Morgan's Demand for Surrender

At 7:00 AM, with Union Colonel O. H. Moore's forward rifle-pit in the ravine to the left and Confederate forces on the right preparing to attack, Brig. Gen. John Hunt Morgan sent Lt. Col. Robert A. Alston, accompanied by Lt. Col. Joseph T. Tucker and Major William P. Elliott under a flag of truce to the center of the field, where they met Moore astride his horse, Lion, and delivered Morgan's demand for the immediate and unconditional surrender of the entire Federal force and the stockade near Green River Bridge. Moore replied that, it being the Fourth of July, he could not entertain surrender, and after the officers shook hands and parted with Alston's words that God only knew who might fall first, both sides returned to their lines and the fighting began immediately. Union Pvt. Henry G. Phillips of the 25th Michigan later wrote his sister that Morgan and his division had politely asked for unconditional surrender on the Fourth of July but their gallant colonel said it was too late to surrender and the boys wanted to celebrate it; Phillips died a month later. Lt. Benjamin Travis recalled that the Confederate officers then turned their horses and galloped away. Also present on the battlefield, waiting out of sight for the reply, were Brig. Gen. J. H. Morgan, Col. Basil Duke, Col. Adam R. Johnson, and Lt. Col. D. Howard Smith.

Kentucky · United States