This is my first post. A little bit about me, I'm an attorney in Maryland and a Civil War history buff. I use Facebook a lot to post about the war but I wanted to move some of my stuff to a blog, so here goes....
On the way home from a dear friends funeral the other day, I stopped at Buffington Island Battlefield Memorial Park. It was on my Civil War sites bucket list. In July 1863, it was the site of Battle of Buffington Island, the largest Civil War battle in Ohio. The Battle was part of Morgan's Raid. The more than 1,000 mile raid was an attempt by Confederate General and cavalry commander, John H. Morgan to divert attention of the Union Army of the Ohio in Kentucky and Tennessee. After Morgan crossed the Ohio river into Indiana and in response to the raid Union commander of the Department of Ohio, General Ambrose Burnside organized local troops and attempted to stop Morgan. Undaunted, Morgan continued across Indiana into Ohio. On July 19, 1863, Union troops aided by U.S. Navy gunboats blocking the ford over the Ohio River, defeated Morgan and captured over 1,000 of his men. Morgan himself however escaped and tried to cross the river into West Virginia. He saw his remaining men fleeing northward and turned around. He was finally captured on July 26th.
The Memorial Park is in the small town of Portland, Ohio. The town is deep in southeast Ohio along the banks of the Ohio River. It was early in the morning and misty when I arrived at the park. No one was around. What mainly struck me was how small the park was. The land for the park was purchased by the Ohio Historical Society in 1929 and just four acres. In early 2023, the American Battlefield Trust saved additional acreage. There's only one main memorial and a picnic area and permanent rest rooms. There's no unit markers or walking trails. It's surrounded by fields and trailers - no McDonald's or campgrounds like Gettysburg. It was pretty quiet while I was there. I don't even think a car passed long rural Ohio Route 124.
Sign near the entrance to the park.
It was a long drive but it was worth it. Another site off my Civil War bucket list.
