Battle of Buffington Island
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 Confederate Brig. Gen. John Hunt Morgan, who was fleeing U.S. Army soldiers across the Ohio River at a ford opposite Buffington Island.
| Battle of Buffington Island | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the American Civil War | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| United States (Union) | CSA (Confederacy) | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Edward H. Hobson Henry M. Judah August Kautz LeRoy Fitch |
John H. Morgan Basil W. Duke Adam R. Johnson | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
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3,000: Cavalry Brigade, 3rd Division, XXIII Corps (Judah) 5th Indiana Cavalry 14th Illinois Cavalry 11th Kentucky Cavalry 8th Michigan Cavalry 9th Michigan Cavalry Battery "L" 1st Regiment Michigan Light Artillery Henshaw's Battery Illinois Light Artillery 14th Illinois Cavalry Battery 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, 23rd Army Corps (Kautz) 2nd Ohio Cavalry 7th Ohio Cavalry US Navy USS Moose Allegheny Belle Imperial |
1,930: First Brigade (Duke) 2nd Kentucky Cavalry 5th Kentucky Cavalry 6th Kentucky Cavalry 9th Kentucky Cavalry 9th Tennessee Cavalry Second Brigade (Johnson) 7th Kentucky Cavalry 8th Kentucky Cavalry 10th Kentucky Cavalry 11th Kentucky Cavalry 14th Kentucky Cavalry Kentucky Battery (four guns) | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
25 killed 30 wounded |
52 killed 100 wounded 750 captured | ||||||
Delayed overnight, Morgan was almost surrounded by U.S. cavalry the next day, and the resulting battle ended in a Confederate rout, with over half of the 1,930-man Confederate force being captured. Morgan and some 700 men escaped, but the raid finally ended on July 26 with Morgan's surrender after the Battle of Salineville. Morgan's Raid was of little military consequence, merely terrorizing the populations of southern and eastern Ohio and neighboring Indiana.