Remarkable Ohio

Results for: vietnam-war
Veterans Memorial Community Park/Preston Field
Beallsville

, OH

With a population of 475 residents, the Beallsville community gained the unfortunate distinction of having suffered the highest known per-capita casualty rate during the Vietnam War. Six Beallsville men, all under the age of 21, were killed in action in Vietnam between 1966 and 1971, a profound tragedy for this close-knit community. In 1969 Beallsville citizens worked with congressional representatives to prevent further loss of life, to no avail. Five other Monroe County men lost their lives in the conflict as well, magnifying the loss for one of Ohio’s least-populated counties. (continued on other side)

S corner of Twp Road 29 and Twp Road 300
Carey

, OH

Colonel William Crawford, a lifelong friend of George Washington, was born in Virginia in 1722. He was married twice, first to Ann Stewart and later to Hannah Vance. In 1755, he served with Colonel Edward Braddock in the French and Indian war. In 1767, he moved to “Stewart’s Crossing,” Pennsylvania, near the Youghiogheny River. During the Revolutionary War he raised a company of men, commanded the 5th and 7th Regiments, fought in battles in Long Island, Trenton, and Princeton, and built forts along the western frontier. In 1782, he led the Sandusky Campaign into the Ohio country and was subsequently captured by Delaware Indians after the battle of “Battle Island.” On June 11, 1782, he was tortured and killed near the Tymochtee Creek near this marker. A monument dedicated to his memory is located about a quarter mile north of here. Counties in Ohio and Pennsylvania are named for Colonel Crawford.

103 Jefferson Street
Greenfield

, OH

The Smith Tannery is the oldest original structure remaining in Greenfield. Built in 1821 by Revolutionary War veteran William Smith and his son Samuel, the tannery became a noted station on the fabled “Underground Railroad.” The structure, which also served as the family residence, was the birthplace of Dr. Samuel M. Smith, Surgeon General of Ohio during the Civil War, and Dr. William R. Smith, who personally notified Abraham Lincoln of his nomination to the presidency in 1864. The Smiths were active members of the Abolition Society of Paint Valley, which was established in 1833 in Greenfield and reorganized in 1836 as the Greenfield Anti-Slavery Society. In 1844, the Society assisted the efforts of Frederick Douglass, one of the nation’s leading abolitionists. The Society provided an important junction on the Underground Railroad, assisting many fugitive slaves to gain freedom, including, it is said, Eliza Jane Harris of Uncle Tom’s Cabin fame. The Smith Tannery was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

601 2nd Street
Marietta

, OH

The lodge was organized in Roxbury, Massachusetts, on February 10, 1776, by Connecticut soldiers in the Continental Army. It met when and where it could during the Revolutionary War. By tradition, the lodge’s name and seal were suggested by Benjamin Franklin and the seal was engraved by Paul Revere. Many of the lodge members settled in the Marietta area following the war. On June 28, 1790, the lodge was reorganized in Campus Martius under its original warrant held by Past Master Capt. Jonathan Heart, commandant of Fort Harmer.

27 S. Main Street
West Salem

, OH

The West Salem City Hall reflects a late-1800s municipal trend to house many civic functions under one roof. The fire station, jail, and council chambers occupied the ground level, while the second floor hosted a public auditorium, or “opera house.” Designed by native son William K. Shilling, later an internationally prominent architect, the Romanesque-style building was completed in 1899 at a cost of $9,077 and soon became the center of civic life in West Salem. Band concerts, vaudeville shows, town meetings, and graduation ceremonies were conducted in the opera house during its heyday before World War II. During the Cold War it was designated as a Civil Defense emergency field hospital. It remains a focal point of the West Salem community.

Fort Amanda State Memorial, OH 198, 1/4 mile S of Ft. Amanda Road, Lima
Lima

, OH

After Gen. William Hull’s surrender at Detroit early in the War of 1812, most of the Michigan Territory came under British and Indian control. To prevent a possible invasion of Ohio, Gen. William Henry Harrison, commander of the Northwestern Army, called up the Kentucky and Ohio militia. Rather than moving troops and supplies across the Black Swamp, he chose to use the Auglaize and St. Marys rivers. In November 1812 Harrison ordered Lt. Col. Robert Pogue of the Kentucky Mounted Militia to construct a supply depot at this site, previously an Ottawa village. Pogue, a veteran of the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, named the post Fort Amanda after his 12-year-old daughter, Hannah Amanda. (continued on other side)

2nd Avenue / OH 7
Gallipolis

, OH

Its location and the tides of war established Gallipolis, then a town of some 3,000, as a point of strategic military importance to the Union upon the outbreak of the conflict in 1861. It was destined during the next four years to play a role without counterpart in Ohio. Here through this troop concentration area passed thousands of soldiers to the great campaigns. Here the traditional peacetime activity of the town, long a depot of supplies for the Kanawha Valley, was turned to military purposes for maintaining armies in the field. Here riverside warehouses held vast military stores to be transported by steamboat. Here newly-mustered troops set up Camp Carrington in a wheat field on the upper side of town. Here the women of Gallipolis helped minister to thousands of wounded and sick in an army hospital