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The Bunker Hill House, previously the Bunker Hill Tavern, was built in stages between 1834 and 1862. The building is one of Ohio’s best representations of Federal-Greek Revival style “pike town” architecture. This architectural style is closely associated with pre-Civil War horse-powered turnpike transportation and lodging. The building was a way station for pioneers heading west and for drovers driving their animals to Cincinnati stockyards. It was also a stagecoach stop on Eastern Stage Coach Company’s Cincinnati Omnibus Line that operated daily between Cincinnati and Richmond, Indiana. Tavern operations ceased in 1858 due to decreased turnpike travel resulting from the newly completed railroad through nearby Camden. In 1862, a general store was established to supply the growing population in the area. The store closed in the early 1900s with the advent of the automobile, which made travel to larger, more distant stores viable. The Bunker Hill House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. (continued on other side)
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Port William is the birthplace of Gilbert Van Zandt, quite possibly the youngest enlistee in the Union Army during the Civil War. Born on December 20, 1851, “Little Gib” joined the ranks of Company D, 79th Ohio Volunteer Infantry at the age of ten years, seven months, and sixteen days. Barely four feet tall, Van Zandt served initially as the company’s drummer boy, and later as a courier for the regiment. Distinguished for his bravery under fire, young Gilbert saw action in the battles for Atlanta, Sherman’s March to the Sea, and the Carolina Campaign. He was discharged from service on June 9, 1865, already a seasoned veteran at thirteen. Van Zandt died in Kansas City, Missouri on October 4, 1944 at the age of ninety-two.
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On French Ridge in Richland Township, on June 5, 1863, local citizens in defiance of conscription attacked Elias Robinson, an enrolling officer of the Union Army. When Captain James Drake, the provost marshal, imprisoned the ringleaders, armed locals released them. Colonel William Wallace of the 15th Ohio Volunteer Infantry was sent to the scene with a force of 420 soldiers from Camp Chase in Columbus. On June 17, the soldiers approached the fortified camp of nearly one thousand malcontents. After firing upon the soldiers, the “rebels” scattered with only a few captured or wounded. The next morning, local Peace Democrats, led by politician Daniel P. Leadbetter, negotiated a surrender of the ringleaders. More than forty people were indicted for involvement in the rebellion, but only Lorenzo Blanchard, owner of the farm where the camp was located, was found guilty. Once this riot at “Fort Fizzle” ended, resistance to the draft in Holmes County subsided.
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George Washington Crile was born in 1864 at Chili, in Crawford Township, Coshocton County. Before embarking on his notable medical career, he graduated from Northwestern Ohio Normal School (now Ohio Northern University) at Ada, teaching for two years before becoming principal at Plainfield School. Crile first studied medicine under village physician Dr. A.E. Walker, who loaned him medical books and took him on calls to visit rural patients. Later in life Crile credited his early experience in education in Plainfield as one of the most influential points in his career. (continued on other side)
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After American militia troops forcibly ended the 1812 siege of Fort Wayne, General James Winchester’s Army of the Northwest marched down the north side of the Miami [Maumee] River to stop or retard advancing British troops sent to aid in the siege of Fort Wayne. After three days of difficult march, Ensign James Liggett of the 17th Regiment, volunteered to lead a group of four spies or scouts to the site of the old Fort Defiance. Liggett’s small force was surprised and killed on or about September 25 near here. The Americans tried twice to recover the bodies, but met with ambush from hostile Native Americans sympathetic to the British. Their bodies were finally recovered and buried in a common grave. Besides Liggett, they included Wyatt Stepp, Guy Hinton, William Bevis, and Nathaniel Mitchell of Woodford County, Kentucky, all of Captain McCracken’s Company, 1st Rifle Regiment, Kentucky Volunteer Militia.
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Opened in 1926, Tanks Memorial Stadium became the home of the Ironton Tanks semi-professional football team. The Tanks were formed in 1919 and through the years played other semi-professional teams as well as teams from the American Professional Football Association that became the National Football League in 1930. In twelve seasons the Tanks had a record of 85 wins, 19 losses, and 14 ties, including wins against the Chicago Bears and New York Giants. The Tanks disbanded in 1931, but five players moved on to the Portsmouth Spartans, which became the Detroit Lions, and other NFL teams picked up four other players. Tanks Memorial Stadium is one of the few remaining roofed high school football stadiums in the country.
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Camp Latty was located at the corner of Riverview and Glenwood Avenues in Napoleon, Ohio and included Glenwood Cemetery in its grounds. This camp was named for Judge Alexander S. Latty, a staunch supporter of the Union. From October to December 1861 the 68th Regiment was organized. The 68th Regiment then took part in the Battles of Fort Donelson, Shiloh, the Siege of Corinth, the Battles of Hatchies’s Bridge, Port Gibson, Raymond, Champion Hill, the Siege of Vicksburg, the Meridian Campaign, the Atlanta Campaign, the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, the Battle of Atlanta, the Siege of Atlanta, the Battle of Jonesboro, Sherman’s March to the Sea, the Carolinas Campaign, the Battle of Bentonville, the Surrender of Johnston’s Army, and the Grand Review in Washington, D.C. The 68th Regiment served in every Confederate State except Florida and Texas. (Continued on other side)
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The Richwood Opera House and Town Hall was erected in 1890 as a community center designed to house the town council chambers, fire department, jail and opera house. The Richardsonian Romanesque styled building served Richwood in all these capacities for nearly 75 years. The Opera House was the site of minstrel shows, concerts, movies, lecture courses, revivals, farmers’ institutes, commencements, and community meetings. The second floor gymnasium was used for a men’s independent basketball league, dance classes, and as a teen center after World War II. Construction of an interurban railway running between Richwood and the resort town of Magnetic Springs in 1906 provided an expanded audience for the Opera House. (continued on other side)
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