150 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION ceived to report to General Grant at Fort Donelson. The regiment left Portsmouth at the above date, arriving at Paducah, Kentucky, February 17, and at Fort Donelson, February 18, 1862, at 3 a. m. They were too late to participate in the assault, as the fort surrendered the day of their arrival. They remained at that point until March 7, 1862, when they were ordered to Fort Henry-, and on the 10th of March were at Paris, Tennessee. Thence they ascended the Tennessee River to Savannah, arriving there on the 17th, and were attached to General Wallace 's division. They were at Crump's Landing, within sixteen miles of the rebel army and twenty-two from Corinth, on March 21, 1862. They held the post f honor in the brigade and were commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Raynor, Colonel Kinney being sick. They were ordered to protect the transports at the landing, and were again deprived of a chance to show of what kind of mettle they were made' and did not take part in Shiloh. Companies A and F, however, were deployed as skirmish-ers and were complimented for their skill and courage by General Wood, They remained in camp near Corinth until about the last f June, 1862. Colonel Kinney, who was sick at Memphis, obtaining a furlough to go home concluded to go and see the boys before he left. The rebels captured his train and he became a prisoner. The regiment went to Memphis the first of July, where they remained quite a while, and are next found at Helena, Arkansas, October and November, 1862. Erastus Gates and Joseph Patterson received the promotion to lieutenancies while there. Colonel Kinney having been exchanged, in November, 1862, he was in command of the First Brigade of the Second Division of the Army of the Southwest, and Lieutenant Colonel Raynor was in command of the regiment. Thus far while the regiment had marched and counter marched, they had not been exposed to the ravages of great battles, but the day was coming when the Fifty-sixth met their Waterloo in losses, but stood the carnage with true soldierly fortitude. From Helena the Fifty-sixth was ordered to Port Gibson, being one f the regiments which suffered most severely in the fierce battle at that point, May 1, 1863. The killed included : Company A, Richard McCarty and George Bowman ; Company E, Corporal James Evans ; Company H, William Friley. Twenty-four were wounded, some fatally. The regiment had scarcely recovered from that shock when it was ordered to Vicksburg, and joined four other regiments in the bloody charge at Champion Hill, May 16th, in which twenty-four were killed, eighty-nine wounded and twenty-five missing out f 364 who went into action. Those known to have met their death on the battlefield were : Company A, Lieutenant G. W. Manring, William R. Allen and William Bass; Company B, Corporal C. Holbeck and J. Hoffman ; Company C, J. H. Williams, H. Richards and R. D. Davis; Company D, Lieutenant A. S. Cute, T. Eaton, L. Clifford and T. B. Dodds ; Company E, Ser-geant G. Rife and William Radcliffe ; Company F, C. D., Hubbard ; Company G, Corporal M. Downey, M. Freeland, S. B. Quartz, W. G. Porter HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 151 and H. H. McCowan; Company and H. Narwill, Company I, Sergeant G. IIrwine and W. G. Marshall. Twenty-five were missing at roll-call and thirty are known to have been taken fisoners. From the vicinity of Vicksburg, the Fifty-sixth was ordered to Helena, Arkansas, Lieutenant Colonel Raynor in command. In October it was in New Orleans, where Captain Wilhelm left the regiment to command a company in Colonel Varner's battalion, remaining in that city until the spring of 1864. During most of that period the Fifty-sixth was engaged in Banks' expedition, and at a hot engagement on the Red River, April 8, 1864, lost forty-one killed, wounded and missing. At a later engagement Colonel Raynor and Doctor Williams were wounded and made prisoners. What was left of this gallant regiment reached Portsmouth in Juuly1864, and on the 4th of Jjuly was given a. dinner of welcome. Colonel Raynor arrived home on July 8, 1864, a paroled prisoner. After he was captured, Capt. Henry S. Jones was made lieutenant-colonel, assumed command, and proved a splendid officer. Thirty-five men of the regiment . were still prisoners of war in Texas in November, 1864. The Fifty-sixth Regiment arrived home permanently May 7, 1866. It was organized. at Portsmouth in October, 1861, with Peter Kinney, colonel, and 896 Men. During the campaign in the West Lieut-Col. W. H. Raynor took command and was recruited by 200 men. After the fall of Vicksburg, the regiment left for New Orleans and was under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Varner. On the re-enlistment for the war, Lieutenant Colonel Varner retiring from the service, Lieut.-Col. H. E. Jones was promoted to the command. The regiment was stationed at New Orlea.ns, and was at that point when the war closed, consisting then of 180 men and ten commissioned officers. They had inscribed upon their regimental banner, by order of General Sheridan, the battle of Pittsburg Landing, siege of Corinth, Port Gibson, Champion. Hill, siege of Vicksburg, Jackson, Carrion Crow Bayou, Sabine Cross Roads, Wionette's Ferry and Scraggy Point. THE THIRTY-THIRD INFANTRY The Thirty-third Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, was organized in the fall of 1861 with the following officers : J. W. Sill, colonel; O. F. Moore, lieutenant-colonel; J. V. Robinson, Jr., major. Samuel A. Currie was captain of Company A; E. J. Ellis, captain of Company B; William H. oster, captain of Company J. Lock, captain of Company D; James H. M. Montgomery, captain of Company E ; B. F. Bayer, captain of Company F ; Thaddeus A. Minshall, Captain of Company G. GEN. J. W. SILL Colonel, afterward General Sill, was a native of Chillicothe, a West Point graduate, an experienced Indian fighter and campaigner in the 152 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION West, and a professor of military science with a fine eastern record, when the Civil war aroused him. He was offered the colonelcy of several New York regiments, but preferred to lead the men of the Scioto Valley. His record marks him as a leader among the splendid soldiers sent out by Ohio. Previous to leaving for McClellan's army in the. Kanawha Valley of Virginia, he had organized several regiments. Although but a colonel in rank, at the outset he commanded a brigade and in the winter of 1861 was promoted to a brigadier-ship. He was with Thomas in Kentucky and with Buell in Tennessee, and when the army of the latter was organized at Bardstown was placed in command of a division in McCook's corps. This he held with his unfailing ability and bravery until his death in action at Stone River, December 31, 1862. MAJ. J. V. ROBINSON Major Robinson was a well educated man of forty when the war opened and a citizen of Portsmouth; he had been admitted to the bar, although his health had prevented him from engaging in active prac tice. Instead, he had entered the produce and transportation business, in partnership with his father and brothers. the summer of 1861, when President Lincoln issued the call for the first 300,000 troops, Robinson united with Oscar F. Moore in raising a regiment in Scioto County. Realizing their own ignorance of military tactics and wishing to place a well organized regiment in the field, they asked Lieutenant Sill, of Chillicothe, to become colonel. The latter eagerly accepted their offer and Messrs. Moore and Robinson drew lots for the remaining field offices. O. F. Moore drew the lucky straw and the major-ship went to Robinson, who was mustered in August 1, 1861. The Thirty-third was one of the first regiments organized in Southern Ohio, but unfortunately Major Robinson failed to realize his ambition to be with it in active service. For several months it. was stationed on the malarial banks of Green River, Kentucky, and in February, 1862, he was sent home in such broken health that he died in the following March, Colonel Sill was promoted to be brigadier-general in July, 1862, and Lieutenant-Colonel Moore succeeded him, being at the head of the regiment for a year. Companies A and; E were from Scioto County, the former being composed of Portsmouth men. Samuel A. Currie, the captain of Com-pany A, was a. native of that city, and was but twenty years f age when he raised the company which elected him as its commander. In the following April he died of disease at Shelbyville, Tennessee. Colonel Sill received marching orders October 14, 1861, for the interior of Kentucky, and his regiment was well drilled for service before the day of battle arrived. They marched to the interior of Kentucky; an& November 17, 1861, a battle was fought in which Wood, Jones, Willfong, Woodruff and Morrison were brought home wounded. By Febru- HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 153 ary, 1862, Colonels Still had the command f the Ninth Brigade and Lieut.-Col. O. F. Moore took command of the regiment. From Kentucky they reported at Nashville, Tennessee, the first week in March, which was headquarters until May, when the troops reached Huntsville, Alabama. On June 6, 1862, they were at Battle Creek, Tennessee, camped about twenty-five miles above Chattanooga, where they remained until August In September they had fallen. back again to Nashville. In this long march to Huntsville, Chattanooga and return to Nashville they had some slight skirmishes and much hard travel. They reached Nashville in September, 1862. The outlook now was for active work and the regiment was again on Kentucky soil. In the desperate engagement at Perryville, Kentucky, on October 13th, the Thirty-third was first under fire. It was where the balls fell thickest, and stood the brunt of a fierce charge like veterans. In the fight Colonel Moore was wounded and made a prisoner. Captains Hibbs and Foster and. Lieutenant Higgs were also wounded. After the battle the regiment went to New Market, Kentucky. Colonel Moore returned to Portsmouth, and, on being exchanged, returned to his command, bearing with him from. the citizens of Portsmouth a banner for his regiment, upon which was inscribed, "Perryville and Stone River." During the month of February, 1863, the regiment was partially reorganized, Colonel Sill becoming a brigade commander ; Lieut.-Col. O. F. Moore was promoted to colonel ; F. J. Locke, lieutenant-colonel, and Capt. E. J. Ellis, major. The regiment moved to Nashville and thence to Murfreesboro, in which battle the regiment was engaged, January 7, 1863, being led by Major Ellis. Major Ellis had. his horse shot from under him, two of his men killed and thirteen wounded. It was found after the fight that four were missing, believed to be prisoners. The Thirty-third and Second Ohio were supporting Loomis's battery. On June 1st the' regiment was still encamped near Murfreesboro, but remained only a short time ; then took p its line of march for Chattanooga and participated in the campaign in and around the latter city. In September, 1863, the Thirty-third took a prominent part in the terrible battle f Chickamauga, the most destructive to human life in the war. The regiment had been at Perryville, and they knew something of hard fighting, but the battle of Chickamauga seemed to make the fight at Perryville but child's play in comparison. The brave Maj. E. J. Ellis was killed at Chickamauga, as well as Sergt. William Fullerton of Company A and Second Lieut. Joseph H. Cole of Company E. The Thirty-third suffered heavy losses in killed, wounded and missing both at Chickamauga and Chattanooga, the last of the severe battles through which it passed being the engagement at Resaca. In this last struggle its killed were half as many as the wounded—nineteen killed and thirty-eight wounded. 154 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION THE NINETY-FIRST REGIMENT The call for 300,000 men July 2, 1862, caused the formation of this regiment on July 19, 1862. Its officers were commissioned and the volunteers came from Adams, Pike, Jackson, Gallia, Lawrence and Scioto counties. Its colonel was John A. Turley, of Scioto County, and its lieutenant-colonel, B. F. Coates, of Adams County. A threatened raid on Ironton caused a call to be made on Camp Morrow for troops, and Colonel Turley responded with six companies of the Ninety-first Regiment, marching to that point August 26, 1862. This was the first experience of the regiment outside of camp life. They returned and remained in camp for about one month when they were ordered to Virginia, and reaching there- camped at Point Pleasant, September 26, 1862. They marched against General Jenkins's rebel cavalry, skirmishing with them for four hours, drove them several miles, capturing several prisoners and considerable stores. Colonel Turley says that "not a single officer or soldier of the Ninety-first Regiment faltered, and as this is a new regiment, never before under fire, I cannot refrain from saying they acted like veterans, and elicited my admiration. I returned to camp last night after having marched forty-five miles in thirty hours, skirmishing four hours of that time, without the loss of a man." The Ninety-first Regiment was on duty at Gauley's Bridge, November 10, 1862, and thence marched to Fayetteville, Virginia, reaching there in January, 1863. On May 17th, they were at the above bridge and had quite a battle with the rebel forces, giving evidence of stanch fighting qualities. During the Virginia campaign, in the summer and fall of 1863, this regiment was constantly on duty, and the Ninety-first became known as the banner fighting regiment f its brigade. In the spring of 1864 it was in the Hunter's raid, and during this march and campaign of over a month Col. J. A. Turley was severely wounded. This was in May, 1864. June 17, 1864, Colonel Turley was again severely wounded in leading a charge on the rebel works at Richmond, which compelled him to give p his command, being unfit for duty. He received an honorable discharge. The command then fell pon Lieut.-Col. B. F. Coates,, and he led it heroically and gallantly during the remainder of the war. In the battle near Winchester, in July, 1864, the Ninety-first was conspicuous for its gallantry and daring, and suffered a heavy and severe loss. The regiment was in service for about three years. COL. J. A. TURLEY Colonel Turley led the Ninety-first Regiment for more than two years, or until his wounds forced him to withdraw from the service. A Virginian of early middle-age, he had been a resident of Scioto County for more HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 155 than twenty years when the Civil war opened. He had lived on his farm in Clay. County until a few years before the war, holding various local offices and representing Scioto and Lawrence counties in the Legislature for one term. So that he was quite widely known when, at the age of forty-five, he enlisted in Company G, Twenty-second Ohio Regiment, and was elected captain for the three months' service. In May he had another company ready for the war, was soon afterward promoted to be lieutenant-colonel of his regiment and was mustered out in August, 1861. On the same day he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Eighty-first Ohio Regiment, but accepted the same position with the Ninety-first, as noted. After being discharged for wounds which unfitted him for active service, in November, 1864, he returned to Portsmouth, and in March, 1865, was breveted brigadier-general for gallant conduct in battle. Before his death in 1900 he was honored with numerous public offices, including the mayoralty of Portsmouth for two terms, but, on the whole, is better known as a soldier than a civilian. THE FIFTY-THIRD REGIMENT The Fifty-third Regiment was organized in the fall of 1861, with Jesse J. Appler, as colonel Robert A. Fulton, lieutenant-colonel, and Smith Cox, major. When ready for service it was ordered to Paducah, Kentucky. It took part in several skirmishes, and found itself at Shiloh, in the memorable battle of the 6th and 7th of April. At that field of carnage, under the lead of Colonel Appler, being suddenly surrounded and attacked by a heavy force of Confederates, it broke, its men were badly scattered and their colonel was unable to get them together ; 800, however, were mustered after the panic, late in the day, and behaved in a manner that partially wiped but their previous disgrace. The next day they went into battle under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Fuller, and won, the praise of General Hildebrand, commanding the Third Brigade of. the Fifth Division in that bloody field. Afterward they were-placed in Wallace's Division and were in camp early in May, near Corinth. They marched and countermarched in Tennessee and Northern Mississippi during the summer and fall campaign, and in March and April, 1863, were at Camp Morrow, about thirty-nine miles east of Memphis, on the Memphis & Charleston Railroad. They had been. in Memphis and then in La Grange, and from the latter place went On an expedition into Mississippi, going-through Holly Springs and on as far as Oxford, but their supplies being cut off, the command fell back to La Grange, Tenn., and arrived there January 12, 1863. From Camp Morrow they were ordered to Vicksburg, and took part in the military operations which resulted in. its capture. After the surrender of Vicksburg they were camped at Snyder's Bluff during the month of July, 1863. The regiment maintained its reputation on. the second day of Shiloh, during the summer and fall of 1863, and was 156 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION stationed at Camp Dennison, January 1, 1864. The year 1864 proved a fatal one for the gallant Fifty-third. It went to the front at the opening of the campaign, and when the year closed its decimated ranks told an eloquent story without words. GEN. WELLS S. JONES Colonel Appler, f Portsmouth, remained in command of the Fifty-third only until April, 1862, when he was succeeded by Wells S. Jones, physician of Jasper, Pike County, and one of the strong men of the Scioto Valley. He was in practice in that place at the outbreak of the war, but left everything and organized the first company in Pike County, A of the Fifty-third Regiment, being elected its captain October 4, 1861, 'when it was about to leave for the front. He served as such until he became colonel f the regiment, continuing as such until the end of the war. In March, 1865, he was breveted brigadier-general for bravery and merit. During the last year of the war he commanded a brigade. He was wounded in the breast in the assault on Fort McAllister ; was with Sherman on his march to Atlanta and. northward through .the Carolinas ; was in the grand review at Washington and was mustered out with his regiment in August, 1865. He returned to practice and was also identified with the State Deaf and Dumb Asylum and the State Board of Public Works. No military record will stand firmer under the strictest scrutiny than that of General Jones, and the same may be said of his citizenship. THE THIRTEENTH MISSOURI BECOMES THE TWENTY-SECOND OHIO The Twenty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry was originally organized.. at St. Louis, as the Thirteenth Missouri, and entered the service as a three months' organization. In that regiment Captain', afterward Col. Jesse J. Appler, had a company of Scioto. boys, of which O. J. Wood was first lieutenant. Some three hundred Athens County men were also in this three months' regiment. The Thirteenth Missouri became a three years' regiment in November, 1861, and in May, 1862, its named Was changed to the Twenty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Craft J. Wright was its first colonel-Lieutenant Wood had raised a company of 116 men at Portsmouth, of which he had. been elected captain, his command being known as Company B. He thus entered the regiment in August, 1861 ; was promoted to major of the regiment in May, 1862, and to colonel in the following September. He was mustered out at. the head of his regiment in November, 1864; Wood was acting as major of the Twenty-second at the battle of Shiloh. It was while in camp at Silver Springs, near Nashville, that he was. promoted. to the colonelcy. In the winter of 1862-3 he scouted successfully through Tennessee, always vigilant and active. On Deer, Fork, and Olive rivers the Confederates were driven back and he cleared all that section of the enemy. On April 11, 1864; the colonel. received a HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 157 gold watch from the citizens of Portsmouth in honor of his gallant bearing and the worth of his regiment. In January, 1865, he was given a colonel's commission in Hancock's corps. THE GROESBECK REGIMENT This was the name by which the Thirty-ninth Infantry was known. f had one company, and part of another, from Scioto County. Company A, composed entirely of home citizens, was recruited by Henry T. McDowell, and he was the first captain of it ; was promoted to major, in July, 1862, and to be lieutenant-colonel, in the following October. The regiment served the full three years, its last engagement being at Bentonville, North Carolina, in March, 1865. It is said that the Thirty-ninth had more reenlisted veterans than any other regiment from Ohio ; also that it saw as much hard service and participated in more actual engagements than any regiment which is credited to that section of the state. The troops of the Thirty-ninth were at Camp Coleman, ten miles north of Cincinnati, until fully organized, leaving that rendezvous for St. Louis, where they joined Fremont's forces. It was the first regiment from Ohio which entered Missouri. Soon after arriving at St. Louis it was placed of guard duty along the lines of railway, regiments not reunited as a regiment until February, 1862. It left that city, under, marching orders, February 24th, and reached New Madrid March 3d, being called upon to support the heavy artillery in the successful attack on that place. At that time Captain McDowell had become major of the regiment, which afterward suffered such severe lasses at the capture of Island No. 10. It also lost quite heavily under Halleck in Tennessee and in the siege of Corinth, Mississippi. In November, 1862, it was ordered to join General Grant, under whom it was kept in active service until its three years had expired, in December, 1864. Its severest loss at any one time during this campaign, except in repelling the attack of Hardee's corps of Hardee’s corps at Atlanta, was at the battle of Nicajack's Creek, July 3, 1864. After the expiration of its three years' term of service, the regiment obtained a thirty days' furlough, and then 534 of its men reenlisted for the war, again taking the field in February, 1865. It was in the fights around Chattanooga and in the Atlanta campaign. The regiment marched with Sherman to the sea and participated in the grand review of the Union troops at Washington. It was mustered out of the service July 9, 1865. THE SECOND KENTUCKY INFANTRY On the organization of this regiment John R. Hurd, of Portsmouth, raised Company F and joined the regiment as its captain. The regiment was ordered to Bowling Green, Ky. ; on March 5, 1862, it marched to Barron River and thence to Nashville, Tennessee, camping two miles south 158 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION of the city, and was assigned to General Nelson's brigade. It then marched south and on to Shiloh, upon which field of blood it entered upon its first serious engagement of the war. The regiment lost sixteen killed and Seventy wounded and missing. In Company F, Second Lieut. J. A. Miller was killed. At the reorganization of the company, after Shiloh, Captain Hurd, of that company, was promoted to be major. Jacob H. Smith, first lieutenant, who succeeded him, is now a retired general of the regular army. The next serious battle in which the Second Kentucky:engaged was that of Murfreesboro, December 31, 1862. It suffered heavily, especially Company. F. Afterward the regiment went south to Athens, and other points; and on a return march for Nashville, July 16th, the cars left the track and killed one and. wounded forty-six others of the regiment. On January 25, 1863, Maj. John R. Hurd was promoted to be lieutenant-colonel, Lieutenant-Colonel. Spencer resigning on account of ill health, and Capt. A.. T. M. Brown being promoted to the office of major. It marched and skirmished and engaged in all the principal battles of the Southwest ; was in the advance at the battle of Pittsburg Landing. EIFORT, OF THE SECOND KENTUCKY CAVALRY William H. Eifort, who became lieutenant-colonel of the Second Kentucky Cavalry, when but twenty-two years of age, was a Civil war product of the Hanging Rock Iron Region of remarkable dash and daring and equally remarkable ability, in view of his years and inexperience in military matters. His parents were Kentuckians and he was born at Jackson. Furnace, Jackson County, Ohio, in December, 1842, his father being engaged at that locality as an iron manufacturer. In his thirteenth year the family moved to Carter County, Kentucky, where his father built Boone Furnace. The son assisted his father as a clerk and storekeeper; at the same time attending school, and in the spring of 1859 was a ppil at Marietta. He was bald, spirited and generous, and when the Civil war came he decided to spport the Union; but, although in spite f threats and attacks upon himself and his friend, Thomas, who were raising a company of cavalry on the Kentucky side f the Ohio,. he assisted in the formation of a body of horsemen for the Union army, permission was refused him to camp on neutral soil. The men therefore crossed the river to Camp Joe Holt, Indiana, where Thomas was elected captain and the eighteen-year-old Eifort, first lieutenant. There, on July 18, 1861, they were mustered into the United States service as a unit of the Second Kentucky Cavalry. The career of this youth is such a remarkable feature in the military history of Scioto County that it is given some space, as recorded by Evans in his history: The. regiment was under Sherman in his first campaign in Kentucky, in the fall of 1861, and served in the Army of the Cumberland through the war. It fought many battles and almost numberless skirmishes. Everywhere effort was conspicuous for his HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 159 courage, continually getting in advance f his men when there was an enemy in front. He attempted exploits which .were almost unheard f even in cavalry charges; not from vanity or ambition, nor as the result f stimulants, being strictly temperate in his habits. He never seemed to appreciate his own personal danger, but, fixing his eye on the end to be reached, forgot himself until success was assured. An instance _f this courage occurred just before the battle f Shiloh, in the spring of 1862. With a detachment f thirty men he was sent forward on the pike near Franklin, Tennessee, when the rebels in their retreat were burning bridges behind them. Coming in sight of a bridge which they had just burned and fled from Eifort spurred on ahead f his men, blind to danger or impossibility, plunged into the smoke and flames with his thirty men after him, crossed it as by a miracle, and suddenly appeared among the astonished rebel pickets whom he made prisoners. In a few moments after crossing, the bridge was a mass f flames. "Eifort rose steadily through the grades of promotion, being made captain April 26, 1862; major, December 14, 1863; and lieutenant-colonel, June 22, 1864, when he was but twenty-two years old. His extreme daring cost him his life. This occurred in a skirmish at Triune, a small village between Murfreesboro and Franklin, Tennessee, September 4, 1864. In this engagement zeal and daring led him many yards in advance of his men, when he was mortally wounded, living a few hours and sending home a message that he had died as a soldier ought, ; that he was the first man in and the last man out of the charge. His body is buried at Portsmouth, Ohio, by the side of his grandfather, who was for fifteen years a commissioned officer in the French and German wars of Napoleon." SCIOTO COUNTY CAPTAINS Company I, of the Twenty-sixth Regiment; was officered as follows: Captain, Washington C. Appler, of Portsmouth; first lieutenant, William Ross.' Captain Appler resigned after about two months' service,. Emilius A. Heck served about a year and Louis D. Adair completed his three years. Company E, f the Twenty-seventh, was drawn from Jackson, Lawrence and Gallia counties, but Mendal Churchill, of Portsmouth, was its first captain. He successively passed through the higher grades to the head of the regiment, reaching the colonelcy in June, 1864. Company A, of the Thirtieth Regiment, was from Portsmouth, and William W. Reilly was its original captain, but served only about four months. Thomas Hayes, who was then promoted from. the first lieuten-ancy, bravely led his men until his death at the terrible assault on the Vicksburg works May 22, 1863. He had previously proved himself worthy f leadership at South Mountain and Antietam. The Seventh Ohio Volunteer Cavalry was known as the River Regiment and was formed in the fall of 1862 from various, points along the 160 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION Ohio. It was mustered out f the service July 4, 1865. Company G, which was from Portsmouth, was formed in September, with John D. Kinney as captain. He resigned within a few months and was succeeded by John A. Ashbury, who served until the final muster-out of the regiment. The home company lost eight by death in the service, of whom two were killed in battle. Its engagements were mostly in Kentucky and Tennessee, Although it participated in the siege of Atlanta, July 28- September 2, 1864. BATTERY L Battery L, First Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Light Artillery, was mostly from Scioto County, and the period f its activities was from December, 1861, until July 4, 1865. It had two captains— Lucius N. Robinson, who resigned after a year's service, on account f disability, and Frank C. Gibbs. Battery L was organized and went into service under the command of Captain Robinson. He resigned in January, 1863, before engaging in a serious battle. Frank C. Gibbs was then appointed to the command, and Battery L, under his leadership, earned a high reputation in the artillery service. Port Republic fight was the only one under Captain Robinson. In the spring of 1863 the battery was ordered to the Rappahannock, there to join in the seven days' fight Which took place soon after. It joined the division at Chancellorsville, where, on April 3d, it did good work in repelling an infantry attack. Its men were picked off by the sharpshooters of the enemy, a number being badly wounded and Lieut. Fred Dorries and Corp. Fred Koehler killed. The next serious engagement was at Gettysburg, the battery going into action on the afternoon of the 2d of July, as a support of the Second Division, Fifth Army Corps. It bravely covered the withdrawal of the division, and did its part in the stubborn resistance offered the Confederates at all points of the battlefield. One of its men was killed. and several wounded. In a minor engagement of the following October, Captain Gibbs and several of his men were severely wounded. The people of the Scioto Valley were justly proud of Battery B. THE HEAVY ARTILLERY The. lower Scioto Valley furnished material for two regiments of heavy artillery. In September, 1862; eight companies of infantry, aggregating nearly eight hundred men, were mustered into the service at Portsmouth, as the One Hundred and Seventeenth. Regiment. In the following month it was ordered to Kentucky, where for the succeeding seven months it was engaged in guard duty and expeditions against the guerrillas. In May, 1863, its name was changed to the First Regiment, Heavy Artillery, Ohio: Volunteers, and on. August 12, 1863, it was reorganized, with twelve companies aggregating 1,839 officers and HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 161 men. During the process f reorganization the regiment constructed the fortifications around Covington and Newport, and for the succeeding two years Was engaged in. guarding the railroads in Tennessee ; in for aging and fighting irregular bands of Confederates; and, after the surrender of Lee and Johnson, its operations were transferred to the Carolinas and Georgia. It was mustered out f the service July 25, 1865. Company A was from Jackson County ; Company B, from Ross and Pike ; Company D, from Scioto and Jackson ; Company E, from Adams ; Company F (Capt. Amos B. Cole), from Scioto; Company G, from Gallia County, and Company H, from Jackson. The Second Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Heavy Artillery, was organized at Camp Dennison, Ohio, from June to September, 1863, and was mustered out in August, 1865. The companies were doing service mostly as separate organizations. Company B was from Adams County, and Company F, from Gallia and Scioto (Edward. S. Aleshire, captain). COMPANY OF SHARPSHOOTERS The Eighth Independent Company of Ohio Volunteer Sharpshooters, Charles A. Barton, captain, was organized at Camp Portsmouth, in October, 1862, and was sent to Cincinnati to assist in repelling the Morgan raid of the following year, as well as to perform guard duty near that city. It was mustered into the United States service in the fall, ordered to Chattanooga by General Grant, and performed duty as headquarters guard to Major General Thomas. It was mustered. out at Nashville, Tennessee, in the fall of 1865. THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR The Spanish-American war caused the "organization of Company H, Fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which was mustered into the United States service, at Camp Bushnell, Columbus, Ohio, on the 9th of May, 1898: Officers and privates numbered more than. one hundred, with R. S. Pritchard as captain. In July they embarked from Fortress Monroe, Va., aboard the transport St: Paul for Porto Rico, arriving at Arroyo, August 4th. The Company formed a part f the American army which occupied Guayama, San Juan and other points in Porto Rico during the fall, and in October left the capital f the island for New York ; thence by way of Washington to Columbus, where the company arrived November 5, 1898. VICTIMS OF THE WAR Four members f the company had died of disease, as follows: Forrest C. Briggs, a promising young man, who was a native f Clay Township and an employe f the Norfolk and Western Railioad, going to Porto Rico as second lieutenant of his company, but dying of typhoid Vol. I —11 162 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION fever in November, at Fort Hamilton, New York ; Elbert L. Patterson, son f a well known journalist f Portsmouth and himself ambitious to follow in his father's footsteps, who died at Guayama, in October, 1898 ; Daniel H. Dodge,. a native of Madison Township, Scioto County, who passed away in August at the same place; and enry M. Morrison, who was born in Nile Township and had entered business life at Portsmouth, passing his last days at sea while journeying homeward on a hospital ship as the victim of typhoid fever, and finally succumbing to the disease, on October 26, 1898. CHAPTER IV PORTSMOUTH TOWN AND CITY INCORPORATED AS A TOWN-FIRST COUNCIL MEETING AND OFFICERS- REGULATING THE TOWN MARKET-STREET SUPERVISOR OR COMMISSIONER- ORIGINAL ACT AMENDED-STREETS RENAMED--CURBING SPORTS AND YOUNG SPORTS--NUCLEUS OF POLICE FORCE-TWICE A CITY-FIRST CITY GOVERNMENT- EXPANSION OF CORPORATE AREA-HEADS OF THE TOWN GOVERNMENT– CREATION OF MUNICIPAL OFFICES-JOHN R. TURNER, - STAR OFFICIAL - PORTSMOUTH AND WAYNE TOWNSHIP. EQUALIZED-EARLY EFFORTS TOWARD PUBLIC HYGIENE--EARLY SEWERS CONSTRUCTED-FOUNDING OF THE FIRST WATERWORKS-BUILDING OF THE PRESENT WATER SYSTEM-THE MAYORS OF THE CITY-FIRE AND POLICE DEPARTMENTS-- GREAT FIRES OF THE '90S- PORTSMOUTH'S PUBLIC LIBRARIES-THE POSTOFFICE- CITY TRANSPORTATION AND LIGHTING. The historic groundwork has been laid for the logical consideration of Portsmouth as a corporation. Although the original town site of 337 acres had been platted by Maj. Henry Massie in 1803 and 1807, it was little more than a locality until the 1st of March, 1815, when the legislative act of incorporation as the Town f Portsmouth went into effect. INCORPORATED AS A TOWN That measure, which had been passed on the 29th of the previous December, provided that the voters should meet on the second Monday f March to elect nine councilmen, who were, in turn, to choose a presi-dent, recorder and treasurer from among themselves ; likewise to appoint an assessor, a town marshal and a clerk of the market. The marshal was to act as collector f taxes within the town limits and have authority to sell lands for non-payment. Any one aggrieved at an action f the town council could appeal to the Court of Common Pleas ; but no such appeal was ever taken, if the records are complete. FIRST COUNCIL MEETINGS AND OFFICERS The first meeting of the town council was held at the courthouse March 15, 1815, with the following nine councilmen present: Thomas - 163 - 164 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION Waller, Nathan Glover, John Brown, David Gharky, Samuel B. Burt, William Huston, William Kendall, Nathan K. Clough and Josiah Shackford. They organized by electing Thomas Waller, president; Nathan K. Clough, recorder, and David Gharky, treasurer. William' Swords Was appointed marshal. The original act was amended several times before Portsmouth was incorporated as a city in 1851, and various ordinances were passed which had a vital bearing on the body politic, or town corporation. In May, 1816, Thomas Waller was appointed first town surveyor, the forerunner f the office f city civil engineer. • In May, 1823, the town was divided into two wards, East and West, Market Street being the dividing line. Three health officers were created by an ordinance of August, 1824, and in May, 1829, a measure was passed regulating the Town Market. BIRD'S -EYE VIEW OF PORTSMOUTH REGULATING THE TOWN MARKET According to the ordinance regulating the market, Wednesday and Saturday were the official market days, and the hours for transacting business from daylight to 10 A. M. At opening and closing, the clerk of the market was to ring a bell. Articles there exposed were not to be sold or bought at any place in town outside the public market; sellers were fined from 50. cents to $2 and buyers, $1 to $5. The clerk f the market was to furnish measures and weights in case of dispute. Butchers' stalls were rented at $8 per year. STREET SUPERVISOR OR COMMISSIONER An ordinance of May, 1829, created the office of supervisor, whose chief duty appeared to be to have the streets kept in repair through the enforced labor of the citizens. HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 165 ORIGINAL ACT AMENDED The year 1838 brought a. number of important changes. In March the original act of incorporation was amended by a provision of twenty-three sections. By the amendatory act the mayor was to be elected for a term of two years, the town treasurer for the same term and the marshal for one year. Provision was also made for the president of the town council, a recorder and a town. clerk. A board of five school examiners and visitors was created; fire companies were authorized; lighting of the town regulated; provision made for the purchase of sites for a schoolhouse in each district and authorizing the town to borrow $100,000 at not over 7 per cent interest. STREETS RENAMED On May 4, 1838, the names of the streets were changed by ordinance—Water Street to Front; Front to Second ; Second to Third ; Third to Fourth, and so on to Ninth Street; East Street to Court; First East to Washington ; Second East to Chillicothe ; West Street to Jefferson; First West to Madison and Second West to Massie; Scioto and Market remaining unchanged. By ordinance of September, 1838, the Town of Portsmouth was divided into three school districts corresponding to the three wards then in existence. CURBING SPORTS AND YOUNG SPORTS In July, 1840, an ordinance was passed to prevent horse racing within the limits of the town and no race track could be established therein. In May, of the following year, the town authorities forbade the sale of liquor to minors in any hotel within the limits of Portsmouth. NUCLEUS OF POLICE FORCE In April, 1845, an ordinance was passed providing for town guards and night watch. Each ward was to have a town guard to see that the night watchmen performed their duties ; he was an inspector of police, with police powers. By an ordinance passed April 6, 1849, the town subscribed $100,000 to the capital stock of the Scioto and Hocking Valley Railroad. As already noted, this line was completed to Jackson in 1852 and to Hamden Junction by 1856, where, by its connection with the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad gave Portsmouth connection with the East and West. Thus, when the town commenced to look forward to municipal incorporation, it was a growing community of 4,000 people, with assured railway connection and a promising future. 166 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION TWICE A CITY Portsmouth has a double claim to municipal life. On March 6, 1851, the Legislature passed an act of incorporation, which was adopted by popular vote. That measure was only in force until September, when the state constitution of 1851 went into effect, and under the legislation following Portsmouth was incorporated under the general law as to cities. All the ordinances of the Town of Portsmouth not inconsistent with that law were perpetuated in the new city corporation. FIRST CITY GOVERNMENT By an ordinance passed .in March, 1852, providing for the election f the corporate officers f the City f Portsmouth, the following were named as constituting the municipal government : Mayor, treasurer, marshal, city clerk, city surveyor, wharf master, street commissioner, clerk of the market, inspector of domestic spirits, inspector of flour, measurer of wood and coal and weigher of hay. Under the head of ward officers were councilmen, trustees of public instruction, watchman and health officer. The office of surveyor f the town was established in April, 1848 ; that of wharf master in January, 1852 ; that of city clerk in February, 1852 ; the city watch in December, 1851 ; the offices of wood and coal measurer and board measurer, in 1852, and that of sexton of the City Cemetery in May, 1851. EXPANSION OF CORPORATE AREA Under the town government, no large addition was made to the original Massie plats until 1829, when the Canal Addition of forty-nine acres was recorded by William Lodwick, William Kendall, Isaac Noel and others. This tract extended from Madison Street to Chillicothe, and from the old plat north to Fifth Street ; on the west side to Sixth along the east side of Market. In 1831, Aaron Kinney and others platted over one hundred acres as an increase to the town area, and in 1834 the estate f Thomas Waller placed on record the Thomas Waller Subdivision. Martin Funk 's heirs added over two hundred acres of platted property in 1839 ; William V. Peck and others sixty-five acres in 1847, and Oliver M. Spencer laid out the Barr Addition of ninety-six acres in 1848. When Portsmouth was incorporated as a city it had gained an area of more than thirteen hundred acres, or over two square miles. HEADS OF THE TOWN GOVERNMENT As stated, when the town was organized the president f the council was head of the corporation and ex-officio mayor. The people first elected their town officers on March 27, 1837. The successive heads f the town HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 167 government were as follows : Thomas Waller, M. D., 1815 ; John R. Turner, 1822 ; Jacob Clingman, 1823 ; John R. Turner, 1825 ; Havillah Gunn, 1830 ; Ezra Osborn, 1831 ; Moses Gregory, 1834; Silas W. Cole, 1835 ; John R. Turner, 1836 ; Richard H. Tomlin, 1837 ; Edward Hamilton, 1838 ; John McDowell, 1842 ; Richard H. Tomlin, 1844 ; George Johnson, 1846 ; Benjamin Ramsey, 1850. CREATION OF MUNICIPAL OFFICES The office f recorder was created by the original town charter ; his duties were to keep a record of every law and ordinance and of all the council proceedings. The amendment to the charter passed in 1838 provided that the council might appoint a town clerk to keep the journal of that body, although the recorder does not appear to have taken advantage of that privilege until 1847, when Edward Hamilton filled the minor office under Recorder Moses Gregory. With the incorporation of the municipality, the city clerk assumed these duties. The office of street commissioner has always been an active one. One supervisor performed his duties until 1824, when the town was divided into two wards for street purposes, with one supervisor for each ward. Since 1834 there has been but one supervisor, or street commissioner. On the 1st of May, 1816, Dr. Thomas Waller was one of the original nine councilmen who was appointed town surveyor by the council, and in April, 1818, a survey and plat of Portsmouth was ordered. When the municipal incorporation was effected the town surveyor became the city civil engineer. JOHN R. TURNER, STAR OFFICIAL During the early years f the town and city f Portsmouth, no man was better known than John R. Turner ; the corporation and the county and the. government bestowed their official favors upon him generously and continuously. The Turner family came to Scioto County from Virginia when John R. was about twenty-one years of age. The young man was teaching school when Alexander Curran resigned as clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, because he was afraid to issue a warrant for the arrest f the fiery Gen. Robert Lucas. Other county officers resigned at the same time and for the same reason ; they were afraid to have any hand. in the legal squelching of Lucas, afterward governor of Ohio and Iowa. John R. Turner, the Alexandria school teacher, stepped into the breach, and for his pluck was rewarded not only with the clerkship f the court but the recordership of the county. By appointment and election, despite political opposition and attempts at impeachment, he remained clerk of the Court of Common Pleas for forty-five years. In that capacity " he issued all marriage licenses and, as a local minister of the Methodist Church, performed the ceremonies and we may well believe the claim that he married more persons in Scioto County than any other person 168 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION before, during of since his time. While clerk of the court he was also master in chancery and a master commissioner and, as such, made many sales. In 1812 Mr Turner was appointed clerk of the Court of County Commissioners and thus continued until 1821, when the office of auditor was created. He was recorder of the county from 1810 to 1823 he was appointed postmaster of Portsmouth to succeed Dr. Thomas Waller, who had died in office, and continued to hold the government position until 1829; as he was whig, he was turned out by Jackson. Evidently the county commissioners came to the conclusion that Turner needed curbing and regulating in his capacity for assimilating office; for in 1826 they refused to allow him to transact his postal duties, as agent of Uncle Sam, in the courthouse. At that time the postmaster was clerk of the court, recorder, master in. chancery and a town councilman . Mr. Turner was first elected to the town council in 1816; and reelected in 1819 and 1822. He was president of the council in 1822, 1825 and 1838, and mayor in 1822, 1836 and from 1855 to 1857. For many years he was also a school examiner and visitor. In 1826 he was chosen a fence-viewer of Wayne township, with William Peebles as his associate; and f those days that office was of much more importance than the name would indicate. Mr. Turner was a good speaker .and as versatile in speech as in practical accomplishments; in either politics or religion he was equally at home. He was courteous and self-poised, a born diplomat, and yet faithful in the performance of his many duties and honorable in his dealings with his fellows. He retired from office in 1857, and died in October of the following year, remembered by a host of friends and by few enemies. PORTSMOUTH AND WAYNE TOWNSHIP EQUALIZED From 1851, when Portsmouth was incorporated as a city, until 1868, when its territory was made uniform with that of Wayne Township, some twenty-two acres had been added to the municipal site. A petition had been presented to the city council to annex to the corporation all that part of Wayne Township not already included within its limits. The Common Council of Portsmouth at its meeting of January 17, 1868, passed an ordinance submitting the matter to a vote of the people on April 6th following, when annexation was carried by a vote of 1,370 to 22. On the 22d of July, 1868, therefore, the county board made the following order : "For the purpose of hearing and considering of above petition of the city of Portsmouth by. its Common Council, it was ordered after due deliberation that as the evidence showed that the laws of the state had been complied with by said petitioning city, from this date all that part of Wayne township lying east of the present corporation line, and also north of said line and east of a line commencing at a point in the line between Wayne and Clay townships, north 87 1/2 degrees, west 43 poles and 17 links of the center of the Columbus and Portsmouth HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 169 turnpike; thence south 12 1/2 degrees, east 24 poles to a stake; thence along foot of high bank with the meanders south 22 degrees, east 24 poles to a stake; thence south 22 degrees, west 52 poles to a stake in the south line of lot No. 9, of. the Kinney division in Wayne township, and in the north line of said present corporation of the city of Portsmouth shall be annexed to and become part f the city of Portsmouth; and by consent of the City Council of the city of Portsmouth, duly and legally certified, the remaining part of Wayne township lying west of the last above described line, shall be annexed to and become part of Clay township, as per petition of S. W. Cole and J. R. Richardson on file with plat and original papers." The foregoing was signed by John McDowell, C. F. Bradford and Isaac H. Wheeler, county commissioners. EARLY EFFORTS TOWARD PUBLIC HYGIENE Very early in the history f the town, the site was not attractive. Much of the ground on the western part and north of what is now Second Street was swampy in the -wet season, and was covered with stagnant water in which the frogs reveled and croaked. The river bank was steep and muddy, and along the line f Second Street was a second bank, a pronounced ridge. But early steps were taken by the authorities, especially after the town's corporation, to remedy the sanitary defects, and numerous measures were taken to secure neatness and health. In the fall of 1815 the supervisor of streets was instructed by the council to open all the ditches at the expense of the corporation, and other action was taken within the succeeding few years to have the town properly drained. Ordinances were passed to "regulate the public well," drain the slough on Third Street west of Chillicothe and supervise the Public Market. Dogs were banished from the town limits by an ordinance of January, 1816, .and in March of the following year hogs were prohibited from running at large. The two measures last mentioned were afterward repealed, although the hog ordinance was subsequently placed on the books. In March, 1823, Doctors Waller, Offnere and empstead were appointed a committee" to report on the slaughter houses within the corporate limits as affecting the public health, and the council afterward took steps to regulate them, as well as the tanneries, as to the mode and places of disposition of the refuse. In 1824 the board f health was created and the cholera epidemic of 1832 kept it busy, as well as the private physicians of the place. The public wells, from which so many of the citizens drew their domestic supplies, were for years a source of anxious legislation, and measures were finally passed forbidding the townsmen to-use the water for washing clothes, or watering live-stock. 170 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION EARLY SEWERS CONSTRUCTED These troubles and efforts at protecting the public health continued, with indifferent results, for half a century, or until the building of the first waterworks in 1871-72. But the discussion presenting the need of such a system had commenced as early as 1856, when the first city sewer was constructed along the line of the swale or stream called the Gut, just south of Third Street. This spongy swale marked the direction of Third Street, lying almost parallel with it, just to the south. It was bridged at the street crossings and the town constructed approaches to the bridges. That condition continued until about 1838, when the portion f the town north of Third Street commenced to build up and improve. The large pond, already noted, stood where the Fourth Street school was afterward built. These localities, especially the Gut, were breeders of disease, despite the early efforts to drain them. When the city was incorporated, the board of health and all the local physicians urged the establishment of a public system for the disposal of the sewage. The first tangible result of this agitation was the completion f the Third Street sewer, along the line of the obnoxious Gut, in the fall f 1856. It was four feet in diameter. With the construction f the sewer, the stagnant stream was filled and obliterated. The mouth of. the Third Street sewer was in the Scioto bottom west f the city ; thence it ran along Madison Street to Third, east along Third to Gay, up that thoroughfare to Fourth, east along Fourth to North Waller, and thence to the lowlands northeast of the city. It had a branch at the corner f Fourth and Gay running to Gallia, and two other branches in alleys extending to Gallia from Fourth. The other early sewers were the Findlay 'Street, Chillicothe Street, Miller Alley, Thompson Street, Mill Street and Fifth Street. The extension of the system has kept pace with the growth of the city and. the platting of property as additions to its original site. FOUNDING OF THE FIRST WATERWORKS The long agitation for a city system of waterworks gave birth to the passage of an ordinance, in December, 1870, which 'provided that it should be established on the Holly plan of water-supply and fire-protection. The founding f the works -was placed in the hands f three trustees, specially elected for the purpose—Phillip H. Kelly, Charles S. Green and Lewis C. Robinson. On March. 3, 1871, an ordinance was passed which "set apart and appropriated that part of the public landing, so called and known, as lies between the old corporation line and the east line of Gay street and between Mill street and the Ohio river" to the uses of the water-works trustees ; and thereon was constructed the necessary machinery. The contract for constructing the works complete, which were ready for use in April, 1872, was given to Weir and Overdale. On May 8th of that year, the trustees of the waterworks reported that the total cost of the HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 171 installation of the system had been $132,291.13; that there were nearly eight and a half miles f mains and 16,114 feet of service pipe. The growing city required an enlargement of the works in every department, so that by the middle '80s nearly twenty miles of pipe was in service, with. about thirteen hundred hydrants, of which some ninety were for the use of the fire department. Although a vast improvement over the public Wells, the old waterworks were very imperfect and unsatisfactory ; but they filled the bill, in a way, for a period of forty years. BUILDING OF THE PRESENT WATER SYSTEM In 1908 there was a general demand for a new system of water works, and the common council appointed a committee of citizens to study the needs of the community with reference thereto. After three years a decision was reached and the proposed plan was submitted to the State Board of Health. That body recommended minor changes as to location and nature of installation ; it was upon the recommendation of the state board that the reservoir was placed on Timmonds Hill and the general location of the plant fixed at its present site on the banks of the Ohio River, five miles east of the city. The committee of citizens, by whom the original investigations were conducted, resigned, and the common council, as a body, built the works. The contracts were let in August, 1911, and, on account of vexatious delays, the works were not completed until after about three years ; and there are still defects which experts claim should be remedied, in order to guarantee the city against a shortage of water in case of a break in a main. The pumping station and the filtering plant are on. the river bank, a quarter of a mile apart, and the clear-water basin, or purifying station, on Timmonds Hill, not far to the northwest. The general plan of distribution includes a direct connection of this outlying plant with the City of Portsmouth, which is encircled by a belt of water pipes. The total value of the Portsmouth system of waterworks as now installed is estimated at $750,000. Adam Frick, the present mayor of Portsmouth, has been a leader in the founding of the waterworks now in commission. THE MAYORS OF THE CITY The first mayor of Portsmouth, Benjamin Ramsey, served two terms, being elected March 11, 1850, and was therefore "carried over" from the town government. He was a lawyer f only fair ability ; a large man—some said a lazy one. During the last year of his stay in Portsmouth, from which he departed in November, 1853, he served as probate judge. Mayor Ramsey's successors in the mayoralty were as follows: William Oldfield, 1852 ; Adam Kerr, 1853 ; John R. Turner. 1855 : John 172 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION Vanmeter, 1857; Adam Kerr, 1858; John Wilson, 1865; John M. Lynn, 1867; John A. Turley, 1871 ; George W. Flanders, 1873 ; .Samuel P. Nickel's, 1875; John M. Lynn, 1877; Henry A. Towne, 1879; George W. Crawford, 1881; John J. McFarlin, 1883; John A. Turley, 1885; George A. Waller, 1889; Henry Hall, .1891 ; Volney R. Row, 1895 ; Charles C. Glidden, 1897; Cread Milstead, 1901; Wells A. Hutchins, 1905; Henry C. Searcy, 1907; Fred N. Tynes, 1911; Adam Frick, 1913. FIRE AND POLICE DEPARTMENTS The City f Portsmouth has fire- and. police protection adequate to its size and population.. Its police department comprises a 'captain -and sergeant, with a score of men on the force. The fire department is housed in three building's, Engine House No. 1, headquarters, accommodates the chief, his assistant, a captain and nine men; No. 2, a captain and six. men, and No. 3, a captain and seven men. About one hundred alarm boxes are in operation within the city limits, special calls having been devised for some of the large indus-trial districts. . Portsmouth.. suffered quite a damaging fire in 1820 and two years afterward the town council passed an ordinance compelling the owners Of houses to keep fire buckets on the premises. That- was the first recorded step toward fire protection. In 1823 fire ladders and hooks were furnished by the town and a volunteer company was organized. In 1831 James. C. Davis, formerly of Pittsburgh, aided by George Stevenson, built the first fire engine ever used in Portsmouth, and by an ordinance passed August 17, 1838, the first regular fire department was established. It consisted. f Fire Despatch Engine and Neptune Hose companies. The ordinance provided for the appointment by the town council of two fire wardens in each of the two wards, to hold office annually. Their duties called them rather to prevent fires than. to extinguish them ; they 'were to especially act as inspectors f hearths and flues, to see that they-were. safely constructed and placed. This ordinance was probably the outcome f the big fire of 1835, by which nearly all the Biggs House Block was destroyed. In time other engines joined the solitary Fire Despatch, so that by 1845 there were several of them, as well as a hook and ladder. In 1849 another large fire originated on the corner of Front and Madison streets. Portsmouth also had its 1871 fire, which crippled her business for a time, but brought forcibly to her attention the need f a modern system of Waterworks, with the greatly increased fire protection thus afforded. On March 6th of that year the Taylor (afterward Biggs) House, Massie Block and other structures in their vicinity, were burned at a total loss of $200,000 with an insurance of less than $40,000. After the construction of the waterworks in 1871-72, additional facilities for fighting fire were presented and. an improved department HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 173 demanded. The hand engines were sold and hose wagons purchased to bring the water to the fire. A steam fire engine was first secured in 1867 and a second one in the summer of 1883. GREAT FIRES OF THE '90s Although New Boston is a separate corporation, for all practical purposes it is a close suburb f Portsmouth; so the fire of September 7, 1892, which destroyed $100,000 worth of lumber owned by the Kanawha Lumber Company, with planing mill and dry house, was considered a Portsmouth misfortune. In January, 1893, the Portsmouth Wheel Works and several other buildings on Eleventh Street Were burned, and on June 7, 1898, occurred an. even more destructive fire, which wiped out the Burgess Steel and Iron Works at a loss of $250,000. Such lessons as these have been so effectively received by the citizens of Portsmouth that a great fire has not visited the locality for more than a decade; and at the present time every effort is being directed to the work f making the new system of waterworks the strongest possible agency in fire-protection, if the danger should arise in the future. PORTSMOUTH'S PUBLIC LIBRARIES The intelligent and enterprising people of Portsmouth strove for eighty years with various library projects before their efforts realized the fine institution which the public now enjoys. Credit for planting the seed which has developed to such a substantial and far spreading influence is given to Miss Eliza Dupuy, an authoress of some note who resided on the corner of Second and Washington streets in the '30s and '40s. Among her literary friends were Dr. G. S. B. Hempstead, Judge William V. Peck, Edward Hamilton, John Glover and Francis Cleveland, and a society was formed by them and others, one object f which was the formation of a town library to be composed of contributions from its members. This little collection was shelved for several years in a room on the corner of Front and Market streets, awaiting the time when the project should receive a more general support. That time came on the 11th of February, 1839, when a well attended meeting of citizens was held, for the purpose of formally establishing a Public library. On the 1st of March the Portsmouth Library Company organized by electing as its directors, B. Kepner, Edward Hamilton, John Rose, S. M. Tracy, G. S. B: Hempstead, J. H. Thornton, B. F. Conway, Thomas Charles and :Henry Blake. From that movement and organization grew what was long known in the town as the Public School Library. That collection was also of quite limited proportions and during the many years when the public library lay dormant, over- 174 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION shadowed by the Civil war and other more pressing issues, many of the books were lost, The bulk of this second library, which had inherited considerable of its collection from the pioneer; was transferred to the rooms f the Young Men's Christian Association,. That organization had formed a small library and generously donated a portion of it's collection to further the project of the Misses Mary and Maggie Peebles, who, in the fall of 1876, established free reading rooms in a house on Second Street. These two enthusiastic and high-minded young ladies had canvassed those in the city. who were well-disposed toward such public movements and originated BIRTHPLACE OF JULIA MARLOWE AT PORTSMOUTH (First house to the left) rather a unique plan to support the enterprise ; it was that the married men should pay the house rerit for the first year, the married ladies guarantee the fuel and salaries of those in charge, the young men meet the gas bills and the young ladies supply the periodicals and newspapers, After the second year those who were to pay the rent, which was high for those days, failed to do their part, and Mrs, Rachel Hamilton came forward and cheerfully met that item of expense for years, David Ramsey and his two daughters, Adelle and Venetia, long had charge of the rooms, the first officers of the society being as follows : Mrs, Amanda Purcell, president ; Mrs, George O. Newman, vice president ; Miss Ada G. Dunlap, secretary ; Miss M, E, Peebles, treasurer, Miss Dunlap served only about two months and was succeeded by M, E, Draper, . Various private donations and small purchases of books brought the library tip to one thousand or twelve hundred volumes ; the tables were well supplied with current literature and the rooms were made attractive and comfortable, The city reading rooms, as they were called, were also given over to various meetings of a benevolent and religious character,