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)
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.
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.
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,
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.