David G Edwards

Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan Escapes from the Ohio Penitentiary David G Edwards

There are several lines of thought about how Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan and six of his officers escaped from the Ohio Penitentiary November28, 1863. Some feel that the accounts of digging a tunnel written by Captain Thomas Hines and Captain Lorenzo Hockersmith are correct. Some feel that a tunnel was completed but bribery was used to get supplies and make certain that prison officials looked the other way while work on the tunnel was in progress and the escape was made. Some feel that there never was a tunnel and bribe money allowed the men to just walk out the door. We are going to examine documents and reports made by the participants, Union and Confederate, involved in the escape and the investigations of the escape. By having the opportunity to read the original reports and documents you will be able to decide for yourself just what happened. You will read about the treatment General Morgan and his officers received when they arrived at the Ohio penitentiary and you will read about prison life before the escape and, for those who remained, after the escape. You will be able to read the Investigation of the escape ordered by Governor Tod, the investigation ordered by the Ohio Legislature and the investigation ordered by U. S. Secretary of War Stanton. You will be able to read the newspaper interview in which General Morgan describes the escape. You will be able to read the descriptions of the escape written by Captain Thomas Henry Hines, Captain Lorenzo Hockersmith and Captain Thomas Bullitt. You will also be able to read some of the numerous conspiracy theories that dispute the escape by tunnel story.