John Hunt Morgan Memorial, Lexington, Kentucky

John Hunt Morgan Memorial, Lexington, Kentucky

Born in 1825, John Hunt Morgan was raised in Lexington, Kentucky [1]. Morgan joined the U.S. War with Mexico alongside some of his family members as cavalry privates [2]. After joining the Confederacy, Morgan's best-known Civil War exploit was his 1863 cavalry raid into Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia where he hoped to draw Union soldiers away from their positions. The raid covered more than 1,000 miles and destroyed a great deal of property while terrorizing northern civilians. Ultimately, it was a failure and Morgan and his troops were forced to surrender. The John Hunt Morgan monument on the grounds of the Kentucky State Capitol in Lexington is a historical monument linked to the Confederacy and the Civil War [3]. But it is also linked to the Lost Cause and the Jim Crow era of racial segregation. The statue was designed by Pompeo Coppini and  erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1911 [4]. The equestrian monument is made from bronze as an image of Morgan's cavalry endeavors [5]. The monument was well received by white Kentuckians. Following the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, in October 2017 the Morgan and John C. Breckinridge monuments were moved to Lexington Cemetery after significant debate over where they should be relocated [6]. The main reasoning behind the Morgan monument's new location was that Morgan is buried in the cemetery [7].

Pompeo Coppini

1. Hartley, J. Commemorating the Civil War in Border States: The Case of John Hunt Morgan. Defining the Museum of the 21st Century, 83.

2. Isenstein, D. (2021). Tales from the Kentucky Hemp Highway. Arcadia Publishing.

3. Myers, B. A. (2018). Kentucky and the Origins of the Confederate Partisan Ranger Service. Ohio Valley History, 18(3), 26-41.

4. Ramage, J. A. (2017). Wolford's Cavalry: The Colonel, the War in the West, and the Emancipation Question in Kentucky.

5. Rigdon, J. C. (2019). Historical Sketch And Roster Of The Tennessee 9th Cavalry Regiment (Ward s). Lulu. com.

6. Bishir, Catherine W. "Memorial observances." Southern Cultures 15, no. 2 (2009): 61-85.

7. Ramage, James A. Rebel Raider: The Life of General John Hunt Morgan. University Press of Kentucky, 2014.

Zach Weisz

English

Bronze Sculture, Granite Base

HIST 402A Fall 2021

Lexington, Kentucky