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Below is a complete listing of all Ohio Historical Markers. To find a detailed marker listing including text, photographs, and locations, click on a county below. Our listing is updated by the markers program as new markers are installed and older markers are reported damaged or missing.

7-20 Winchester’s Camp No. 2 / Preston Island

Side A: After completing Fort Winchester, Brigadier General James Winchester ordered his troops to cross to the north side of the Maumee River. The troops occupied the new site, Camp #2, from November 3-10, 1812. An earthen fortification was built for protection. Militia soldier Elias Darnell recorded on November 4th that “The weather is very rainy, which makes our situation extremely unpleasant…. Four of this army have gone to the silent tomb to-day never more to visit their friends in Kentucky; the fever is very prevalent in camp; nearly every day there is one or more buried.” Winchester referred to a burial place for the encampment in his General Orders for November 5th. Camp #2 proved to be too wet and marshy, Winchester ordered his army to move to six miles down river to a site called Camp #3.
Side B: The island is named for William Preston, a veteran of the War of 1812 and settler in the area. During that war, General Winchester ordered that a strong pen be built on the island for the army’s cattle. After the Civil War, the island became a popular spot for reunions for veterans and their families. The island had a racetrack, grandstand, auditorium, and baseball diamond. The public could travel there by boat or by trolley on the Defiance Electric Railway. The Maumee Valley Chautauqua was held on the island annually during summers from 1901 to 1912 and featured prominent speakers of the era. The mighty flood of March 1913 swept away the island’s facilities.
Sponsors: Defiance County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society, National Society of the U.S. Daughters of 1812, City of Defiance, and The Ohio Historical Society
Address: Across the road from 1016 East River Drive, 
Defiance, 
OH, 
43512
Location: At a small pullout on the S side of the road
Latitude: 41.2897830
Longitude: -84.3466330