On Tuesday, July 7, 1863, the first units of General Morgan’s cavalry command arrived at Brandenburg, Kentucky, on a mission to capture boats for ferrying Morgan’s two thousand men across the 800-1,000-yard-wide Ohio River into Indiana. Two steamboats were promptly seized, the J.T. McCombs, a mail boat, and the Alice Dean, a passenger boat. In the early morning of July 8, Morgan arrived at Brandenburg with the main body of his command. As the ferrying operation began, artillery shells fired by the Indiana Home Guard struck the Kentucky shore, and Morgan ordered two regiments to board the captured steamers and quickly cross the Ohio. The first raiders landed on Indiana soil at Morvin’s Landing, and others followed as the sporadic cannon fire ceased with little damage done. Union gunboats approached but were driven back by Morgan’s artillery fire. By midnight, all of Morgan’s men and horses had crossed. The Alice Dean was burned, but the J.T. McCombs was left unharmed because its captain was a friend of one of Morgan’s officers. The pursuing four thousand Union troops of General Edward Hobson completed the crossing of the Ohio River twenty-six hours behind Morgan, at 2 a.m. on July 10.