September 3, 1864---Thunder --- and then Silence.

SEPTEMBER 3, 1864:      

“The Thunderbolt,” General John Hunt Morgan C.S.A. (along with John Mosby “The Gray Ghost” and Nathan Bedford Forrest “The Wizard,” one of the South’s great free-ranging cavalry leaders), is killed by Union troops in Greenville, Tennessee. When word of Morgan’s death reaches the Rebel populace, bleak despair is piled upon bleak despair.

Upon receiving word of the fall of Fort Morgan near Mobile, President Lincoln orders every gun emplacement in Washington D.C. to fire a 100 gun salute. During the celebratory cannonade, word of Sherman’s victory in Atlanta reaches Lincoln’s ears and he orders an additional citywide 100 gun salute. Near Petersburg, Grant celebrates his friend and subordinate’s victory by jocularly ordering that “live rounds be fired at the enemy . . . amidst great rejoicing.”