they reach the abatis protecting the Union breastwork. Morgan’s troopers shoot their rifles and pistols into the faces of the Michiganders, but they return fire with even more resolve. Johnson’s troopers cannot find a way to penetrate the well-built abatis, and they quickly realize that they are sitting ducks. Morgan’s men are falling quickly, and they retreat to the cover of the woods lining the cliffs of the ridge.

Morgan orders Colonel David W. Chenault to lead his 11th Kentucky Cavalry in another assault on the main Union breastwork, but this time from a location just behind the right flank of the Union position. The 5th Kentucky and 7th Kentucky cavalry regiments would support them by making another dismounted charge across the field. Chenault and his men find it difficult to climb up the steep cliffs to the top of the ridge. They grab trees and roots to pull themselves up the steep slope. By the time they reach the top, Moore’s reserve company is waiting, and the Union boys charge into Chenault’s flank. The Kentuckians’ line dissolves, and Chenault is killed while trying to rally them. Major Thomas Y. Brent of the 5th Kentucky falls dead when he tries to help Chenault. Duke feels helpless as he watches his men’s charge across the open field is cut to pieces. The assault is a bloody failure.

Meanwhile, Confederate troopers who had forded the river attack the Union infantrymen at the bridge. The bridge defenders successfully turn back the attack, and the Rebel troopers report to Morgan that the bridge cannot be taken.

The Battle of Tebbs Bend ends around 10:00am. Morgan offers a flag of truce to Moore requesting to tend to the wounded and bury the dead. Moore’s total casualties are six killed and twenty-four wounded, while Morgan’s losses amount to thirty-six killed, forty-five wounded, and thirty-two captured. It is the bloodiest day for Morgan’s troopers up that point in the Civil War. John Weatherred of the 9th Tennessee Cavalry wrote in his diary, “It was foolish to attack, most of us thought.”

Morgan concludes to have his division fall back and ford the Green River at Lemmons Bend, about a mile west of Tebbs Bend, and then pick up the Campbellsville Turnpike north of the Green River Bridge. Colonel Moore, having fought an exhaustive three-hour duel against a superior foe, does not pursue. Morgan’s troops pass through Campbellsville unmolested and camp for the night at New Market, located about four miles south of Lebanon, Kentucky. Nineteen-year-old Lieutenant Tom Morgan, the general’s youngest brother and one of the most popular men in the division, serenades his saddened comrades that evening around the campfire. Tom’s beautiful voice and mournful lyrics serve as a fitting memorial to the dead on this dark Independence Day. Some of the men feel the disaster at Tebb’s Bend portends a bad future for Morgan’s campaign.

Sources:

Duke, Basil W. A History of Morgan's Cavalry. Cincinnati, OH: Miami Printing and Publishing Co., 1867, pp. 402-465.

Johnson, Adam R. The Partisan Rangers of the Confederate States Army. Louisville, KY: George G. Fetter Co., 1904, pp. 142-150, 438-467.

Gorin, Betty J. “Morgan Is Coming!” Confederate Raiders in the Heartland of Kentucky. Louisville, KY: Harmony House Publishers, 2006, pp. 99-260.

Mowery, David L. Morgan’s Great Raid: The Remarkable Expedition from Kentucky to Ohio. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2013, pp. 15-72.

U.S. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Ser. 1, Vol. 23, Pt. 1. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1880–1901, pp. 11-15, 632-818.

“The Great Raid, Summer 1863.” Trails-R-Us (Kentucky)—John Hunt Morgan Home Page, http://www.trailsrus.com/morgan/map.html.