Battle of Corydon

Battle of Corydon. . On July 9, 1863, along this wooded ridge - - - from the “Laconta” Road extending across the “Mauckport” Pike to the old “New Amsterdam” Road - - - occurred the only Civil War battle in Indiana. It was between Gen. John Hunt Morgan’s Confederate Cavalry Division and the Sixth Regiment of the Indiana Legion (The Harrison County Home Guards) under Col. Lewis Jordan., This “Battle of Corydon” was the first and only organized resistance that Morgan met in his raid through Indiana. It was one of the few battles of the Civil War fought on Northern soil., Morgan’s division entered Indiana at Morvin’s Landing, just East of the Town of Mauckport, on the afternoon of July 8, 1863. The Raiders used two captured steamboats, the J. T. McCombs and the Alice Dean to transport their forces across the Ohio River. After transporting their troops across the Ohio, the Raiders set fire to the Alice Dean and it sank at the mouth of Buck Creek near the Indiana shore. The invaders spent the night of the 8th encamped at Frakes Mill, about seven miles North of the Ohio River., On the morning of July 9th the Morgan division marched North toward Corydon, the county seat of Harrison County. Meanwhile, the Harrison County Home Guards constructed a fortification of logs, stones, and rails along this ridge and at this battle site. Behind this breastworks approximately 400 Home Guards were able to repulse several attacks by the Confederate Cavalry starting at about 11 A.M. that day. Finally the main Confederate forces assisted by artillery charged the Home Guards and at the same time flanked both ends of the Battle Line Ridge. The Home Guards were routed from their barricades and compelled to retreat. Morgan’s men shelled the Town of Corydon until Col. Lewis Jordan of the Home Guards hoisted the white flag and surrendered with 345 men., Losses: Confederates - - - 8 killed and 33 wounded - - - Home Guards 3 killed and 8 wounded., After defeating the Home Guards, at this battle site, the Morgan division occupied Corydon briefly, pausing just long enough to eat all the food local citizens had prepared for the Home Guards and to rob the county treasurer and loot some of the town’s merchants. They also placed a levy on the flour mills of the county and received some $2,000.00 as ransom for the mills. On the afternoon of July 9th Morgan’s division rode North out of Corydon, taking some 500 local horses and leaving their worn Kentucky Thoroughbreds. , The raid was to continue throughout Indiana and Ohio for seventeen more days before Gen. Morgan and the last few hundred of his troops surrendered near New Lisbon, Ohio on July 26. The entire raid route was over one thousand miles and it was the longest cavalry raid of the Civil War. , [[ Small Plaque ]]This memorial donated by Blaine H. and Geneva Wiseman. Blaine was a 27 year member of the Harrison County Park Board and a Rotarian.