When the two men met, Buckner at first protested, telling Wilder that “wars are not fought this way.” Yet the more the bewildered Kentuckian contemplated it, the more irresistible he found the idea, and he personally escorted Wilder on a tour of the Confederate lines. Seeing that Bragg’s forces were just as they had been reported, Wilder surrendered the garrison at 6 a.m. on September 17.

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These events are but a few of the many fascinating occurrences that took place in Munfordville during the war. Dashing young cavalry captain John Hunt Morgan was first sworn into the Confederate Army on the steps of a church in Munfordville that is still standing, and the home of Union General Thomas J. Wood sits gracefully tucked away, surrounded by trees. Wood and Simon Buckner played along the banks of the Green River as boyhood friends, and Buckner stayed at the Wood home on many occasions. When the Civil War began, Buckner cast his lot with the Confederacy, while Wood remained loyal to the Union. After the war, the two resumed their friendship, despite the fact that they had commanded troops that were pitted against one another at Chickamauga and other battlefields.

In 1994, the Wood house was the focal point for an intriguing episode. The Hart County News Herald had previously reported that the county attorney who had his offices in the house had implied that it was haunted. When Munfordville held its annual Civil War Days in September 1994, a young girl dressed in period costume had her picture taken behind the Wood house. The temperature that day was reported to have been in the high 80s, yet the girl noticed several spots that felt “icy-cold” to her–so cold, in fact, that it made her uncomfortable, despite the heat.

When the photos were later developed, the man who shot them noticed three small clouds of fog close to the ground, exactly where the girl said she had felt the cold spots. The photographer stated that there were no flaws of any kind on any other
pictures in that roll of film. An author writing about the episode concluded that “if there truly are ghosts in the house, perhaps they looked out and saw what they perceived as familiar figures, dressed in a way they had known.”

While in Munfordville, visitors can tour the Hart County Museum, which houses a genealogy department and local artifacts of the period, as well as the Old Munfordville Inn and other area attractions. Plans are in the works to use a federal grant to restore local Civil War sites and, with the generous cooperation of three area landowners, to renovate one of the homes overlooking the battlefield to use as a visitor’s center and a bed-and-breakfast inn. Leaders hope to construct walkways over Fort Craig and across the battlefield, ending at the large granite monument to Confederate Colonel Robert Smith, which is near the railroad bridge.

Each September, Munfordvillians host annual re-enactments of the battles there. Among recent events were period concerts, movie screenings, a silent auction, a quilt show, children’s games, artillery night-firing, a parade, an authentic Civil War encampment, and other history-related activities. For more information about annual events held in the area, telephone the Hart County Historical Society (502-524-0101) and speak with Mary Branstetter.

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