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EXPLORING
KENTUCKY - November 2005 by Katherine Tandy Brown The Greatest Battle That Never Occurred
As a crowd of 300 stood high on a bluff, there came a “Rat-a-tat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat!” Tree-filtered sunlight dappled the wool uniforms of the Camp Chase Fifes and Drums as the authentically clad musicians marched toward the gathering. The woodwinds began to shrill “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Reenactors lit the fuse of a cannon, and its boom echoed across the valley. For just a moment, time fell away. During two September weeks in 1862, Union General Lew Wallace organized 50,000 citizen militiamen and 22,000 soldiers to construct an eight-mile defensive line from Ludlow to Fort Thomas in order to keep Cincinnati (then the nation’s sixth-largest city) and Northern Kentucky from falling into Rebel hands. Financed by Queen City banker William Hooper, one artillery position just outside what is now Fort Wright was named Battery Hooper. So impressive was the enforcement that when Confederate Gen. Henry Heth and 8,000 troops showed up, they took a look and withdrew without attacking. Only four men were killed in skirmishes between guards. “It’s called the greatest battle that never occurred,” said Dr. James A. Ramage, Regents Professor of History at Northern Kentucky University (NKU), a museum board member and nationally recognized Civil War expert. “It was a bloodless Union victory. The community united in one of those superhuman responses that characterize Americans in crisis.” Located less than a mile from the center of town, the new facility is the second largest in Kentucky, behind the Old Bardstown Civil War Museum. Though not an historic home, the 1941 dwelling housing the new museum belonged to a former food editor for the Cincinnati Post, Fern Storer, and her husband, Sheldon. After the couple donated 17 acres to the NKU Foundation, Dr. Ramage applied for an NKU community partnership grant to save the land. The City of Fort Wright purchased it for $790,000 in 2003, with the understanding that the battery would be preserved. “Once any historic site is gone, it’s gone forever, and once houses are built over it, it’ll never come back,” he said. “Saving a Civil War site is the opportunity of a lifetime.” Exhibits include Northern Kentucky’s role in the Civil War, a complete timeline, the Grand Army of the Republic and the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, the ongoing site excavation and the history of Fort Wright. Among numerous old photos and artifacts are the war diary of a Union volunteer at Battery Hooper, the canteen of a soldier commended by Gen. Stonewall Jackson for his bravery at Manassas, and an 1861 sword used by the great-great grandfather of Bob Clements, the museum’s chairman of events and vice president of its board. A joint partnership of the City of Fort Wright, NKU and the Behringer-Crawford Museum, the project has enthusiastic community support. In what Ramage calls “a model of historic preservation,” 140 volunteers showed up to help with public archaeological excavations in September 2004. Weekend unearthing continues under the supervision of the Central Kentucky Archaeological Society and NKU students, and anyone over the age of 10 can volunteer. “They’ve found much more than we expected,” said Jeannine Kreinbrink, Civil War museum board president and archaeologist for Covington’s Behringer-Crawford. “We thought these were all earth constructions but it turns out there are stone foundations for a powder magazine and gun emplacement. This was built as a permanent battery.” “People forget how easily this area could’ve fallen” said Kreinbrink. “If Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky had fallen to the South, the Confederates would’ve controlled the Ohio River from Pittsburg to the Mississippi, which would’ve been disastrous psychologically and materially to the Union.” Modern-day visitors can taste an 1860s holiday during a Civil War Christmas, December 9-11, when costumed soldiers will lead a candlelight walk and tours of the beautifully decorated house. After the annual Fort Wright tree lighting, take a ride to the museum in a carriage to hear choirs and join in Civil War era Christmas songs. “Surprisingly, almost everything we sing today was sung during that time as well,” said Clements. “Most popular carols were written between 1830 and 1855.” Find out specifics and driving directions at www.fortwright.com and link on to the Civil War Museum, or call (859) 331-1700.
Katherine Tandy
Brown is a staff writer for The Lane Report. |
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Copyright 1996-2005, by Kentucky Business Online. All rights reserved. Editorial content
is copyright 2005, Lane Communications Group The Lane Report is a trademark of Lane Communications Group. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. |
On August 20th, Fort Wright Mayor Gene Weaver presided over the official dedication ceremony of the James A. Ramage Civil War Museum, newly opened in June. 
Southern Lights