Civil War Confederate Brigadier General. Born in Alabama, he first joined the military as 1st Lieutenant with the 1st Kentucky Volunteer Infantry during the Mexican War. After serving and seeing combat (unlike large numbers of volunteer commissioned officers) he became a merchant in Lexington, Kentucky, raised the Lexington Rifles Militia unit in 1857. While Kentucky did not officially secede during the Civil War he paved his way into war history by being a fierce fighter and war hero for the Confederacy, even though it was noted that he had some disdain for the advice of superior officers and frequently charged his own raids as he saw fit. After throwing his lot in with the Confederacy, he was assigned first as Captain of Morgan's Kentucky Cavalry Squadron in 1861. His command was led through central Kentucky raids and he was promoted to Colonel and commander of the 2nd Kentucky (CSA) Cavalry after the Battle of Shiloh (his rank to date from April 4, 1862). By November 1862 he was placed in command of a brigade of cavalry in the Army of Tennessee. He raided further and at one time coincided with the efforts of General Nathan Bedford Forrest which kept Union forces led by Major General Don Carlos Buell from advancing in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Having been promoted to Brigadier General, PACS on December 11, 1862, he further spent the spring of 1863 raiding in Kentucky. From that point until his end, he led brigades (and one time a division) in several Confederate Departments (ultimately commanding the Departments of East Tennessee and Southwest Virgina from June 22 to August 30, 1864). He was lauded by the Confederate Congress for his exploits and success. He continued his raiding and in violation of a direct order not to cross the Ohio River took his troops into Indiana and moved further into Ohio causing widespread Union Concern. Morgan was captured by the Union army near New Lisbon, Ohio and taken prisoner on July 26, 1863 after a 25 day raid. Nearly all under his command had been taken prisoner as well. He was held in the Ohio State Penitentiary until his escape in late November of 1863 only to resume his position and be placed in command in the Eastern Tennessee region. In a surprise attack on September 4, 1864, he was killed at Greenville, Tennesse in the garden of the house where he was sleeping the night before by a detachment of Union cavalry. He was the brother-in-law of Confederate Lieutenant General Ambrose Powell Hill, and Major General Basil W. Duke, who had hm interred in the Duke Family Plot in Lexington, Kentucky.