Battle of Fort Fizzle

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The "Battle of Fort Fizzle" (also called the Holmes County Draft Riots and the Holmes County Rebellion) is the name given to a skirmish that took place during the American Civil War in Holmes County, Ohio, between Federal troops and local draft resisters opposed to the Conscription Act of 1863.

Adopted by Congress on March 13, 1863, the Conscription Act authorized President Abraham Lincoln to draft men into military service in states that did not meet their volunteer quotas. When Federal officials tried to enforce the act in Holmes County in June, about 900 to 1000 locals built a makeshift fort, equipped with four artillery pieces, to prevent the act's enforcement. After a brief encounter in which two resisters were wounded, a force of 420 Federal troops dispersed the resisters, giving the place the name "Fort Fizzle" because the rebellion had "fizzled out."

Civil order was restored when four resisters who had assaulted a Federal draft official turned themselves in.

[edit] References

• Ohio History Central Online Encyclopedia: Battle of Fort Fizzle
• Ohio Historical Marker #3-38: Holmes County Draft Riots

Ohio in the American Civil War

1861: Early military recruiting - Camp Chase - Camp Dennison - Department of the Ohio - McClellan's Buckeyes seize western Virginia - Fighting McCooks - Johnson's Island POW camp 1862: Anti-war movement - Knights of the Golden Circle - First Confederate incursion into Ohio - Defense of Cincinnati - Black Brigade of Cincinnati 1863: "Fort Fizzle" - Morgan's Raid - Battle of Buffington Island - Battle of Salineville 1864-65: Hundred Days Men - Ohio's generals and admirals - Ohio's regiments - Cincinnati in the Civil War - Cleveland in the Civil War - Buckeye POWs and the Sultana Post-war memorialization: Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument