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"The Honeymoon Ball of General John Hunt Morgan" is Falcon Rest's newest group entertainment. An interactive show in the spirit of the popular "Murder at the Mansion," it is based on real historical events here in McMinnville, Tenn., during the Civil War.

The show takes place at a banquet and ball, given by local poetess Lucy Virginia French, welcoming the celebrated Confederate general and his new bride to McMinnville. The festivities are interrupted with the April 1863 invasion of Federal troops attempting to capture them.

The story is based on entries from Virginia French's Civil War diary and three other local first-person accounts. Falcon Rest's actors portray Virginia and Morgan, but audience members themselves are the stars of the show. As in Falcon Rest's popular "Murder at the Mansion," guests are given information about their characters but no lines to remember. With no pressure to participate, they're free to interact as much or as little as they like in character.

Audience members with two left feet don't have to worry, either.
The setting is a ball, but this is a show -- not a dance -- and no one will be called on to waltz. Period costumes are welcome but entirely optional. (Warn us if you'll be wearing a hoop skirt!) Casual dress is fine as long as it has the right accessories: a sense of humor and a good imagination.

Even in the midst of a war, the Morgans' days in McMinnville were happy ones, so the show weaves humor in with history. A delicious meal is included, inspired by Virginia French's description of the menu for the ball in her famous diary.

A performance can be scheduled any time at your convenience for a group or 20 or more. (We'll bring the Civil War to life at breakfast, lunch or dinner, seven days a week.) Call 931-668-4444 or e-mail for information or to make reservations.

Who was John Hunt Morgan?

A dashing Confederate cavalry officer from Kentucky, John Hunt Morgan was famous on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line for lightning raids against Union supplies and forces that earned him the nicknames, "Thunderbolt of the Confederacy" and "Swamp Fox of the South." In mid-1863, he began a raid that would take his troops into Indiana and Ohio, farther north than any other Confederate force would advance during the Civil War.

His happiest days during the war were probably spent here in McMinnville. Morgan was promoted to Brigadier General in December 1862 in Murfreesboro, and the next day the 37-year-old general married 21-year-old Mattie Ready of that city. When Federal troops took over Murfreesboro a few weeks after the wedding, Morgan and his young bride took up residence at the downtown McMinnville home of her relative, Dr. J.B. Armstrong.

During an idyllic three months of relative calm, the young couple enjoyed riding in Warren County's mountains and visiting with the locals, most notably famous poetess Lucy Virginia French and her husband John. Virginia even threw a ball that winter to welcome the Morgans to town.

The honeymoon ended in mid-April 1863 when Union troops invaded McMinnville to capture the elusive Morgan. He and Mattie managed to escape, but the town remained under Union control throughout the rest of the war. Thereafter, Morgan's Raiders started their sweep through Union territory, possibly conceived during his stay in McMinnville. It was designed to divert Federal troops in Tennessee, enlist recruits in Kentucky, and take the war to the North in an effort to erode the citizens' will to continue. In 24 days, Morgan passed through 52 towns in Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio, captured nearly 6,000 prisoners, and damaged 10 million dollars worth of public property before being captured.

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