April Featured Topic
John Brown was an ardent abolitionist who, in 1859, led a raid on the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, in hopes of securing arms to lead a slave revolt in the South. Viewed as a martyr by many, Brown was hanged for his actions.
Photographic reproduction of a portrait of abolitionist John Brown [...]

February Featured Topic
Like some residents of other Northern states, numerous Ohioans strenuously objected to the American Civil War. Various reasons existed for the reluctance of these Ohioans and their fellow Northerners to support the Union.
A sizable number of white Ohioans, especially those living along the Ohio River, had migrated to the state from slaveholding states. [...]

December Featured Topic
During the American Civil War, fifteen members of the McCook family from Ohio fought for the Union, earning them the nickname, “The Fighting McCooks.”
Although scholars disagree on the exact number of McCooks who fought in the Civil War, it appears that Daniel McCook and eight of his nine sons took up arms for [...]

November Featured Topic
During the nineteenth century, many women joined charitable organizations. These groups allowed women to expand their roles in American life without challenging society’s expectations for women. During this era, many people believed that women should be homemakers, but increasingly, women joined reform organizations, hoping to enhance moral values in their fellow Americans. The [...]

October Featured Topic
The Battle of Buffington Island was the only major Civil War engagement fought in the State of Ohio.
On July 8, 1863, Brigadier-General John Hunt Morgan, a Confederate cavalry leader, led approximately two thousand soldiers across the Ohio River into southern Indiana. Morgan’s superiors had dispatched the cavalry leader into northern Kentucky to cause [...]