Camp Ironton Recreates City#8217;s Civil War Past

Published 12:00 am Saturday, June 3, 2006

Local residents will be able to relive part of Lawrence County’s history Saturday as the Lawrence County Historical Museum presents Camp Ironton.

The fifth annual event, which is free and open to the public, will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the museum at Sixth and Adams streets.

There will be a number of displays and special appearances by locals portraying historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln, slave abolitionist John Rankin, and Elizabeth Campbell, wife of Ironton’s founder John Campbell.

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Hot dogs, soft drinks, beans, cornbread and homemade pies will be served.

Although the county was not directly involved in the Civil War, the effects of the war rippled through the area, said Peggy Karshner, president of the historical society.

In 1861, the Lawrence Home Guard was formed to head off any possible Confederate attacks in the aftermath of the succession of West Virginia from the Union.

Another close call for local troops came when when Confederate General Albert Jenkins’s troops raided Guyandotte, W.Va. in September of 1862. At that time there were rumors that troops could come through the area and burn the iron furnaces near Ironton.

Troops from the 91st Ohio Volunteer Infantry and the Home Guard, though mainly based at Camp Ironton, were sent to guard vulnerable Burlington and Proctorville.

Karshner said Camp Ironton is an important event because it helps to keep local history alive.

“This is just a way of letting people know what our small part was in the Civil war,” she said. “Many people don’t even realize that we were involved.”