Battle of Buffington Island

Battle of the American Civil War

Continuing upstream after the main battle dissolved into skirmishes, Moose fired on a Confederate artillery column attempting to cross the river above the island at the next shoal crossing. Fitch dispatched Imperial to recover Confederate field artillery left behind there. All along the river, spotty gunboat and field cannon fire with clusters of rifle fire was heard shooting at Morgan's scouts, looking for another possible ford. Meanwhile, Parkersburg logistics terminal had sent a local armed packet with 9th Infantry sentries below Blennerhassett Island on word of the battle's gunfire some twenty miles below. These paralleled patrols were opposite the Belpre, Ohio Union Army encampment below the Ohio side of the terminal. This steamboat river harbor and large land debarkations camp blocked Morgan's further attempt to ford the river upstream, turning his retreat north and away from this Ohio River area. The local support vessels were busy hauling ammunition, rations and prisoners. Belpre, Ohio had a supply receiving dockage and depot.

On the foggy morning of July 19, a U. S. brigade under Henry M. Judah (1,100 men) finally caught up with Morgan and attacked his position on the broad flood plain just north of Portland, as another column under Edward Hobson (450 men) arrived on the scene. In the spirited early fighting, Maj. Daniel McCook, the 65 year old patriarch of the famed Fighting McCooks, was mortally wounded. In addition, two Union gunboats, the U. S. S. Moose and the Allegheny Belle, steamed into the narrow channel separating Buffington Island from the flood plain and opened fire on Morgan's men, spraying them with shell fragments. Soon, they were joined by a third gunboat. Also brought onto the field were 970 soldiers under Eliakim Scammon, although this force was not actively engaged. Therefore, only 1,550 Federals were engaged with Morgan's exhausted men. Morgan, his way to the Buffington Island ford now totally blocked, fled behind a small rear guard and tried to fight northward along the flood plain, hoping to reach yet another ford. It proved to be an exercise in futility, as the converging U. S. columns split apart Morgan's force, and 52 Confederates were killed, with well over one hundred badly wounded in the swirling fighting. Morgan and about 700 men escaped encirclement following a narrow path through the woods. However, his brother in law and second in command, Col. Basil W. Duke, was captured, as were 71 of Morgan's cavalrymen, including his younger brother John Morgan. Duke formally surrendered to Col. Isaac Garrard of the 7th Ohio Cavalry. Morgan's beleaguered troops soon headed upstream for the unguarded ford opposite Belleville, West Virginia, where over 300 men fled across the Ohio River, most notably Stovepipe Johnson and famed telegrapher George Ellsworth. Halfway across the ford, Morgan noted with dismay that his remaining men were trapped on the Ohio side as the Union gunboats suddenly loomed into view. He wheeled his horse midchannel and rejoined what was left of his column on the Ohio riverbank. Over the next few days, they failed to find a secure place to cross the river, and Morgan's remaining force was captured on July 26 in northern Ohio following the Battle of Salineville. Many of those captured at Buffington Island were taken via steamboat to Cincinnati as prisoners of war, including most of the wounded. Morgan and most of his officers were confined to the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus. Morgan, Thomas Hines, and a few others would later escape and flee to Kentucky.

Comparatively little changed on the Buffington Island battlefield in the first century after the fighting; the only substantial difference was the placement of a stone obelisk marking the battle. In 1929, the Ohio Historical Society took ownership of the property. In 1970, the National Register of Historic Places listed the battlefield. Embracing approximately near the river, the designated portion of the battlefield was the county's first location to be recognized as this type of historic site.