Tupper Plains

Tupper Plains. Another Ruse. After the Battle of Buffington Island, Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan and his remaining Confederate force of about 800 raiders turned inland from the Ohio River to escape the navy's gunboats and avoid pursuit. Union Brigadier General James M. Shackelford was at the head of a hard-riding force of about 600 cavalrymen and several hundred mounted Ohio militia. Morgan knew his pursuers were gaining on him, but he had a plan. , On the evening of July 19, 1863, in a rugged region near the head of Indian Run, Morgan gave instructions to fill a hilltop with large campfires. Union observers saw the fires and assumed the Confederates had camped for the night. After partly surrounding Morgan's camp, Shackelford rested just east of Tuppers Plains, confident that he would capture the raiders at first light. , Morgan and his men waited and then quietly slipped away under cover of darkness, riding around Tuppers Plains and their Union pursuers. When the Union troops, including the 23rd Ohio Infantry, stormed into Morgan's campsite in the morning, they found only 49 sick and wounded raiders who had stayed behind to tend the fires. Morgan had, once again, fooled his would-be captors. , Morgan Doubles Back to Cheshire , From Tuppers Plains, Morgan led his men west along the Athens-Meigs County line. They rode nonstop through Alfred and Burlingham in the early morning hours of July 20 and turned southwest, intent on reaching Eight Mile Island Ford at Cheshire. With Shackelford's troopers close behind, Morgan's men passed through Harrisonville, dispersing its local home guard and foraging its horses and goods. The raiders raced southward through Rutland to Kygerville, where Shackelford's advance caught up to Morgan's rear guard. A running fight ensued, but Morgan continued toward Cheshire in hopes of crossing the Ohio River. , [Photo caption]:Morgan devised a classic ruse to mislead his Union pursuers: filling an area with campfires to give the impression of a large camp. The Confederates stealthily rode off, heading west back into the Ohio interior and around their enemy. , Text: Edd Sharp and David L. Mowery , Illustration: Bev Kirk