Commemoration of assault on Frankfort
scheduled June 7 at Leslie Morris Park

On June 10, 1864, Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan led his men into a skirmish atop Frankfort’s Fort Hill where Kentucky Gov. Thomas Bramlette and approximately 40 volunteers opposed them.

The next morning, the Confederates resumed their action below the hill, but eventually gave up and left, leaving Frankfort relatively unscathed.

The primary defense for Bramlette, also a colonel in the 3rd Kentucky Infantry, and his men was an earthen fort at the time known as Fort Boone. From this high point, they were able to keep Morgan’s men from winning the first day. They drove Morgan’s men off the second day as they fired their artillery at them across the Kentucky River.

Today, the fort, along with a second earth and stone fort built two months after the attack, are situated within Leslie W. Morris Park.

On June 7, the 124-acre park will be the scene of a re-enactment of the Morgan assault as part of a full day program of commemoration.

Guided tours, living history exhibits, a speakers program and an artillery salute are included in festivities that begin at 10 a.m. and continue through 5 p.m. Admission is free for the event that’s sponsored by the City of Frankfort Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Sites.

Living history stations include the Sullivan House Interpretive Center, topographical engineers, the 6th Kentucky Confederate Cavalry, the 36th Enrolled Militia and Fort Boone.

The speakers program begins at noon with Dr. James Klotter focusing on “The Politics of Kentucky Leading up to the War.” Klotter is Kentucky’s State Historian and history professor at Georgetown College.

Other speakers include author/historian James Prichard, “Frankfort and the Civil War”; Northern Kentucky University history professor Dr. James Ramage, “John Hunt Morgan’s 1864 Raid”; and African American Studies professor Dr. Allicetyne Turley, “Slavery and the Emancipation Proclamation in Kentucky.”

A commemorative historical marker also will be unveiled.

Public parking for the event will be available at the Ash Building on Reilly Road and city bus shuttles are scheduled from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Additional information is available by calling the Capital City Museum at 502-696-0607.