The Cannonball
Christmas Raid, December 27, 1862
Gen. John Hunt Morgan's Raiders arrived in Elizabethtown on December 27, 1862, appearing on the brow of the hill that is now the City Cemetery. The main objective of the Christmas Raid was to burn two huge Louisville and Nashville Railroad trestles at Muldraugh Hill north of the town. By destroying the trestles, Morgan hoped to relive pressure on Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg's Army in Tennessee by cutting the flow of supplies to Union Gen. William S. Rosecrans' army. Before moving on Muldraugh Hill, Morgan wanted to neutralize the Union force in Elizabethtown. The Confederates placed artillery on the hill and demanded the surrender of the Union garrison. They refused and Morgan's artillery opened fire. The bombardment lasted twenty minutes; 107 rounds were fired upon the buildings in the town killing and wounding several of the soldiers who had taken refuge there.
In a 1932 paper Miss Annie Nourse explained the story of the cannonball:
She wrote:
"...Many years after (1887) a fire destroyed that entire block and the cannonball fell with the wall, I... asked... the owners of the building to give me the ball and they both kindly consented. I told the boys about it, that I would give 25 cents to the one who would find it and bring it to me. A lively scramble instantly ensued in the pile of hot bricks. I left them digging and went on home. In the afternoon a man brought it out to me and demanded $5.00 for it. I told him it was already mine. After some hesitation he decided to leave it for 50 cents which I gave him."
"Many years after... I restored it to the bank and they had it placed in the same spot, as near as possible (in the new building), where it is seen today..."
Marker is on Dixie Highway West (U.S. 31W), on the right when traveling west.
Courtesy hmdb.org
