Before noon on July 13, 1863, more than 2,000 Confederate horsemen under Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan crossed the covered bridge over the Whitewater River southwest of Harrison, leading four cannon and a wagon train filled with spoils of war. Morgan, known as the "Rebel Raider," had invaded Ohio after racing through Indiana and brought the war to the Northern home front while heavy fighting continued at Gettysburg and Vicksburg. As his battle-scarred troopers rode down Market and Broadway, they searched the town for horses, feed, provisions, saddles, bridles, halters, and boots; some also looted money, tobacco, liquor, and keepsakes including ribbons, dresses, veils, skates, a birdcage with canaries, bolts of calico and silk, and even women's hats stacked on one rider's head. Though exhausted, the raiders did not rest that night because nearly 10,000 Union soldiers waited in southwest Ohio and Brigadier General Edward Hobson with 2,500 Union cavalry followed less than a five-hour ride behind. Morgan planned to deceive the enemy into expecting an attack on Cincinnati or Hamilton so his force could slip past those strongholds during the night, a decision that led to the longest lasting nonstop march of a cavalry division in U.S. history. In crossing Ohio, Morgan's mission was to occupy as many Union troops as possible, and Major General Ambrose Burnside, commander of the Department of the Ohio, found stopping him far harder than expected.