Home » Civil War exhibit in Hickman County features ‘The Horse Soldier’

Civil War exhibit in Hickman County features ‘The Horse Soldier’

On display until Nov. 1

COLUMBUS, Ky. (July 25, 2014) — “The Horse Soldier,” a special Civil War cavalry exhibit featuring rarely seen personal items belonging to Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan, will be displayed at Columbus-Belmont State Park through Nov. 1.

John Hunt Morgan
John Hunt Morgan

The special exhibit will tell the story of the “Horse Soldier” during the Civil War and highlight items used by Confederate cavalrymen, particularly those of Morgan and some of his fellow soldiers.

Among some of the items to be exhibited will be the cell door from the cell block of Morgan’s imprisonment in the Columbus, Ohio, Penitentiary in 1863; the cavalry saber he used following his escape from prison in November 1863; and a revolver presented to Morgan in 1854 by Lexington Mayor F. K. Hunt, Morgan’s uncle.

Probably the most personal item displayed is a neckerchief given to young W. B. Redmon on June 11, 1864, by Morgan after he ate breakfast cooked by the young man’s mother, on the morning of the Battle of Cynthiana.

Morgan, a successful businessman in Lexington before the war, was known as the “Thunderbolt of the Confederacy” for his daring raids as a cavalry leader. He was killed in action at Greeneville, Tennessee, in 1864.

For more information call 270-677-2327.