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ONE OF
MORGAN'S MEN
MEMOIRS OF LIEUTENANT JOHN M. PORTER OF THE NINTH KENTUCKY CAVALRY
Edited by
KENT MASTERSON BROWN
THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY
Copyright © 2011 by The University Press of Kentucky
Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth,
serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University.
All rights reserved.
Editorial and Sales Offices: The University Press of Kentucky 663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008 www.kentuckypress.com
15 14 13 12 11 5 4 3 2 1
Frontispiece: Lieutenant John Marion Porter, from an ambrotype probably taken while he was a prisoner of war. (Courtesy of Cora Jane Spiller, Bowling Green, Kentucky.)
All maps prepared by the editor.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Porter, John Marion, 1839-1884.
One of Morgan's men : memoirs of Lieutenant John M. Porter of the Ninth Kentucky Cavalry / edited by Kent Masterson Brown.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8131-2989-1 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-8131-2990-7 (ebook)
1. Porter, John Marion, 1839-1884. 2. Confederate States of America. Army. Morgan's Cavalry Division. 3. Confederate States of America. Army. Kentucky Cavalry Regiment, 9th. 4. United States—History—Civil War, 1861-1865—Personal narratives, Confederate. 5. Kentucky—History—Civil War, 1861-1865—Personal narratives, Confederate. 6. Soldiers—Kentucky—Biography. I. Brown, Kent Masterson, 1949- II. Title.
E547.M8P67 2011
973.7'82—dc22
This book is printed on acid-free recycled paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
Member of the Association of
American University Presses
To all the wonderful and generous people
who form the community known as
Apostles Anglican Church, Lexington, Kentucky,
I very proudly dedicate this book.
K.M.B.
CONTENTS
1. To the Military I Submitted Myself
2. You Have Crowned Yourselves with Glory
3. It Was Literally a Leap in the Dark
4. We Struck Out on Our Own Responsibility
5. A Perfect Tornado of Shots Was Fired at Us
6. It Was a Grand and Imposing Ovation
7. The Whiskey Was Still Abundant
8. The Fame and Glory of Morgan's Command
9. This Was a Hard-Fought Field
11. The Scene Was Ludicrous and Pitiful
12. I Was Captured for the Last Time
13. The Days Dragged Slowly By
14. With Three Days' Rations, We Started Home
ILLUSTRATIONS
FIGURES
Brigadier General Simon Bolivar Buckner
Federal troops of the Army of the Ohio on the north bank of the Green River
General Albert Sidney Johnston
Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant
Colonel Roger Weightman Hanson
The surrender flag appears on the parapet of Fort Donelson
Major General Don Carlos Buell