Date: 08-29-2016
Civil War reenactors to host annual ride through Prestonsburg
Floyd County Chronicle
The Friends of Middle Creek released its schedule for the upcoming Battle of Middle Creek reenactment and the annual ride that Civil War reenactors will host in Prestonsburg on Sept. 1.
Reenactors portraying Gen. and Mrs. John Hunt Morgan will travel through the city of Prestonsburg beginning at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 1, to promote the Battle of Middlecreek, which will be held the second weekend of September.
General Morgan will be arriving on his horse while Mrs. Morgan will shop and visit friends on foot, not having brought her side-saddle from Tennessee, a press release from the Friends of Middle Creek said.
John Hunt Morgan was active in both Floyd and Magoffin counties throughout the Civil War, using the shelter of families sympathetic to the confederacy to conduct espionage and to travel in and out of Southwestern Virginia before and after daring gruella raids into Northern territory.
His last Civil War visit to Prestonsburg was after his disastrous defeat at the Second Battle of Cynthiana in June, 1864 at the hands of Kentucky’s soon-to-be military governor, Stephen Burbridge (Commander of Fort Beaver at Martin), when he stopped at the Garfield House (the Present site of the First Commonwealth Bank Building) to rest on the house’s porch and to drink a glass of water from the house’s well. He was being pursued by federal troops, but he once again managed to elude them and escape up Floyd County’s Rebel Trace, through the Pound Gap, and into Virginia to safety.
This Prestonsburg trip for Gen. Morgan will be a leisurely one, however, including visits with old friends in town, a special visit with children at the Floyd County Library, and the customary supper at Billy Ray’s Restaurant.
The annual Battle of Middle Creek will take place Sept. 9-11 at the Middle Creek National Battlefield, located on Rt. 114 in Prestonsburg.
