The second night of the Morgan’s Raid camped out in a field 16 miles south of Salem, the hardest hit of all the towns during Morgan’s travels through Indiana.

Downtown Salem today is a pretty place. The Washington County Courthouse, a combination of Gothic and Classical styles, is immense, dominating the small downtown with its 19th and 20th century commercial buildings which are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Check out the railroad tracks in Salem. It was here that Morgan’s Raiders burned down the train depot. Indeed, railroads and telegraph lines were the biggest targets, disrupting supplies and communications.

While in Salem, visit the Depot Railroad Museum which showcases Salem’s 125 years of railroad history. The depot is part of the John Hay Center, built in honor of John Milton Hay who was personal secretary to Abraham Lincoln and the U.S. Secretary of State under Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt.