A short distance south of Zane's Trace, West
Union was established by an act of the Ohio
Legislature on April 13, 1803, as the seat of
Adams County. West Union was surveyed in the
spring of the following year, and became
important stagecoach stop on Zane's Trace.
Thomas Kirker, an Adams County resident who
would later serve as Ohio's second governor (1807-1808), named West Union. The county commissioners
first met here June 11, 1804. In later years,
residents of the village became actively involved
in the Underground Railroad.
Camp Hamer. The Adams County Fairgrounds, established at
this site in October 1853, on seven acres of land
donated by Judge George Collings, was converted
to a Civil War training camp named in honor of
General Thomas Hamer, a Mexican War hero, of
Georgetown, Ohio. The old stone Courthouse was
made into a hospital to serve the camp. The 70th
Ohio Volunteer infantry, organized in October
1861, trained on the old fairgrounds until
Christmas day 1861, when it marched from Camp
Hamer to Ripley. The 70th participated in the
battles of Shiloh, Tennessee; Atlanta, Georgia;
the siege at Vicksburg, Mississppi, and Sherman's
March to the Sea.
Comments 0 comments