Morgan-Duke Family Papers, 1832-1941

Held by The Filson Historical Society 

Creator:  Morgan-Duke Family 

Title:  Papers, 1832-1941 

Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for these papers, contact the Collections Department. 

Size of Collection:  0.33 cubic feet 

Location Number:  Mss. A M847m 

Scope and Content Note 

Includes letters from family members concerning family news, activities, travels, and the Civil War; and an account book, 1848-1857, of Calvin C. Morgan containing records of the estate of his father-in-law, John Wesley Hunt. 

Added papers include letters of Basil W. Duke, John Hunt Morgan, Calvin C. Morgan, Mrs. John H. Morgan, Mrs. Lucy Jennings, and Tom Wallace relating to the Civil War and the activities of John Hunt Morgan and Basil Duke. Also included are letters of Julia Henning, ca. 1896, relating to social activities; newspaper articles and notes about the death of General Morgan; and an 1868 broadside program for the reburial of Morgan in Lexington, Ky. 

Biographical Note 

Basil Duke 

• 1838 Born in Scott County, Ky. 
• 1858 Earned a law degree from Transylvania University. 
• 1861 Joined Morgan’s cavalry unit, and was made second in command. 
• 1861 Married Henrietta Hunt Morgan, sister of John Hunt Morgan. 
• 1863-1864 Captured and held in captivity by Union forces. 
• 1864 After Morgan’s death Duke was brevetted and placed in charge of Morgan’s command. 
• 1868 Opened a law office in Louisville. 
• 1869-1870 Served in the state House of Representatives. 
• 1916 Died and was buried in Lexington Cemetery. For more information, consult the Kentucky Encyclopedia. 

John Hunt Morgan 

• 1825 Born in Huntsville, Ala. 
• 1831 Moved to Lexington, Ky. with his family. 
• 1842 Enrolled in Transylvania University. 
• 1844 Suspended from Transylvania for dueling with a fellow student. 
• 1846-1847 Fought in the war with Mexico. 
• 1861 Joined the Confederate Army. 
• 1863 Captured by Union forces near West Point, Ohio but later escaped. 
• 1864 Surprised and killed by Union forces at Greeneville, Tenn. 
• 1868 Buried in Lexington Cemetery after having been buried in Richmond, Va. 

For more information, consult the Kentucky Encyclopedia. 

Folder List 

Box 1 

1 Bill of exchange drawn by Basil Duke on Barring Brothers and Co., 1864 Oct.20.

2 Letter from Tommie Duke to her brother, Thomas.

3 Letter from Calvin C. Morgan to his sons, 1839 Feb. 27.

4 Calvin C. Morgan account book, 1848-1857.Letter to E.B. French, Auditor of the U.S. Treasury Dept., about Calvin C. Morgan’s service in the Mexican War. 

5 Notice of the appointment of Charles H. Morgan as U.S. Consul at Massena, Sicily, 1859Sept. 22. 

6 Charlton H. Morgan correspondence, 1863-1869.

7 Ellen Key Howard Morgan obituary.

8 Henrietta Morgan correspondence, 1858-1860 and n.d. 

9 Henrietta Morgan letter fragment.

10 Photograph of the birthplace of John Hunt Morgan on Franklin Street, Huntsville,Ala.,1929. 

11 Letter to John Hunt Morgan from Hattie B. James while he was held in prison.

12 Copy of Morgan’s 1862 Christmas Raid through Kentucky.

13Correspondence, 1862-1941.

14 Correspondence to Julia Duke, ca. 1896.

15 Copies of newspaper articles on the death of John Hunt Morgan and notes on this event.

16 Newspaper eulogy of Morgan by Robert Wickliffe Woolley. Broadside issued for the burial of Morgan in Lexington, 1868.Poem “A Mother’s Prayer.” 

17 Letter of Basil Duke to – Wright, 1845 June 20 (copy).

18 Baptismal certificate of Julia Churchill Blackburn Duke, 1876.Birth record of Henrietta Hunt Henning, 1898.