At mid-morning on Friday, July 24, 1863, Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan and fewer than 600 Confederate raiders approached Washington, now Old Washington, from the south. Smoke rising from nearby Campbell's Station alerted residents to their approach, and townspeople removed money from the Guernsey County Bank and sent it to Wheeling while many citizens hid in cellars and behind locked doors. At the crossroads, local Presbyterian minister William Ferguson waved a white handkerchief and pleaded for the community to be spared, and Morgan assured him that his men wanted only food and fresh horses. Morgan and several officers went into the American Hotel and forced owner James Smith to provide a hot meal, then fell asleep in the hotel bedrooms from exhaustion. Other raiders spread through town seeking food or beds, with some sleeping in the streets, and one group emptied the Lawrence Store of various goods. At about noon, Brigadier General James M. Shackelford and his Union cavalry reached the cemetery hill just south of town and opened fire on Morgan's guards. Morgan's raiders quickly mounted their tired horses and fled north toward Winterset and east along the National Road, and Morgan and the remnants of his command escaped.

Photo: Larry Gertner

Photo: Mike Wintermantel

Photo: Mike Wintermantel

Photo: Mike Wintermantel

Photo: Mike Wintermantel

Old Washington, Ohio · USA