Jefferson County Civil War History

Steubenville Weekly Herald Newspaper, Feb 17, 1864 – Illegal Marriages “over the river” (headline) “There have been between two and three hundred illegal marriages in certain counties in West Virginia since the war broke out, owing to the fact that the officers authorized to grant licenses had abandoned their positions. The young folks could not wait, and in some instances they obtained military permits to marry. A bill is about to be introduced into Legislature to legalize all these marriages.”

(This of course is referring to the Civil War era, and it is pertinent to Jefferson County because many of Jefferson County folks went across the Ohio River to Brooke County, West Virginia (then Virginia!) to get married. Let’s hope the Legislature passed the bill and the marriages became legal!

Civil War - Morgan's Raiders in the Northern Area of Jefferson County

{The following story was taken from, Yellow Creek Stories, by Robert W. Schillings, Chapter XVII, The Copperheads. This book is available on the Schiappa Library digital shoebox and suggested additional reading found in Chapter XX titled, Lincoln in the Yellow Creek Country.} Up and until this time the great Civil War had not been going along as successfully as it should be, and disloyalty here in the north was at a high stage of activity. Because most of the active, loyal men were already in the Army, it was time when the slimy Copperhead followers of Vallandigham came out of hibernation.

Among the Pennsylvania Dutch of Western Knox Township, as were the same people of Salem and Germano, fully three-fourths of them were members or sympathizers of these disloyal organizations. The two worst, that had large following in Southeastern Ohio, were the Knights of the Golden Circle, and The Sons of Liberty. These two held secret meetings at night in barns. They had military drills and bought revolvers; held horseback parades at night, to frighten loyal woman and children, and to impress furloughed soldiers of their might and bravery; they had sent word to their rebel brothers in the cause, that if the south would invade Indiana and Ohio, these disloyal cowards (never known to keep their word) would turn out by the thousands and sweep everything before them.

On July 13, John Morgan, John Hunt and his men crossed the Indiana to Ohio, going around strong forces posted at Cincinnati. Two days later he reached Washington Courthouse, and on the 18th of July he tried to re-cross the Ohio back into Kentucky, but failed, so he later tried to cross at the mouth of the Muskingham, but was being pushed too hard to be successful. Now headed off in all his attempts to re-cross the Ohio, he made for “Old Nebo” (now Bergholz) where he arrived on the evening of July 25th, 1863.

While here at Old Nebo, this truly disgusting incident took place. Morgan was invited to take dinner at the home of Keziah Morgan ALLISON. She was the sister of Jane Morgan, and both were cousins of General Morgan. Now Jane Morgan was the mother of William CAMPBELL, the very man who joined up with William PITTENGER in the celebrated Andrew’s Raid in 1862, during which they stole a locomotive on the Georgia State Railroad, but failed, and were captured. William Campbell, a large man, when hanged broke the rope and fell to the ground. When he regained his senses they compelled him to mount the gallows, when a stronger rope was used, with success. Surely Aunt Keziah Morgan Allison’s soul, conscience and good sense could all have occupied a grain of mustard seed with the lid down and a “Room for Rent” signed displayed on the outside. When her dear cousin General John Hunt Morgan, arch Rebel and horse thief plenipotentiary, had to leave her, she gave him a new, clean shirt, and he left several of his badly wounded Rebels for her to look after.

Here at Nebo, he found a true Copperhead, by the name of TAYLOR, who lived on the Middle Fork of Yellow Creek. He invited Morgan to occupy his best bed for the night, and on the following morning at three o’clock, he showed and led Morgan to the best route to escape – the same Rebel horse thief that had stolen a half hundred horses in that vicinity, while there – besides burning the county bridge in front of Taylor’s house.

At this point, we will drop the doings of Morgan and his “friends” and see what other things were happening.

If the reader had been standing nearby the little five-year-old railroad at Shanghai (now Empire) on that hot summer afternoon of July 24, 1863, you would have seen a little wood burner locomotive steam into the burg of Shanghai, her cars loaded down with four hundred men and their horses. This was Major George W. RUE’s Ninth Kentucky Cavalry. Officers had been notified by Major BROOKS to place this cavalry unit aboard cars and make with all speed for Steubenville, due to a telegram a General BURNSIDE had sent to Major WAY on July 25, 1863. It read as follows: “Morgan is making for Hammondsville and will attempt to cross the Ohio River at Wellsville. I have my section of battery and will follow him closely.”

When Major Rue reached Steubenville, he found Morgan’s Army had been in the nearby village of Wintersville and was rapidly heading towards Richmond, so he ordered his train to make for Shanghai, where he again awaited orders, or fresh news of Morgan’s whereabouts. He disembarked the cavalry at Shanghai at 7 P.M. Saturday, July 24, 1863, awaiting to see if Morgan was not going to cross at Shanghai was Rue’s reason for his long-delay at Shanghai, so as to be absolutely sure of that fact and not be caught off guard.

Rue now ordered his troops to mount their horses, and he headed them along the public road for five miles, when he reached Knoxville at twelve o’clock midnight, and stopped there. It was at Knoxville that he found out that Morgan had already passed Richmond, west of Knoxville, at 7 P. M. that evening and was moving northeast through Fairplay and East Springfield. Rue felt that Morgan would soon have to make another dash for the Ohio River, or perchance cunningly retrace his trail like a fox, and evade his pursuers.  Major Rue left Knoxville going northwardly through New Somerset and joining General Shakleford at Hammondsville. From here the news caused them to move toward Salineville – where Morgan had already surrendered – his supposed friends, the Copperheads, had quickly crawled into their dens for a final hibernation – their cause was lost.

If the word of H.J. BOICE, a seventeen-year-old boy, a medical discharged member of the 98th O.V.I. who was at his home at Monroeville, when the Rebel Raider reached that point, is to be taken at face value, the surrender of Morgan’s men might have taken place in Hammondsville. These hungry Rebels had eaten the village of Monroeville clean of all food material. Their Copperhead friends had taken to the tall timbers, coal banks and deep ravines.

One loyal citizen of Knoxville saw his neighbor slip out the back kitchen door and dart into a pigpen. Major Rue sent a sergeant who found the scared, yellow scoundrel had taken refuge behind an old mother pig and her ten sucklings in the pig sty. Major Rue said, “surrender and come out, or I’ll prod you with my saber.” At the thought of the cold steel, he rolled over and came out with both hands high… this man was an officer in the Knights of the Golden Circle, and was such a radical supporter of Vallandigham that he voted for him when only nineteen years of age, and then in his fright changed the ages of all his brothers and sisters in the family Bible record, to clear his conscience of his manly blunder. Another man of the same stripe crawled into an old, unused coal bank…page after page could be written to chronicle to doings of this strange thinking clan of people, but it’s only a waste of time to render them this glory. We started out to tell about Clement L. Vallandigham (some named their babies for him) who was killed by his own revolver – only fifty years too late.

“We cannot dedicate – we cannot consecrate – we can not hallow – this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract…” {Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg}

Our Town Area - Morgan's Raiders in Southern Jefferson County, Ohio

{Taken from, Our Town Adena, by Nora Jane DeVore, reprinted by Ginger Stanwick.} Morgan’s Raid caused quite a flurry in citizens around Adena. The Raiders came across through Harrisville and down through Long Run and onto the Mt. Pleasant, Smithfield road. The citizens of Smithfield became alarmed at the sound of cannonading in the direction of Adena. About forty able-bodied men commenced the march toward Adena. Some came by way of York and others took the Mt. Pleasant road, as took their fancy. Morgan’s men had come by way of the Mt. Pleasant road. The party that went that way soon had opportunity to test their power with their enemy. The Raiders instantly captured most of the Smithfield men and broke their weapons against the trees. They placed the captives in front of the marching column, their captain on a mule and told the captain to tell the Smithfield citizens to feed his men. The citizens did feed them, not realizing they were Morgan’s men. The captives all slipped away from their captors as the Raiders were eating. Later, when the citizens discovered they had been duped, they were very angry.

There is the story of Maggie Micheals Daniels. At the time of the raid she lived on the road going past the present Gertrude Parkinson property in York. Maggie had a thoroughbred horse and she was riding it over to Hereford to let her brother, Dennis Michaels, hide the horse for her. On the road, she saw two men in Confederate uniforms coming toward her – Raiders! She jumped the horse over the fence and took off up the hill. The Raiders shouted for her to stop but she told them they’d have to catch her. Later, she married a man by the last name of Daniels. In 1878, she lost two little girls who died of diphtheria. Mrs. Margaret Calderhead, Gertrude Parkinson’s mother, went to nurse them and carried the germ to her own little girl, who also died. Five people died in that locality of diphtheria at that time.

Another story of the Civil War period tells how Morgan’s Raiders had split up into small groups, their pressing problem being to find fresh horses. By the time they had reached this locality, their horses were exhausted. There was an exchange of horses three times from the barn of the James McLaughlin farm. A Raider came along and took it and left his tired horse. A few hours later another Raider came along and took the rested horse and left his tired one. A few hours later, another Raider came along and exchanged horses.

And then there’s the story of Margaret McMillen visiting a family named Hague who lived in the log house that used to sit on Mrs. Pauline Hargrave’s lot and has since been moved and is presently the Soos property on Sycamore Street. The log house had a porch that faced the alley. Margaret went to visit them the morning after the raid and saw a Confederate soldier sleeping on the porch. Of course, she took fright at this and hurried away.

This story was passed on to us from Mrs. Mary Knight Welsh. She is the great, great, great, granddaughter of settler, John McLaughlin. She remembers her mother, Margaret Hanna Knight, telling of her great-grandfather, Edward Hagan, taking the money from the local bank, location unknown, and hiding it under apple barrels on his farm to keep Morgan’s Raiders from taking it. Morgan and his men did search their farm t but didn’t find the money. Edward Hagan said Morgan was very polite and very much against the war at that time – 1863. This took place at the Hagan farm, now the property of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Bikoski.

Lowell Wonnacott’s grandfather was a small boy six years old when Morgan’s Raiders went through York. He remembered climbing a rail fence to watch the soldiers cavorting in the crossroad at York. His mother, Lowell’s great-grandmother Smith, had just baked a batch of bread and undoubtedly the soldiers noses led them to the house and grandma lost all of her freshly baled bread.

Another Adena citizen who served in the Union Army was Captain Thomas C. McElravy. He was a member of Company G of the 74th Reg. O.V.I. He was related to the Hamiltons who lived south of Adena on the present Mrs. Lorenz farm. A descendant of his, Bert McElravy, owned the farm later sold to Sterling Glover and built the house presently owned by Mrs. Richard Bednar.