Battle of Buffington Island

Battle of Buffington Island
Part of the American Civil War
Date July 19, 1863 (1863-07-19) Location Portland, Ohio, and Buffington Island, West Virginia, United States Result Union victory
Belligerents
United States (Union)	CSA (Confederacy)
Commanders and leaders
Edward H. Hobson	John Hunt Morgan
Strength
3,000	1,700
Casualties and losses
25 Killed	52 killed 100 wounded 750 Captured

Buffington Island
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Show map of Ohio Show map of the US
Nearest city	Pomeroy, Ohio
Coordinates	39°0′9″N 81°46′30″W / 39.00250°N 81.77500°W / 39.00250; -81.77500
Area	4 acres (1.6 ha)
Built	1863
NRHP Reference #	70000508
Added to NRHP	November 10, 1970

The Battle of Buffington Island, also known as the St. Georges Creek Skirmish, was an American Civil War engagement in Meigs County, Ohio, and Jackson County, West Virginia, on July 19, 1863, during Morgan's Raid. The largest battle in Ohio during the war, Buffington Island contributed to the capture of the famed Confederate cavalry raider, Brig. Gen. John Hunt Morgan, who was seeking to escape Union army pursuers across the Ohio River at a ford opposite Buffington Island.

Delayed overnight, Morgan was almost surrounded by Union cavalry the next day, and the resulting battle ended in a Confederate rout, with over half of the 1,700-man Confederate force being captured. General Morgan and some 700 men escaped, but the daring raid finally ended on July 26 with his surrender after the Battle of Salineville. Morgan's Raid was of little military consequence, but it did spread terror among much of the population of southern and eastern Ohio, as well as neighboring Indiana.

Hoping to divert the attention of the Federal Army of the Ohio from Southern forces in Tennessee, Brig. Gen. John Hunt Morgan and 2,460 handpicked Confederate cavalrymen, along with a battery of horse artillery, rode west from Sparta, Tennessee, on June 11, 1863. Twelve days later, when a second Federal army (the Army of the Cumberland) began its Tullahoma Campaign, Morgan decided it was time to move northward. His column marched into Kentucky, fighting a series of minor battles, before commandeering two steamships to ferry them across the Ohio River into Indiana, where, at the Battle of Corydon, Morgan routed the local militia. With his path now relatively clear, Morgan headed eastward on July 13 past Cincinnati and rode across southern Ohio, stealing horses and supplies along the way.