Ohio, Guernsey County, Old Washington
At mid-morning on Friday, July 24, 1863, Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan and fewer than 600 Confederate raiders approached Washington (now Old Washington) from the south.
The billowing smoke rising from nearby Campbell's Station had alerted residents of the Confederates' approach. In alarm, they removed money from the Guernsey County Bank and sent it to Wheeling. While the fear-gripped citizens took refuge in their cellars and behind locked doors, a local Presbyterian minister, William Ferguson, stood at these crossroads, waving a white handkerchief. Begging the raiders to spare the community, Ferguson was assured by Morgan that his men required only food and fresh horses.
Morgan and several officers entered the American Hotel and compelled the owner, James Smith, to provide a hot meal. The men collapsed, exhausted, in the hotel bedrooms. Many of the raiders spread out through town, looking for food or a bed, some even sleeping in the streets. One group emptied the Lawrence Store of a variety of goods.
Brigadier General James M. Shackelford and his Union cavalry arrived on the cemetery hill just south of town and began firing on Morgan's guards as the sun reached high noon. Morgan's raiders quickly mounted their tired horses and fled north toward Winterset and east along the National Road. Morgan and the remnants of his command escaped to fight another day.
(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
At mid-morning on Friday, July 24, 1863, Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan and fewer than 600 Confederate raiders approached Washington (now Old Washington) from the south.
The billowing smoke rising from nearby Campbell's Station had alerted residents of the Confederates' approach. In alarm, they removed money from the Guernsey County Bank and sent it to Wheeling. While the fear-gripped citizens took refuge in their cellars and behind locked doors, a local Presbyterian minister, William Ferguson, stood at these crossroads, waving a white handkerchief. Begging the raiders to spare the community, Ferguson was assured by Morgan that his men required only food and fresh horses.
Morgan and several officers entered the American Hotel and compelled the owner, James Smith, to provide a hot meal. The men collapsed, exhausted, in the hotel bedrooms. Many of the raiders spread out through town, looking for food or a bed, some even sleeping in the streets. One group emptied the Lawrence Store of a variety of goods.
Brigadier General James M. Shackelford and his Union cavalry arrived on the cemetery hill just south of town and began firing on Morgan's guards as the sun reached high noon. Morgan's raiders quickly mounted their tired horses and fled north toward Winterset and east along the National Road. Morgan and the remnants of his command escaped to fight another day.
(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
