ATHENS, Ohio — The Southeast Ohio History Center will host a talk this month on a deadly 1904 clash between Ohio National Guard troops and U.S. Army regulars that left one soldier dead on the streets of Athens.
Cyrus Moore, director of the Baltimore Community Museum in Fairfield County, will present “Blood on the Bricks: The Battle of Athens and the Ohio National Guard Maneuvers of 1904” at noon Aug. 20 as part of the history center’s Lyceum Luncheon Brown Bag Speaker Series, according to the history center.
In August 1904, roughly 6,000 Ohio Guardsmen and 1,000 U.S. Army Regulars encamped north of Athens for a week of joint maneuvers, organized into two mock armies that staged battles in the surrounding hills, the history center said. Tensions between the Guardsmen and the Regulars spilled into open hostility, and an armed confrontation on the city’s streets left one Guardsman dead and several others wounded, according to the history center.
Moore’s presentation will examine what brought the Guard to Athens and the circumstances behind the deadly encounter, the history center said.
A native of Athens County, Moore serves on the City of Athens Historic Preservation Commission and has a specialized interest in the evolution of the Ohio National Guard from the Civil War through World War I, according to the history center.
More information on the presentation and the speaker series is available by calling the history center at 740-592-2280 or visiting southeastohiohistory.org, according to the release.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Southeast Ohio History Center.
