A Night in a Hotel

A Night in a Hotel. John Hunt Morgan Heritage Trail. About dusk on July 10, 1863, Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan and his men rode into Lexington, then the county seat of Scott County. The raiders had ridden approximately 45 miles since camping the previous night in the Palmyra area. Lexington was occupied without opposition. The county's three Home Guard companies had been ordered to Jeffersonville to protect the U.S. Government warehouses., Morgan and his staff spent the night in the Faris Hotel, which faced the courthouse on the square (where the elementary school now stands). A few of Morgan's men camped on the courthouse ground but the larger part of the 2,000 man division camped northeast of town., Before leaving Lexington at 11 a.m. on July 11th, the Raiders looted the town's three general stores of men's clothing and shoes. The Post Office was robbed of all cash and stamps. Dwellings were plundered., Ironically, on July 11, Union General Edward H. Hobson spent the night in the Faris Hotel, the same place Confederate General Morgan had occupied the night before.