Saving History Saturday: Four Battlefields Targeted for Preservation

The American Battlefield Trust announced this week that they are working to save battlefields in four states, including their first ever effort in Ohio.

The Buffington Island Battlefield is the site of one of only two battles that took place in Ohio. In July 1863 Confederate Brig. Gen. John Hunt Morgan led his 2,000 men on a 14-day raid through Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio. As Morgan was attempting to cross the Ohio River at Buffington Island, he encountered 3,000 Union soldiers, a mix of artillery, infantry, and cavalry, as well as U.S. Navy gunboats. The 117-acre tract includes the location that Morgan and his men advanced through.

In November 1861, Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant led an attack at Belmont Mo./Ky. in response to the Confederate occupation of Columbus, Ky.

In December 1862, in the first attempt to take Vicksburg, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman led his men in a bid to defeat Confederate defenses at Chickasaw Bayou. Although outnumbered, the Confederates turned back Sherman’s assault, causing eight times as many casualties as they suffered, and stopped the Union’s first attempt to take the city.

At Upperville, Va. Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart’s cavalry faced off against Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton’s cavalry in a bloody clash on June 21, 1863. The 191-acre tract is in a mostly rural area and looks much like it would have appeared in 1863.

All four tracts combined total 311 acres. To learn more about these four pieces of land, the battles of which they were a part of, and the preservation efforts, click here.