Ohio History Journal

MAJOR GEORGE W. RUE, THE CAPTOR OF GENERAL

JOHN MORGAN

 

By WILLIAM MARION MILLER

 

Few persons, even those whose formal education ended with

elementary schooling, are unaware of the name and deeds of Gen-

eral John Morgan, the famous Confederate raider of Civil War

days; practically no one, even teachers of history in colleges and

universities knows the name of the man to whom he surrendered

near East Liverpool, Ohio, on a hot July afternoon in 1863. The

reason is not hard to explain: his captor dropped out of the army

and consequently out of sight shortly after his one outstanding

military feat. In fact, he was practically recalled from oblivion,

and then by mere coincidence, to take part in the ceremonies at-

tendant upon the dedication of the Morgan surrender monument

near East Liverpool.¹ Shortly after this notable event in his life

he died quietly at his home in Hamilton, Ohio.

Major George W. Rue, the officer to whom Morgan surren-

dered, was a great-uncle by marriage of the author of this article,

who well remembers listening to the old soldier's stories of military

life, the favorite of which was that of Morgan's capture. He is

remembered as a fine Christian gentleman, modest, unassuming

and uncomplaining even in adversities of fortune. He left, to the

best of my knowledge, but one written record of his life--other

than a few legal documents of no great value to a biographer--the

speech at the dedication. The material here presented is what I

have garnered from his speech at East Liverpool, Ohio, newspaper

accounts of his death, family records, communications with sur-

viving relatives, records of the War Department, and from people

who knew him in life, few of whom are now alive. Allowing for

lapses of memory and discounting over-enthusiastic statements and

1 For an account of this ceremony and Major George W. Rue's address see

Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly, XX (1911), 368-77. A much more

detailed account of this is given in J. H. and V. D. S. Simms, Last Night and Last

Day of John Morgan's Raid (East Liverpool, 0., 1913).

(130)

• 1
 

MAJOR GEORGE W. RUE: MILLER              131

 

family pride, there seems to be a general agreement that Rue was

not eminently successful as a business man, but modest and faith-

ful to the last to his firm-fixed ideals of a Christian gentleman.

Self-aggrandizement and love of personal gain surely did not oc-

cupy a large place in his life; perhaps this explains the oblivion,

about which he appeared totally unconcerned, into which he fell

almost immediately after his capture of Morgan and from which

he was drawn for a brief moment a few months before his death

in 1911.

Rue was of French extraction. The earliest record of his

immediate family brought to light is that of his father, Captain

Jonathan Rue (formerly LaRue) who was born near Freehold,

New Jersey, October 7, 1787. On June 24, 1812, in the city of

his wife's birth, he married Cynthia Boice, who was born in New

Brunswick, New Jersey, February 8, 1787. Jonathan Rue was a

captain of artillery on Long Island during the War of 1812, in

which he apparently served with some honor. Shortly after the

War of 1812, Rue and his wife emigrated to near Harrodsburg,

Kentucky, where they settled and reared a family of eight chil-

dren, the fifth of which was George Washington Rue. Many de-

scendants of this family remain in Kentucky, and it is to one of

them, Mr. L. E. Rue, of Danville, that the author is in no small

measure indebted for some of the material used in this article.

George W. Rue received an ordinary common school educa-

tion and was engaged in farming at the outbreak of the Mexican

War. Then eighteen years of age (he was born near Harrods-

burg on July 8,2 1828), he enlisted on May 19, 1846, according to

the War Department records, but was not mustered into service

until June 9, when he became a private in the company of a Cap-

tain Thompson, 2nd Kentucky Infantry. Rue has stated that he

served under General Zachary Taylor and took part in the Battle

of Buena Vista. Still a private, he was mustered out of service on

June 8, 1847, at New Orleans, Louisiana.

The next fifteen years of Rue's life are somewhat of a blank.

Apparently he was a farmer during this period; the only recorded

2 The newspaper account (Republican News, Hamilton, Ohio) of his death gives

June 8, but the author prefers the family record of July 8.

• 2
 

132   OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

event was his marriage to Elizabeth Brower in December, 1853.

She lived but a year, dying in December, 1854. Concerning her,

thus far, nothing has been discovered save the date of her death.

Apparently he came to Butler County, Ohio, shortly after his

wife's death, for the next positive statement concerning him is his

marriage to Amanda Kline of Butler County in 1855. Four chil-

dren--two sons and two daughters--were born of this marriage,

but all of them are now dead, three of them having died in less

than a year (1884-1885). The last child, Mary, died about fifteen

years ago in Chicago, Illinois. She was an artist of some ability,

and had never married.

Rue apparently engaged in farming following his second mar-

riage, and was busy rearing his family at the time of the Civil

War. He must have felt the urge to become a soldier again, or

have had some other inducement even at the expense of leaving

his family, for the next official record, that of the War Depart-

ment Files, shows him, then thirty-four years old, being mustered

into service as Major, Ninth Kentucky Cavalry, which, according

to his own statement, he organized, on August 22, 1862, and being

mustered out (honorably discharged) September 11, 1863, "to date

August 26, 1863, as Major."³ His year of service had been spent

in pursuit of John Morgan, and was climaxed with his capture.

He claims, in his address at East Liverpool, to have "chased him

out of the state [Kentucky]" six times before the raid into Ohio.

Of this there is no documentary proof other than the statement.

The author has not discovered why he returned to Kentucky to

enlist; possibly he thought he could raise a company there more

easily and attain the rank he bore.

This is not an attempt to give a history of Morgan's Raid into

Ohio; it has been done many times before, and Rue's own account

of the capture is easily available. Probably the reasons for his

failure to achieve greater fame for his exploit were that he had

been detached from his regular command at the time of the cap-

ture, and also that he immediately turned his prisoner over to his

immediate superior, General James M. Shackleford. War De-

3 U. S. War Records Office.

• 3
 

MAJOR GEORGE W. RUE: MILLER              133

 

partment records, however, state that seventy-five men of his own

command were with him at the time of the capture, but the bulk

of his force was from other regiments, including some United

States Regulars.

On leaving the military service, Rue returned to Butler

County, engaged in farming, contracting, and, so at least one un-

verified report states, in the farm implement business. There is

every evidence that, though a hard worker, honest and upright, he

attained no great financial gains in any of his pursuits. It is said

that he was too trustworthy and too kindly inclined towards his

fellow man to amass any considerable fortune. There is no reason

to doubt this statement.

Six years after the death of his second wife on December 14,

1889, he married my great-aunt, Mrs. Mettie M. Seward (n??e

Miller), of Butler County. Rue was then sixty-seven years old,

but he continued to work at various pursuits suitable to a man of

his age--selling insurance and books, which work he kept up until

a few weeks before his death in Hamilton, Ohio, on April 3, 1911,

after an illness of three weeks, at the age of eighty-three years.

The invitation to take part in the ceremonies at East Liverpool was

the high spot of his life, standing next in importance to his capture

of Morgan. He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Hamilton,

Ohio, beside his second wife. A simple stone, bearing his name

and the name of his regiment, marks his grave.

Major George W. Rue was a large, powerful man, even in his

declining years. His erect carriage and soldierly bearing in his

advanced years are clearly remembered. He was a devout Pres-

byterian and a faithful attendant at the services of his church.

For many years--as late as 1909 or 1910--he conducted a sort

of mission Sunday-school for poor children in a building near his

home on North IIth Street in Hamilton, entirely out of his own

rather meager resources. Some may have criticized him for prod-

igalities of this sort, but surely no one ever accused him of a

misdeed or an ungenerous act.

Little financial reward or renown came to Rue for his part in

two wars. He received a rather small pension for some years,

• 4
 

134   OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

which was continued to his widow during her lifetime (she died in

May, 1927). He did not seem to care in the slightest about the

general public ignorance of his life and services, nor did he ever

make, as far as can be discovered, any attempt to get into the

public eye.⁴ He was deeply flattered at the invitation to go to

East Liverpool and carried himself there with the unassuming

modesty and dignity that characterized his whole life.

Rue's most cherished possessions were two fine swords--one

given him by his regiment, the other received from General Mor-

gan in token of surrender. The former is in the possession of

Mrs. Katherine Seward, of Dayton, Ohio, but the latter has ap-

parently dropped from sight in the last thirty years. It is thought

to have been given after his death to some of his Kentucky rel-

atives, but there is no proof of this. A pistol is also left of his

personal possessions, but little else remains, except the memory of

a kindly Christian gentleman who met with bravery and modesty

both the battles of war and the battles of life, secure and serene

in his belief that he had done both well, and caring not at all for

glory. Had he been more aggressive in life, he would doubtless

have been better known to history, but perhaps his ideals of char-

acter and nobility would have undergone a change that would have

adversely affected those with whom he came in contact; to Major

George W. Rue this would have spelled failure in the life he wished

to lead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4 Major Rue's only fraternal connection, as far as can be discovered, was his

membership in the G. A. R. post at Hamilton. Ohio.

• 5