{"nrhp_refnum":"70000508","name":"Buffington Island","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"20 mi. SE of Pomeroy on OH 124","address_restricted":false,"city":"Pomeroy","county":"Meigs County","state":"OH","lat":39.00247490700008,"lon":-81.77475592599995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1970-11-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Battle site in Lebanon Township, Meigs County, Ohio, along Ohio Route 124 about 20 miles southeast of Pomeroy, where the Battle of Buffington Island was fought on July 19, 1863. A fieldstone obelisk marks the battle area, and the site is a state memorial of about 4 acres.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it the scene of the only significant Civil War battle fought in Ohio. The fight marked the beginning of the defeat of Confederate General John Hunt Morgan's raiders, who were blocked from crossing the Ohio River into West Virginia. It is rated as locally significant in the military area.","narrative":"Buffington Island is a battle site on the Ohio shore in Lebanon Township, Meigs County, Ohio, opposite an island in the Ohio River. A fieldstone obelisk now marks the battlefield, which otherwise keeps essentially its original appearance. On July 19, 1863, Union forces under Brig. Gens. Henry M. Judah and Edward H. Hobson, supported by two gunboats, intercepted Confederate cavalry leader John Hunt Morgan as he tried to cross the river into West Virginia. About 120 of Morgan's men were killed and roughly 700 captured, and only a small group escaped across the river. Morgan fled up the Ohio side and surrendered on July 26 near West Point in Columbiana County. The nomination describes the site as the scene of the only significant Civil War battle fought in Ohio and the start of the defeat of Morgan's Raiders. It was given to the Ohio Historical Society in 1929 and is maintained as a state memorial and park of about four acres.","period_of_significance":"1863","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition is listed as good, unaltered and on its original site; the site retains essentially its original appearance apart from the monument. It is owned by the Ohio Historical Society and used as a park.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:09.601967-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/70000508.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000508/587289284c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000508/587289284c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Doug Kerr","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Buffington_Island_battlefield_monument.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Doug Kerr</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Buffington_Island_battlefield_monument.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71990259","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q34823977"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/meigs-county/buffington-island-70000508/"}