Derby is an unincorporated community along the Ohio River in far southern Union Township, Perry County, Indiana.
Derby in Southern Victory[]
In 1943 General Irving Morrell secretly concentrated his forces between Magnet and Derby prior to forcing a crossing of the Ohio River into Kentucky. He fooled the Confederates into believing the attack would occur elsewhere by moving empty trucks back and forth between large camps of empty tents with inflatable barrels and wooden cannons deployed further east. He also lay on a heavy barrage on Covington, Kentucky and Louisville just prior to the real invasion. In this deception Morrell was successful leading to the U.S. invasion of Kentucky.
Prior to the invasion, Morrell made his headquarters in Derby.
