Proclamation! To the People of Estill and Adjoining Counties Broadside - 1862

Irvine, Kentucky. 1862. Broadside. Confederate broadside, 1pp. 6-1/2 x 9-3/4 inches, Irvine, Kentucky; September 22, 1862. Generally fine condition. Very light toning to edges; ragged top edge with several chips not affecting any text. Verso is blank. A proclamation issued by Morgan to the citizens of Estill County, Kentucky, ordering them to turn in their weapons. It reads, in full: "PROCLAMATION! To the people of Estelle [sic] and adjoining counties. The Gen. Commanding, takes this means of informing the people that he has not come among them to disturb them in the enjoyment of their rights, either of person or property. The Home Guards are required to come in at once and deliver up their arms, those who fail to do so will be regarded as enemies of the Government and treated accordingly. Those who comply will be treated as noncombatants, and private citizens. Private citizens who seek opportunity to ambush our soldiers commonly known as 'Bushwhackers' will be regarded as outlaws, and orders will be issued to shoot them wherever found. If any of our men are fired on while passing through the country, I will lay waste the entire surrounding neighborhood." Morgan had conducted his first raid (known as Morgan's Raid) in Kentucky in the summer of 1863. With a group of 900 men, he left from Knoxville and swept through Kentucky, capturing approximately 1,200 men and destroying valuable Federal supplies in only a matter of three weeks. His raid threw many of the Kentucky civilians into a panic, and his success helped launch the Confederate Heartland Offensive by Generals Bragg and Smith, who attempted to draw neutral Kentucky to the Confederacy. John Hunt Morgan was one of the Confederacy's most brilliant and aggressive cavalry commanders whose specialty was what are best described, as guerilla actions behind federal lines. Morgan served as a private in a US Cavalry regiment during the Mexican War seeing combat at Buena Vista. In September 1861, Morgan and the militia company he commanded went to Tennessee and joined the Confederate Army. Soon after, Morgan raised the 2nd Kentucky cavalry regiment, which he commanded. Commissioned as brigadier general on December 11, 1862, Morgan wreaked havoc with the supply lines of Gen. Rosecrans, scoring a notable victory at the Battle of Hartsville. Hoping to divert Federal resources from the Confederate invasion of the north in mid-1863 and the siege of the garrison at Vicksburg, Morgan set off on a campaign that would go down in the annals of Civil War history simply as "Morgan's Raid". For 46 days, they rode more than 1,000 miles, covering a region from Tennessee to northern Ohio. The raid coincided with the Vicksburg Campaign and the Gettysburg Campaign, although it was not directly related to either. However, it served to draw the attention of tens of thousands of Federal troops away from their normal duties and strike fear in the civilian population of several Northern states. Although Morgan's Second Kentucky Raid did distract the Union high command and panicked the state's citizens, Bragg was unable to achieve the dramatic victory he had hoped for. During July of the following year, Morgan, operating in conjunction with Bragg's Perryville Campaign and Robert E. Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania, took his raiders beyond the Mason Dixon line into Ohio. His command was captured and Morgan spent several month's in a Union prison before escaping in November. One year later, the famed Confederate raider was killed in a surprise attack in eastern Tennessee. This is one of several Morgan broadsides which are highly collectible and rare. According to Worldcat listings, there is no positive evidence of a press in Irvine, Kentucky at the time this broadside was printed. Perhaps a captured press was utilized. Only digital copies found in OCLC as of January 2020. ; 1 pp .