Wanted: John Hunt Morgan

The Civil War is filled with tales of adventure, and perhaps one of the more interesting is the escape by Confederate General John Hunt Morgan from an Ohio prison on November 27, 1863.  After his surrender following his Great Raid through Indiana and Ohio in June-July 1863, go here to read about it, Morgan and  his officers were sent to the Ohio state penitentiary due to overcrowding in prisoner of war camps in Ohio.

At the prison the Confederates were housed in the newly constructed East Hall with a partition being constructed to separate the prisoners of war from the criminals.  Eventually 68 Confederates would be housed there.  The Confederates were not required to wear prison uniforms and allowed to receive packages.  Morgan was determined to escape from the outset of his captivity.  When he heard that his pregnant wife was ill he redoubled his efforts to find some way out.

Opportunity dawned with a decision on November 3 that the Federal government would assume responsibility for the Confederates.  No longer would their cells be cleaned, and inspected, by a prison guard each day.  The Confederates learned from a prisoner about a ventilation chamber under the ground floor cells.