John Wesley Powell (1834-1902) : Morgan's Raid in Jackson, 1863
Posted by: 
maggieszoo
N 39° 03.126 W 082° 38.212
17S E 358360 N 4323833
This marker describes John Wesley Powell and John Hunt Morgan.
Waymark Code: WM19VH
Location: Ohio, United States
Date Posted: 03/08/2007
Views: 38
Text : Side A
Scientist and explorer of the American West, John Wesley Powell moved from New York to Jackson with his family in 1838 and lived here until 1846. He developed an early interest in geology from his tutor "Big" George Crookham, a Jackson salt boiler, educator, and abolitionist. Powell served in the Union Army during the Civil War and lost his right arm at Shiloh in 1862. Later he became professor of geology at Illinois Wesleyan University. In 1869, he led a nine-man expedition in the first exploration of the entire length of the Colorado River, providing the first scientific description of the Grand Canyon. Subsequently Powell helped found the U.S. Geological Survey and served as its director from 1881 to 1894.
Text : Side B
Late in the evening of July 16, 1863, Confederate General John Hunt Morgan entered Jackson with 2,000 cavalrymen, meeting with no resistance. Finding many townspeople assembled, the raiders took the men as prisoners and held them at the fairground. They then foraged the town at will, taking food and all available horses. The raiders also burned the Cincinnati and Marietta Railroad depot and destroyed the office of The Standard, the Republican newspaper. Morgan made his headquarters at the Isham House, directly across the street from this marker. He continued eastward on the afternoon of July 17. Strongly divided politically during the Civil War, Jackson received no special consideration by Morgan. Both unionists and "Copperheads" (southern sympathizers) suffered equally.
Marker Number: 4-40
County: Jackson
Significance of Location: Person
Additional Coordinate: Not Listed
Additional Coordinate description: Not listed
Bicentenial Mark: Not Listed
Website address: Not listed
|
Visit Instructions:
If possible, unique photographs taken at the site, are requested. These can be of the site, your companions on your visit, or whatever. Tell of what you learned or thought of the site.