This week marks the 144th anniversary of the death of Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan, which is recorded on a once-missing historical marker on West Church Street.

In case you haven't noticed, the marker is back.

The Tennessee Historical Commission marker was removed nearly a year ago from its site near the General Morgan Inn and St. James Episcopal Church.

Bob Cantler, general manager of the inn, said Thursday that the marker was returned about a month ago after a new steel post to hold it was made by Bob Everhart, the inn's director of engineering.

Everhart took the initiative to make the new steel post after efforts to order a replacement concrete post from the state had come to a standstill, according to Cantler.

The original concrete post was broken when the marker was moved by the General Morgan Inn's maintenance crew in early September 2007.

The crew was hoping to move the sign a short distance to clear the line-of-sight for drivers pulling from the General Morgan Inn's driveway onto West Church Street.

About a month ago, after the new post was complete, the crew put the marker up about a foot away from its original location and closer to the church, which will help the line-of-sight problem, Cantler said.

When the marker went missing last September, it was first noticed by Tim Massey, a local history buff and member of the Morgan's Men Association and the John Hunt Morgan Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Massey contacted The Greeneville Sun, which began an investigation that included telephone calls to many local entities and even the Tennessee Historical Commission.

Early on in the process, it was thought that the marker had been stolen because no one seemed to know its whereabouts.

As a result, word of the possible theft spread throughout the town and got back to Cantler.

Through his own investigation, Cantler discovered that his maintenance crew had attempted to move the marker, but the post broke and it was placed temporarily in the General Morgan Inn garage.

Cantler then contacted the Tennessee Historical Commission, apologized and set in motion arrangements to have the marker replaced at the inn's expense.

On Thursday, Cantler explained that the inn had ordered a new post for the marker at a cost of $300.

But, delivery of the post had been delayed, and as the anniversary of Morgan's death approached, Everhart began working on the new post.

The marker shows that the "Death of John Morgan" occurred on Sept. 4, 1864.

The marker also states, "The center of the present block was once the garden of the Williams house where Brig. Gen. John Hunt Morgan of Morgan's Raiders fame and his staff were billeted. Just after dawn a detail from Brig. Gen. Alvan C. Gillem's Federal forces slipped past Confederate outposts, surrounded the house, surprised and killed Morgan and captured his staff."

Morgan stayed at the Williams house, now called the Dickson-Williams Mansion, the night before he was killed.