Word: swiggett
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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Partly because he was told in his youth that General John Hunt Morgan, most famed of Confederate cavalry raiders, was a villain, Biographer Swiggett was convinced he was a hero. After long study of the documents in the case, he is not so sure. This biography of one of the most controversial figures of the Civil War will not end the controversy but it does throw some light on another murky corner of U. S. history...
...Civil War broke, Morgan and his "terrible men" were ready. Morgan was a regular officer, and took orders (when he felt like it) from his superiors, but the North persisted in regarding him as an irregular, capable of every atrocity from horse-stealing to killing the wounded. Biographer Swiggett says Morgan obeyed the rules of civilized warfare, but admits his men were fond of ambushing Federal pickets, of suddenly displaying a flag of truce to get themselves out of a tight corner. Braxton West Pointer, who was Morgan's nominal commander, disliked him, disapproved of his aims and methods...