TENNESSEE: ‘Morgan’s Men Return to Greenville’
GREENVILLE, Tenn — Exactly 150 years ago on Sept. 4, 1864, dashing, controversial Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan and his cavalrymen rode into Greeneville from the east.
It was a visit fraught with danger, for Greeneville and Greene County were predominantly Union in their sentiments.
The 1820s-era Dickson-Williams Mansion, located on North Irish Street, now has a new roof. The mansion’s 20-year-old cedar-shake shingle roof was replaced with a standing-seam metal roof. Work on the project ended Friday.
But Morgan, often a risk-taker, had come despite the danger, to have a meal and spend the night at the elegant home of local friends, Dr. Alexander Williams and his wife, Catherine Dickson Williams.
It was not his first visit to Greeneville or to the home of Dr. and Mrs. Williams. But it would prove to be his last.
By mid-morning of Sept. 4, the famed Confederate raider would have been killed in a battle he did not expect, shot dead by a Union soldier under circumstances that continue to be controversial to this day.
ANNUAL REUNIONS
Although Morgan himself did not survive the Civil War, the stories and legends surrounding his life and dramatic military career remain fresh and vital to many students of the war — and especially to the Morgan’s Men Association headquartered in Lexington, Ky., where the general lived for many years before the war, and where he is buried.
The association keeps Morgan’s memory alive and well and holds annual reunions at the time of his death.
On this 150th anniversary of his last and fatal battle, the reunion will be held here in Greeneville in about a week, a few days before the actual anniversary.
Gen. John Hunt Morgan
The dates of the event will be Friday, Aug. 29 and Saturday, Aug. 30.
SPECIAL TOUR, MEDAL
Activities planned for the special reunion will be an area Civil War tour retracing the route taken by the Union soldiers who rode into Greeneville from Bulls Gap in a rainstorm early on the morning of Sept.4, surprising Gen. Morgan and his staff at the home of the Williamses.
The home, a regionally-renowned residence at the time of the Civll War, was restored more than 15 years ago and is now known as the Dickson-Williams Mansion.
A special medal commemorating the 150th anniversary has been made, with only 60 struck. These will be on sale during the Saturday activities.
On Saturday morning, Aug. 30, at 10:30 a.m. there will be a reenactment of the death of General Morgan at the Dickson-Williams Mansion.
The public is invited to this event, according to Tim Massey, a member of the Morgan’s Men Association, who has been involved in the planning.
BODY WILL BE TAKEN TO D-W
Following the reenactment of his death in battle with Union soldiers, Morgan’s body will be taken into the mansion, just as it was 150 years ago after his death near St. James Episcopal Church and what is today the motor entrance to the General Morgan Inn.
In the house, a Civil War surgeon will simulate embalming the body, and the Ladies of the house will prepare him for transport to Abingdon, Va., where his wife was staying at the time.
As the reenactment continues, Gen. Morgan will then “lie in state” in a flag-draped coffin as soldiers stand guard.
The public will be allowed to pass through the mansion to view Morgan’s “remains” following the reenactment.
This will conclude the morning’s activities.
VIDEO, PROGRAM, BANQUET, SERVICE
At 3 p.m. Saturday the Capitol Theater will present the half-hour video about John Hunt Morgan that was recently aired by Kentucky Educational Television.
The video will be followed by Shirley Farris Jones of Murfreesboro, who will present her program “From Wife to Widow in 630 Days,” the story of Mattie Ready Morgan.
That evening the Morgan’s Men Association will hold its annual membership banquet, with Dr. James Ramage, author of Rebel Raider, as guest speaker. The book deals with Gen. Morgan.
Following the banquet a memorial service for him will be held on the grounds of the Dickson-Williams Mansion.
Dr. Jim Fields, of Greeneville, will be the speaker. The public is invited.
–greenvillesun.com
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NORTH CAROLINA: UDC Lecture Series Set
SALISURY, N.C. — The next free public lecture in the N.C. Division United Daughters of the Confederacy Sesquicentennial Lecture Series will be “1864: The Beginning of the End of the Civil War in North Carolina”.
The lecture will be held at 10 a.m. Sept. 6 in the fellowship hall of Fifth Avenue United Methodist Church, 409 S. Fifth Ave., Wilmington. Cape Fear Chapter No. 3 will be assisting the division sesquicentennial chairman, Sue Curtis of Salisbury.
The speaker will be Dr. Chris E. Fonvielle, Jr.
Fonvielle was born and raised in Wilmington. He graduated from the University of North Carolina-Wilmington and served as the last curator of the Blockade Runner Museum at Carolina Beach. He then attended graduate school, earning his master’s degree in American history at East Carolina University and his Ph.D. in Civil War studies at the University of South Carolina.
Since 1996 he has taught in the Department of History at his undergraduate alma mater. Among the books he has authored are “The Wilmington Campaign: Last Years of Departing Hope”; “Fort Anderson: Battle for Wilmington”; “Fort Fisher 1865, The Photographs of T.H. O’Sullivan”; and “Faces of Fort Fisher 1861-1864.”
The N.C. Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy Sesquicentennial Committee has sponsored lectures throughout North Carolina’s eight UDC Districts since May 2011.
Lectures have been presented in Salisbury, Greensboro, Asheville, Charlotte, Durham, Carolina Beach, Statesville, Wentworth, Rocky Mount, Fayetteville, Franklin, Pinehurst, Butner, Hickory, Concord, and Lincolnton.
Speakers have included history professors, authors, historians, a physician and an archaeologist who have focused on the Civil War in specific locations or periods, diseases, shortages, religion, politics, important people, invasion, archaeological research and Confederate memorials.
For information about future lectures visit division website at www.ncudc.org, or contact Curtis at [email protected].
—salisburypost.com
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