, OH
Manchester was founded in 1791 by Nathaniel Massie as a base to survey the land warrants of American Revolutionary War soldiers in the Virginia Military District. This bank of the Ohio River provided a secure site for the last civilian stockade built in Ohio. The natural protection of this fortification included marshland to the west and north and the river on the south. The nearby three islands provided a safe place for retreat in dangerous circumstances and also supplied an area to raise food in its rich bottomlands. The invention of the steam powered paddle wheel boat allowed the river to become the city’s main source of shipping and commerce in the nineteenth century. Manchester was an important port of call for provisions; the export of agricultural products; and the manufacture of goods such as pottery, furniture, and leather goods.
, OH
Country music writer and recording star Lloyd Estel Copas was born on July 15, 1913 on Moon Hollow near Blue Creek in Adams County, Ohio. Reared by musical parents, he learned to play the guitar and fiddle at an early age and began a singing career by age 10. As early as age 14, Copas started playing and singing on radio stations in Ohio, West Virginia, and Tennessee. He later adopted the sobriquets “Oklahoma Cowboy” and “Cowboy Copas.”
, OH
The Adams County Fairgrounds, established at this site in October 1853, on seven acres of land donated by Judge George Collings, was converted to a Civil War training camp named in honor of General Thomas Hamer, a Mexican War hero, of Georgetown, Ohio. The old stone Courthouse was made into a hospital to serve the camp. The 70th Ohio Volunteer infantry, organized in October 1861, trained on the old fairgrounds until Christmas day 1861, when it marched from Camp Hamer to Ripley. The 70th participated in the battles of Shiloh, Tennessee; Atlanta, Georgia; the siege at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and Sherman’s March to the Sea.