HARRODSBURG, Ky. – “The Horse Solder,” a special Civil War cavalry exhibit featuring rarely seen personal items belonging to Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan, is on display at Old Fort Harrod State Park through Aug. 15.
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.
The exhibit will be open through Aug. 15, 2015. Admission to the fort includes the Morgan display. It will move to another Kentucky Civil War site, Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site from Sept. 1 through Oct. 15.
