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The Civil War transformed America, and my fascination with it began as a child when my Uncle Ray gave me the book, “The Civil War in Middle Tennessee,” a reprint of a series by Ed Huddleston, originally published as four separate supplements in the Nashville Banner in the early 1960s to commemorate the war’s centennial. Growing up in Nashville and spending summers in Clarksville and Dover—near Fort Donelson—I became fascinated by the region’s overlooked Civil War history. By college, that fascination had evolved into songs and eventually, my 1993 concept album John Hunt Morgan: A Southern Legend, later re-released as Morgan’s War-Song. The first two songs in this episode are from that collection.

“Asylum Raid” tells how Morgan’s men, disguised in Union uniforms, infiltrated federal troops camped on the grounds of the Tennessee Lunatic Asylum and captured more than 80 prisoners—sparking a bizarre battle watched by patients from the windows in the shadow of the asylum.

“Black Clouds Above the L&N” is the story of Morgan’s brother-in-law Basil Duke and his attacks on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, including the destruction of the Gallatin tunnels and the Muldraugh trestles, both vital supply lines for the Union Army. The irony: after the war, Duke became the railroad’s chief counsel.

“Belly of a UFO” is a tall tale inspired by a 1988 Weekly World News headline about a UFO bearing a Confederate flag. I imagined an alien sent to aid the Confederacy who loses the weapons in a moonshine-fueled card game, then spends generations hiding on Earth—until he sees the UFO headline and fears his past has caught up with him.

© 2026 David Ray Skinner/Electric Quilt Music, BMI