CDV SHOWS Duke in civilian clothes, probably before the war.

Contrast and clarity are excellent. Paper and mount have light surface dirt. Photo has a faint vertical fold crease visible more from the reverse than the front.

Reverse is blank except for a period pencil ID of “BASIL DUKE” with some collector information at bottom in pencil.

From the collection of the late William A. Turner.

Basil Duke was born on May 28, 1838 in Scott County, Kentucky. Orphaned at a young age, Duke attended Georgetown College from 1853-1854 and Centre College from 1854-1855 before studying law at Lexington, Kentucky’s Transylvania University from which he graduated in 1858. After graduating he moved to St. Louis, Missouri to practice with his cousin.

At the start of the Civil War Duke was a captain in the Missouri Militia and was commissioned by the governor of that State to go to Montgomery, Ala., and obtain arms from the Confederate government.

In July, 1861, Duke became lieutenant-colonel of the Second Kentucky cavalry, and in December of the same year was commissioned colonel of that regiment.  His military movements were intimately connected with those of John H. Morgan, the senior colonel and afterward brigadier-general of a famous body of cavalry.

During 1862, when Bragg was getting ready for his march into Kentucky, the cavalry of Morgan was busy in Tennessee dispersing and capturing detached Federal garrisons.  On the 28th of August, when Bragg crossed the Tennessee at Chattanooga and pushed northward, Kirby Smith, who was already in Kentucky, ordered Morgan to join him at Lexington in the blue grass region.

Morgan entered that State, and with part of his command marched to the assistance of Marshall in the mountains of eastern Kentucky, while Duke with the balance of the command was to march toward the Ohio river.  In obeying these orders, Colonel Duke defeated two small steamers and captured the town of Augusta, taking between 300 and 400 prisoners.

On the retreat from Kentucky, Morgan's command again moved into the rear of Buell, capturing hundreds of prisoners and some richly-laden wagon trains.  Morgan's loss during the whole campaign in killed and wounded was not more than one hundred.  He had entered Kentucky 900 strong.  His command when he returned to Tennessee numbered nearly 2,000.  Over 1,200 prisoners had been taken by the cavalry.

Just before the battle of Murfreesboro Duke assisted in the defeat of a Federal brigade at Hartsville, Tenn., in which the Union loss was 2,096 and the Confederate 139 in all. The Union commander, Colonel Moore, was one of the 1,834 prisoners taken on this occasion.

When Bragg was preparing to fall back from Tullahoma in the summer of 1863, Morgan made his celebrated raid into Ohio. In this expedition Colonel Duke was his righthand man.  But Morgan and Duke with sixty-eight other officers were captured. Morgan made his escape from the Ohio penitentiary where they were confined, and Duke was afterward exchanged.

In southwest Virginia these officers assisted in defeating Averell's attempt upon the salt works, and then by a raid into Kentucky delayed for several months another intended Federal attack.  This compensated in some measure the disastrous losses of this last raid into Kentucky.

When Morgan was killed on the 4th of September, 1864, Colonel Duke succeeded to the command of the brigade, being commissioned brigadier-general on the 15th of September.  In April, 1865, after hearing of the surrender of Lee, General Duke hastened with his command to join Gen. Joe Johnston in North Carolina.  These soldiers formed, after the capitulation of Johnston's army, Mr. Davis' escort to Georgia.

After the cessation of hostilities General Duke went back to Kentucky and made his home in Louisville. He authored a book titled “A HISTORY OF MORGAN’S CAVALRY” and was active in the law and Kentucky affairs.

He died in New York City on September 16, 1916 and is buried in The Lexington Cemetery in Lexington, Kentucky.  [ad] [ph:L]

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