Double Surrender Near Ewington, and the Vinton Civil War Bean Dinner

Written especially for the Meigs Independent Press by John Holcomb.

During the American Civil War an incident happened near Ewington, Ohio that marked this community’s place in history. This incident was a double surrender that occurred during the Morgan Raid which started when Confederate General John Hunt Morgan’s forces left Sparta Tennessee on June 27, 1863 heading north through the states of Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio.

The rebels first entered Gallia County in Huntington Township on the evening of July 17, 1863 coming in by way of the Keystone Furnace in Jackson County. The rebels then headed south to the village of Vinton on their way to the Ohio River. As they left Vinton the rebels burned the covered bridge spanning Big Raccoon Creek.

Morgan’s intention was to cross the Ohio River at a ford and escape with his men into Virginia (now West Virginia). Instead the rebels suffered a defeat at Buffington Island. A number of rebels were killed, about four hundred captured, and some escaped across the Ohio River into West Virginia. Eight hundred men, including Morgan, avoided capture by heading south into Gallia County. This was the raider’s second entry into Gallia County. They entered Cheshire Township passing through the village of Kyger on July 20, 1863. The force continued further south the same day into the village of Addison in Addison Township before turning northwest and heading into Springfield Township to the village of Porter. From Porter the force of 800 headed north stopping east and north of the village of Vinton, where they spent the night of July 20th. (The John Hunt Morgan Raid of 1863 by Robert Edgar Ervin, 2003, pp-135, 137.)

The next morning, July 21, 1863 Morgan’s forces entered the village of Ewington and captured a portion of the 1st Ohio Militia Regiment commanded by Lt. Col. Louis Sontag. Sontag was leading a force of men from several counties that had been assembled at Camp Portsmouth to get in the rear of Morgan. This force had been divided at Jackson with orders to met at Ewington, Gallia County. Sontag’s force had reached the village first and his men were the first to encounter the rebels resulting in their surrender to Morgan.

After Morgan’s men had taken all the ammunition from Sontag’s militia group at Ewington, the rebel forces proceeded west toward the Keystone Furnace 6.2 miles distance in Jackson County capturing the other portion of the 1st Ohio Militia Regiment under Major Slain on route. In both instances, the rebel forces captured the militia units without firing a shot and obtaining much needed ammunition. Fifty four rebel soldiers, who couldn’t double time for the next 24 hours, then surrendered to the unarmed Ohio militia resulting in the historic double surrender near Ewington. (The Portsmouth Times, July 25 & August 8, 1863. McArthur Democrat, July 23, 1863. [An eyewitness stated that rebel forces and militia forces were both on the grounds of the Academy building during the course of these incidents.])

The Ewington Academy was designed by George Ewing, and opened in 1859. The academy, located just 2.5 miles north of Vinton, provided high school level education for students from Vinton, Ewington, and neighboring communities until 1901. It was then used as a grade school until about 1947.

Starting in about 1891, and continuing, perhaps, until 1914, the Academy building (according to one ac-count) was used by members of the D. W. Shenefield GAR Post at Ewington for their Post Headquarters. This GAR Post (No. 734) was organized at Ewington on March 4, 1891, and five months later on August 15, 1891, the Post held the first of a series of annual GAR bean dinners at Ewington. It has been said that the Post stored some of its possessions (perhaps some of the items it used for the Ewington bean dinner) in the academy. The Post disbanded twenty-three years later in 1914.

Remarkably, the Ewington Academy is still used today as a Post Headquarters. For the past fifty years or more, and one hundred years after the Grand Army Post at Ewington quit using the Academy for its head-quarters, The American Legion, Vinton Post 161 has been using this building for its Headquarters. It is here, in this civil war era building, that Post 161 makes plans, and stored items for the annual Vinton Ohio civil war bean dinner. (Post 161 took over sponsorship of the Vinton bean dinner in 1950.)

In addition to the fact that The American Legion, Vinton Post 161 uses an historic landmark for its head-quarters, the Post also conducts the annual Vinton bean dinner near an historic landmark. This landmark is the spot where the rebel forces under Gen. John Hunt Morgan crossed Big Raccoon Creek as they passed through the village of Vinton on route to the Ohio River. A swinging bridge marks the spot and rests on one of the stone abutments of the original wooden bridge burned by the rebel forces on July 17, 1863. (The second stone abutment of the original bridge is lying nearby on the other side of the creek.)

Interestingly, the bean dinner at Vinton is a bean dinner that was started by veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic; a dinner that is sponsored by modern day veterans whose headquarters was a former Grand Army Post; and last, is an event that is conducted at a spot where armies of both the North and South passed on their way to the Ohio River. Moreover, the traditional army meal of beans, prepared in the fashion the Union veterans prepared their beans at this very same bean dinner, is available to give the public a taste of army life or, perhaps, in this case a taste of history.

The Vinton bean dinner is one of six (known) civil war bean dinners in the state of Ohio. (Information on Ohio’s other five authentic civil war bean dinners will be posted at the Vinton bean dinner on August 2nd.) Good food, refreshments, live music, and games generally await those who attend these events. Bean serv-ing usually starts around noon and lasts several hours. (A parade precedes the annual Vinton bean dinner and those wishing to participate in this parade should gather at the Vinton Elementary School around 10:30.) The public is welcome and invited to attend these unique memorials to the soldiers of the civil war. People should also remember today’s soldiers, and today’s veterans all of whom deserve a similar tribute. Patronize these events and remember the servicemen and women while helping to maintain Ohio’s unique civil war legacy, its unbroken link with the American Civil War.