The expedition intended to divert the attention of the Union Army of the Ohio from Confederate forces in the state and possibly stir up pro-Confederate sentiments in the North.

On July 2, hoping to disrupt Union communication lines, Morgan rode into Kentucky, where sympathetic citizens openly welcomed his cavalrymen.

He and his scouts were soon identified as actually being Confederates, and, in a minor skirmish near Leavenworth, Indiana, Hines had to abandon his men as he swam across the Ohio River under gunfire.

[4][5] By now reduced to 1,800 men, Morgan's main column had arrived on the morning of July 8 at Brandenburg, Kentucky, a small town along the Ohio River, where Hines rejoined them.

[7] Governor Oliver P. Morton worked feverishly to organize Indiana's defense, calling for men to take up arms and form militia companies.

Col. Lewis Jordan took command of the 450 members of the Harrison County Home Guard (Sixth Regiment, Indiana Legion), consisting of poorly trained civilians with a motley collection of arms.

[8] Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside, commander of the Department of the Ohio with headquarters in Cincinnati, quickly organized local Federal troops and home militia to cut off Morgan's routes back to the Confederacy.

The colonel attacked, and in a short but spirited battle of less than an hour, he simultaneously outflanked both Union wings, completely routing the hapless militia.

Raiders killed a Lutheran minister, Reverend Peter Glenn, on his farm, 4 miles (6 km) from the battlefield, and stole horses from several other farmers.

[10] Morgan's soldiers then traveled east and reached Vienna on July 10, where they burned a railroad bridge and depot and tapped a telegraph line.

After spending the night in Lexington, they headed to the northeast, terrorizing the small towns along the way, including Vernon, Dupont, New Pekin, Salem, and Versailles.

[12] By the next day, such a large amount of meat in the open air had attracted flies, and the soldiers began discarding hams along the side of the road, leaving a trail for Indiana militia troops to follow as they chased Morgan and his men out of the state.

Harper's Weekly, a leading Northern newspaper, reported:[16][17] The raid of the rebel Morgan into Indiana, which he seems to be pursuing with great boldness, has thoroughly aroused the people of that State and of Ohio to a sense of their danger.

The militia is concentrating, in obedience to the order of Governor Tod.Sidestepping Burnside's forces that protected Cincinnati to the south he traveled through such northern communities as Harrison, New Baltimore, Colerain, Springdale, Glendale and Sharonville.

[16][18] Morgan continued east to the Ohio River where, just north of modern Ravenswood, West Virginia, there was a ford at Buffington Island that would allow him to cross over into that state.

[18] At the subsequent Battle of Buffington Island in Ohio, Union troops won a decisive victory and captured 1,025 of Morgan's men in total, including his brother Richard and noted cavalryman Col.

A second attempt at crossing 20 miles (32 km) upriver (opposite Belleville, West Virginia) also failed, with several of Morgan's men drowning in the swirling river as the gunboats and Union cavalry again drove off the raiders.

Col. Adam "Stovepipe" Johnson and over 300 raiders escaped into West Virginia and safety, but General Morgan remained on the Ohio side with the rest of his dwindling force.

As Morgan, with 400 remaining men, headed away from the river into the interior of southern Ohio, he paused at Nelsonville, a small town on the Hocking Canal.

[27] The general and six officers made a daring escape on November 27 by tunneling from an air shaft beneath their cells into the prison yard and scaling the walls.

[14] During his raid, Morgan and his men captured and paroled about 6,000 U.S. soldiers and militia, destroyed 34 bridges, disrupted the railroads at more than 60 places, and diverted tens of thousands of troops from other duties.

[29] He spread terror throughout the region and seized thousands of dollars worth of supplies, food, and other items from local stores, houses, and farms.

Morgan's Raid cost Ohio taxpayers nearly $600,000 in damages and over $200,000 in wages paid to the 49,357 Ohioans called up to man 587 companies of local militia.

General Bragg's retreat was unmolested by any flanking forces of the enemy, and I think that military men, who will review all the facts, will pronounce that this expedition delayed for weeks the fall of East Tennessee, and prevented the timely reinforcement of Rosecrans by troops that would otherwise have participated in the Battle of Chickamauga.

Several Northern newspapers derisively labeled Morgan's expedition as the "Calico Raid," in reference to the raiders' propensity for procuring personal goods from local stores and houses.

[35] Ohio's plans for a similar formal trail finally came to fruition in 2013, when the state erected over 600 directional markers and 56 interpretive signs commemorating the route and the important incidents of the raid.