On July 10, 1863, shortly before noon, General Morgan entered Salem with two brigades of cavalry commanded by Colonel Basil Duke and Colonel Adam Johnson. While in Salem, the troops looted and then burned the railroad station and three railroad cars. The station stood across SR 135 on the north side of the railroad tracks. Among the items taken was a strongbox thought to contain valuables, which Duke and Johnson brought to Morgan at his headquarters at the Persise House on the southeast corner of the square. When opened, the strongbox contained only masonry tools because the station agent had earlier removed $400 from it and taken the money to his home. Morgan's headquarters stood less than 200 feet from that house. Salem suffered more devastation than any Indiana community during Morgan's Great Raid.