K
Kentucky Kache
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To the Confederates, Gen. John H. Morgan was a cavalry hero and a reckless daredevil who rode bravely at the head of his forces. In Union eyes, he was a guerrilla bandit who plundered peaceful villages. In July of 1863, Gen. Bragg ordered Morgan to disrupt rear line communications in Kentucky and attack Louisville, if possible. Bragg explicitly instructed Morgan not to cross the Ohio River. Morgan immediately disregarded his orders and seized a couple of Union packet boats at Brandenberg. When his 2,400-man force was safely across the Ohio, Morgan burned the boats and began a reign of terror along the northern bank of the Ohio River which eventually took him up behind Cincinnati and deep into Ohio.
By this time more than 50,000 Federal troops were converging on his raiders, so Morgan circled back towards the fords between Middleport and Pomeroy, Ohio, where he intended to cross back into Kentucky. About the time that Morgan’s forces were lining up along the river bank near Eight Mile Island, the Union tow boat Condor, out of Marietta, which had been made up to look like a gunboat and filled with two companies of Union troops, rounded the bend in the river. Morgan was completely taken in by the gunboat ruse and withdrew his forces up towards Bluffington Island off Ravenwood, West Virginia, where 700 of them were captured in a Union trap.
Large amounts of stolen plunder were allegedly hidden near the banks of the Ohio at both locations as the raiders became more and more desperate to escape the Union dragnet. From Bluffington Island, Morgan and his remaining troops turned north along the Ohio towards Lisbon where Gen. Morgan was captured near West Point on July 26. His 2,400-man force had been reduced to a 300-man remnant. The night before his capture, Morgan allegedly buried 5,000 in gold coins extorted from mill owners in Indiana somewhere between West Point and East Liverpool.
Around 1905, an elderly gentleman who claimed to have been a member of Gen. John H. Morgan’s forces appeared at the Hansaker farm on Sanner Road in Starr Township in Hocking County. According to the old veteran, a party of raiders he had been riding with on Morgan’s 1863 foray into Kentucky and Ohio had buried an iron pot full of stolen gold coins, jewelry, and other valuables in the area as they headed for Nelsonville in an effort to shake the Federal pursuit that dogged them. The old vet did a lot of searching in the vicinity of Oil Well and Berry Hollows, but he never did locate the cache.
All along the line of Gen. Morgan’s 1863 advance through Ohio, panic traveled faster than horses. Tom Felton, who owned a farm about a mile south of McArthur in Vinton County, heard the night riders proclaiming that Morgan’s raiders were on their way and resolved to protect his family’s wealth from the plunderers. In the dark of night he placed $200 in gold coins and his wife’s best silverware in an iron pot, which he buried for safekeeping. He needn’t have bothered; Morgan’s cavalry passed him by and, when the panic subsided, Felton sought to retrieve his wealth. The only trouble was, he couldn’t remember exactly where he had buried it. And though he searched for a long time, Felton never did relocate the pot. As far as I know, it is still unaccounted for today.
Two places that John Morgan’s raiders did not pass by were the villages of Piketon and Jasper in Pike County. The guerrillas did considerable looting in both places and are thought to have buried the heavier stolen items close to the scene of the crime. In addition, many of the townspeople and residents of the surrounding countryside had experiences similar to that of Tom Felton in Vincent County. They cached their valuables during the chaos generated by the invasion and were unable to relocate them when the excitement died down.
By this time more than 50,000 Federal troops were converging on his raiders, so Morgan circled back towards the fords between Middleport and Pomeroy, Ohio, where he intended to cross back into Kentucky. About the time that Morgan’s forces were lining up along the river bank near Eight Mile Island, the Union tow boat Condor, out of Marietta, which had been made up to look like a gunboat and filled with two companies of Union troops, rounded the bend in the river. Morgan was completely taken in by the gunboat ruse and withdrew his forces up towards Bluffington Island off Ravenwood, West Virginia, where 700 of them were captured in a Union trap.
Large amounts of stolen plunder were allegedly hidden near the banks of the Ohio at both locations as the raiders became more and more desperate to escape the Union dragnet. From Bluffington Island, Morgan and his remaining troops turned north along the Ohio towards Lisbon where Gen. Morgan was captured near West Point on July 26. His 2,400-man force had been reduced to a 300-man remnant. The night before his capture, Morgan allegedly buried 5,000 in gold coins extorted from mill owners in Indiana somewhere between West Point and East Liverpool.
Around 1905, an elderly gentleman who claimed to have been a member of Gen. John H. Morgan’s forces appeared at the Hansaker farm on Sanner Road in Starr Township in Hocking County. According to the old veteran, a party of raiders he had been riding with on Morgan’s 1863 foray into Kentucky and Ohio had buried an iron pot full of stolen gold coins, jewelry, and other valuables in the area as they headed for Nelsonville in an effort to shake the Federal pursuit that dogged them. The old vet did a lot of searching in the vicinity of Oil Well and Berry Hollows, but he never did locate the cache.
All along the line of Gen. Morgan’s 1863 advance through Ohio, panic traveled faster than horses. Tom Felton, who owned a farm about a mile south of McArthur in Vinton County, heard the night riders proclaiming that Morgan’s raiders were on their way and resolved to protect his family’s wealth from the plunderers. In the dark of night he placed $200 in gold coins and his wife’s best silverware in an iron pot, which he buried for safekeeping. He needn’t have bothered; Morgan’s cavalry passed him by and, when the panic subsided, Felton sought to retrieve his wealth. The only trouble was, he couldn’t remember exactly where he had buried it. And though he searched for a long time, Felton never did relocate the pot. As far as I know, it is still unaccounted for today.
Two places that John Morgan’s raiders did not pass by were the villages of Piketon and Jasper in Pike County. The guerrillas did considerable looting in both places and are thought to have buried the heavier stolen items close to the scene of the crime. In addition, many of the townspeople and residents of the surrounding countryside had experiences similar to that of Tom Felton in Vincent County. They cached their valuables during the chaos generated by the invasion and were unable to relocate them when the excitement died down.
