Monday, December 29, 2003
The new spot won't have a parking lot.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
WEST POINT -- The monument to Civil War raider Gen. John H. Morgan isn't a statue of the hard-riding Confederate commander, but it resembles him in one aspect -- it just can't seem to stay in one place.
The nearly 7-foot-tall stone marker will move this spring for the second time in its nearly hundred-year existence, said Atty. Tim Brookes, a Civil War enthusiast and spokesman for the East Liverpool Historical Society.
Plans call for moving the marker back to its first location along state Route 518, south of Lisbon, Brookes said. A rededication ceremony likely will be in the summer.
The society originally erected the monument in 1909 at the spot where the July 26, 1863, capture of Morgan and his band of about 364 raiders occurred.
Morgan's surrender ended a 24-day, four-state raid and marked the northernmost incursion by a Confederate force during the war.
In 1958, the state installed a roadside rest on leased land about a quarter-mile west along state Route 518 and persuaded the historical society to let the marker be moved there, where it stands today.
Earlier this year, the state said it was closing the rest area as part of a statewide effort to shutter underused facilities.
The Morgan's monument spot had gained notoriety over the years as a meeting place for homosexuals to engage in sex.
Original spot
The "new" spot for the marker will be on the 20-foot-by-30-foot chunk of property the historical society had bought for the monument's 1909 installation, Brookes said.
There will be no parking lot at the new spot. Visitors, which generally are few, can park along the road, Brookes said.
Arrangements also are being made to allow parking on private land nearby, he added.
The Ohio Department of Transportation is expected to handle the cost of returning the marker to its original location, Brookes said.
Sometime next year, the surrender spot will get more attention when it is marked as part of a multistate effort to create a heritage trail tracing Morgan's path.
"When this is done, I'll be tickled to death," Brookes said of the marker's moving. "This is where it should have been all along."
leigh@vindy.com