author
Basil Wilson Duke
1838–1916
Remembered as a lawyer, soldier, and writer, he became one of the best-known chroniclers of the Confederate cavalry campaigns he had lived through. His life spans the battlefield, the courtroom, and the long afterlife of Civil War memory.
2 Audiobooks
Famous Adventures and Prison Escapes of the Civil War
by Basil Wilson Duke, Thomas Henry Hines, Frank E. Moran, William Pittenger, A. E. (Adolphus Edwards) Richards, W. H. (William Henry) Shelton, Orlando B. Willcox, John Taylor Wood
History of Morgan's Cavalry
by Basil Wilson Duke
About the author
Born in Georgetown, Kentucky, in 1838, Basil Wilson Duke studied at Georgetown College, Centre College, and Transylvania University before beginning a law career. During the Civil War, he served in the Confederate army and became closely associated with John Hunt Morgan, his brother-in-law, eventually rising to the rank of brigadier general.
After the war, Duke returned to legal and public life and also built a strong reputation as a writer and historian. He wrote about Morgan's command and the war years from firsthand experience, which made his books and reminiscences especially influential for later readers interested in the Confederate side of the conflict.
He died in New York City in 1916, but his name remained closely tied to Kentucky history and to Civil War memory. For audiobook listeners, he stands out as a figure whose writings mix personal witness, military storytelling, and the perspective of someone who helped shape how that era was later remembered.