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On a forested hillside south of New Straitsville, the spacious 1000 square foot Robinson’s Cave offered a secluded location with great acoustics where large groups of Hocking Valley coal miners could meet in secret. Beginning in about 1870, labor-organizing meetings were held at the cave by various emerging unions including the Knights of Labor. New Straitsville resident Christopher Evans, a well-known union organizer, used Robinson’s Cave to lead miners throughout the long Hocking Valley Coal Strike of 1884-1885. These meetings gave the miners a voice in the formation of a national organization called the National Federation of Miners and Mine Laborers, later renamed the National Progressive Union. The cave was also where non-union miners met to plan to set the Columbus & Hocking Coal & Iron Company mines on fire in a desperate attempt to end the Hocking Valley Strike. [continued on other side]
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The American Civil War was in its second year, and Confederate forces were advancing in the east and in the west. Confederates led by General Edward Kirby Smith had defeated a Union Force at Richmond, Kentucky on August 30, 1862. Word was received that they were advancing on Cincinnati. Ohio Governor David Tod issued a proclamation to all Ohioans: “Our Southern border is threatened with invasion. I therefore recommend that all the loyal men of your Counties at once form themselves into military companies. Gather up all the arms in the county and furnish yourselves with ammunition for the same. The service will be but for a few days. The soil of Ohio must not be invaded by the enemies of our glorious government.” (continued on other side)
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Henry Clark Corbin was born September 15, 1842 and reared here on the family farm along Colclazer Run near Laurel. He attended public school and the private Parker Academy in nearby Clermontville. After teaching school and studying law, he enlisted in the Union Army in 1862 and military service became his career. Corbin served as the armed forces adjutant-general under President William McKinley during the Spanish-American War in 1898 and promoted to Lieutenant General on April 15, 1906. He died on September 8, 1909 in Washington, D.C. and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
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Founded November 8, 1815 by General Joseph Darlington and named for his Virginia birthplace, Winchester was incorporated in 1864 and later became the eastern terminus of the Cincinnati and Eastern Railway (1877-1880). The first locomotive to enter Winchester, the “Dick Thomson,” was named after a local businessman who was largely responsible for building the railroad. Winchester was also the birthplace of Evelyn (Longman) Batchelder, first woman sculptor to become a full academician at the National Academy of Design in 1919.
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General John Hunt Morgan led a force of 2,000 Confederate cavalrymen into Meigs County during a raid north of the Ohio River. More than 50,000 Union troops and mlitia had been in pursuit of Morgan across Ohio. Near this site on July 18, 1863, Holliday Hysell and Dr. William N. Hudson were shot and killed by Confederate soldiers. These were the only civilians killed in Meigs County during Morgan’s Raid. After suffering losses at Buffington Island, Morgan surrendered eight days later near West Point in Columbiana County. The surrender field was the northernmost point reached by Confederate forces during the Civil War.
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James Birdseye McPherson was born in Hamer’s Corners (now Clyde) on November 14, 1828. He left this house at age 13 to work in nearby Green Springs. He attended Norwalk Academy and West Point, where he graduated first in the class of 1853. Early in the Civil War, he was appointed by General Ulysses S. Grant to command the Army of the Tennessee. He received the rank of Major General with the United States Volunteers in October 1862 and was promoted to Brigadier General in the Regular Army in August 1863. He was killed in action during the battle of Atlanta, Georgia on July 22, 1864. General McPherson was the youngest and highest ranking Union officer killed in the Civil War. He is buried in the local McPherson Cemetery. This McPherson home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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Stephen and Viola Armstrong moved their family, including 13-year-old Neil and his younger siblings, June and Dean, to the house at 601 West Benton Street in 1944. Here, Neil explored his fascination with flying by reading aviation magazines and building model airplanes. Neil completed flying lessons at nearby Port Koneta airport and earned his pilot’s license on his sixteenth birthday, even before receiving a driver’s license. Neil graduated from Blume High School in 1947 and studied aeronautical engineering at Purdue University on a Navy scholarship. The Korean conflict interrupted his studies, but he left the Navy as a decorated combat pilot, flying 78 missions. After graduating from Purdue in 1955, Neil worked at what would become the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Soon after he became a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base in California. (Continued on other side)
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The following notice appeared in the Marysville Tribune newspaper, February 5, 1873: To Arms! To Arms! The Monument Association of Union Township propose holding a Fair and Festival in Milford Centre on Feb 20 and 21…the proceeds to be applied to the fund already raised to erect a Monument in memory of the fallen heroes of Union Tp. Said Monument to be unveiled on the 30th of May, 1873. It is desired that every citizen have an opportunity to contribute something in aid of such a worthy object. It is therefore hoped that every person, male and female, will send in their donations of such articles as they may have to lay upon the alter of our departed Heroes. Bring Wheat, Corn, fancy work, mitts, Hoods, articles for children, anything, to the value of a horse…. On May 30, 2003—130 years later—the Monument Association of Union Township rededicated the refurbished monument.