General Edward Henry Hobson

Edward Henry Hobson was born in Greensburg, Kentucky, on July 11, 1825. Educated in the common schools of Greensburg and Danville, he worked for his father, a successful merchant in Greensburg. In 1846 he enlisted for service in the war with Mexico, serving in Company A of the 2nd Kentucky Infantry, and during the war he was promoted to 1st Lieutenant for bravery. After returning home, he went into banking in the 1850s. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted in the Union army and recruited a regiment in the Green River area that became the 13th Kentucky Infantry, with Hobson as its colonel. The regiment moved south with Gen. Don Carlos Buell and fought at the Battle of Shiloh. In November 1862, Abraham Lincoln made Hobson a brigadier general. After service in Mississippi and Tennessee, he returned to Kentucky. On July 6, 1863, he was ordered to leave Munfordville, where he had been training troops, to find Gen. John Hunt Morgan, and after a skirmish at Marrowbone, Kentucky, he pursued Morgan through Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio from July 6 to July 26, 1863. On July 26, Hobson's force defeated Morgan at Buffington Island, Ohio, ending Morgan's Great Raid into the North. On June 11, 1864, Hobson and Morgan met again at Cynthiana, Kentucky, where Hobson's outnumbered force of 900 was captured after a spirited resistance. It is said that when Morgan approached him, he smiled and said, “General, we meet again!” as Hobson handed over his pistols. Though defeated, Hobson's defense allowed Union soldiers to catch up and defeat Morgan the following day. Hobson was mustered out of service in September 1865, returned home to Greensburg to engage in business, died at a Grand Army of the Republic Reunion in Cleveland, and was buried at the family cemetery in Greensburg.

Greensburg, Kentucky · United States