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From: <>
Subject: [OHBUTLER-L] Portsmouth OH Civil War Battlefield
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 1999 17:34:27 EDT

In a message dated 7/15/1999 4:26:51 PM Central Daylight Time,
writes:

<< Subject: Buffington Island

This month marks the 136th anniversary of the battle of Buffington Island at
Portland, Ohio between Federal troops and Confederate troops under General
John Hunt Morgan.

A historical encampment and commemoration of the battle will be held this
coming weekend July 17 - 18 at Buffington Island State Historical Site at
Portland, Ohio. I urge each of you to go if you can.

Due to a lack of interest in the site, (other than for monetary gain), by
Shelly Mining and Materials of Thornville and what would appear to be a
complete lack of effective leadership on the part of some of our elected
officials, this will be the last year the site will appear in its entirety.
By later this summer or early this fall the mining of sand and gravel from
significant portions of the battlefield will have destroyed its historical
integrity unless some emergency measures can be brought to bear by our
representatives in government.

Wouldn't that be something to see? What a statement for the future!
Imagine if in 1922 a company had found significant gravel deposits under
Monticello or Independence Hall and decided to mine it for its minerals.
Would there have been an elected official "stout" enough to have come
forward and said, "This travesty will not be done"? I would certainly hope
so!

Oh, if only this battlefield had been in Franklin County! Would Amos
Loveday et.al. have been more adamant in their stance against any
destruction of the ground? (I doubt if the issue would have even been
allowed to progress this far). It would seem from the start it was never a
matter of negotiation with the gravel company, but instead, "whatever you
would like to do is O.K."...after all, it's only Southeastern Ohio! Or,
what if the area had contained the home of a rare bird or a rare fish of
some sort...

Well, at any rate, the site of the only Civil War Battlefield in Ohio...the
site of one of only two Civil War Battlefields north of the Mason Dixon
Line...the site of the resting place of dozens of American soldiers will no
longer exist in its entirety after this year. So, come if you can this
weekend... or come sometime real soon... because the land in which brave men
lie will soon, like those men's sacrifice, be no more than a foggy memory.

Dan Hinton

>>

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