Twenty-one new entries this week in the Historical Marker Database, Civil War category. These entries stand at Civil War related sites in Alabama, Georgia, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Here is the rundown:
– A marker at the Jonathan Bass House in Leeds, Alabama relates the story of Jonathan, who left the farm to enlist in the Confederate Army in 1861. He married in December 1865 and completed a rather interesting home.
– State markers near Gray in Jones County, Georgia offer details of the town of Blountsville’s history. Sherman’s Right Wing also passed through the town. The town suffered heavily during the war and disappeared before the end of the century.
– Federal officers spared the the Masonic Temple in Saundersville, Georgia when other public buildings in the town were burned in 1864. Another marker in town advances the claim that Washington County enlisted more men for the Confederacy than any other county in Georgia.
– We have limited information and only one photo of a state marker near Santa Fe, New Mexico which discusses the place-name Cononcito. Conocito was the point where the Santa Fe Trail enters Glorietta Pass, and was the site of fighting in the Mexican-American War (1846) and the Civil War (1862).
– A small plaque on the back of the Pawling, New York war memorial honors the Civil War veterans. The main plaque on the marker lists the city’s World War I veterans.
– A marker in Brewster, New York relates the Borden Condensed Milk Company supplied products to the Federal army during the Civil War.
– A state marker in Jackson, Ohio discusses John Wesley Powell and Morgan’s Raid. Powell was a Jackson resident in his childhood. He lost an arm at Shiloh, but is famous for exploring the Grand Canyon despite of that handicap. Morgan passed through the town on July 16, 1863 during his famous raid.
– According to a state marker in Winchester, Tennessee, Franklin County voted to secede from the state in February 1861, even asking Alabama for annexation. This “mini-secession” ended when the state of Tennessee seceded from the Union. A case of ardent anti-Unionism?
– During the War, Union troops camped around Blenheim, a family farm now within the bounds of the City of Fairfax, Virginia.
– Three markers around Richmond, Virginia this week. Joseph Bryan Park served as a gathering place for militia, including during the suppression of Gabriel’s Rebellion in 1800, and as a camp site for Confederate troops. Both sides used the Emmanuel Church at Brook Hill as a hospital. The church’s cemetery includes a memorial listing 85 Confederate dead. Edward J. Warren, a farmer in Henrico County, enlisted as a private in the 34th Virginia. Warren was captured during the war, and by 1880 his property was sold to become Belmont, an estate later transformed into a country club.
– Several more markers from Beverly, West Virginia this week. Federal troops destroyed both the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches during the war, for use in nearby encampments. The Gum Hart House served as a hospital during the war. The Bushrod Crawford House served as General McClellan’s headquarters during his stay in Beverly, with a line run to the telegraph office in the nearby Adam Crawford House. According to the marker at the later house, a Union telegraph operator, so enamored with one of the family’s daughters, switched sides to serve in the Confederacy in order to win the hand of Harriet Crawford. Now that is beyond just an infatuation!