The recent finding of a Civil War cannonball has one Olive Hill couple wondering how it might tie into the history of Carter County.
Bob and Shirley Buckler discovered the relic July 2 while Mr. Buckler was tilling the garden.
Once they discovered the cannonball was not dangerous, Mrs. Buckler began searching for answers as to how it might have ended on their property.
“History tells that Gen. John Hunt Morgan and his Confederate guerrilla group Morgan’s Raiders came through the town in the late 1800s and burned Olive Hill to the ground,” Mrs. Buckler commented. “Wouldn’t it be great to actually find out that the cannonball is a part of that piece of history?”
During a bit of research it was discovered that Morgan did take two regiments on a raid through Kentucky from July 4 to Aug. 1, 1862. And how ironic is it that the Buckler’s discovered their cannonball July 3 – 146 years later?
During the Civil War, Morgan approached Olive Hill – which at the time was located in the area of Subway and McDonalds – from the east when his raiders were fired upon from ambush by a small band of home guards. Morgan’s men returned fire and several volleys were exchanged. The home guards, greatly outnumbered, soon fled and there were no casualties. While passing on through the town, Morgan’s men raised their hats to salute the wife of Unionist Capt. James Scott.
After setting up camp at Flannery Bottom just west of Olive Hill, Morgan remained angry about the ambush and ordered his men back to Olive Hill. The town was burned to the ground in what was then known at Flannery Bottom, west of town.
Jeff Williams, grandfather of R.T. Kennard, was a scout for Morgan on this raid and was among those who watched the village burn.
Mrs. Buckler said she plans to continue searching history in hopes that more information might surface about she and her husband’s cannonball.
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