Lewis Davis Campbell and Robert Cumming Schenck, two leading figures in nineteenth century national and state politics, were born in log cabins near this spot. Campbell served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1849 to 1858 and rose to the leadership of Ohio’s Know Nothing Party. During the Civil War he raised the 69th Ohio Volunteer Infantry and served as its first colonel. In 1866, President Andrew Johnson appointed him U.S. Minister to Mexico. In 1870, Campbell returned to the U.S. House of Representatives by defeating Schenck, and he was later buried in Hamilton’s Greenwood Cemetery. Schenck served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1843 to 1851. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was appointed a general in the Union Army and was seriously wounded at the Battle of Second Manassas in August 1862. The next year he returned to Congress after defeating Copperhead Clement Vallandigham. During the war he headed Congress’ Military Affairs Committee and after the war the Ways and Means Committee. After his defeat in the election of 1870, President Grant appointed him U.S. Minister to Great Britain, and he was later buried in Dayton’s Woodland Cemetery.