Historic marker to be placed at Johnson's Island
Civil War prison site designated National Historic Landmark

TIFFIN - The Johnson's Island Civil War Prison - one of the many locations tied to the famed war - will take its permanent place in history during a ceremony Sunday (Nov. 12) to dedicate a National Historic Landmark plaque.

The Johnson's Island prison, which became a designated National Historic Landmark site in June 1990, makes it one of just 66 such sites listed in Ohio. A plaque marking the designation will be placed and dedicated during a special program and ceremony planned for the site, located off the shores of Marblehead on Gaydos Drive.

Beginning at 12:30 p.m., the 14th Ohio Volunteer Infantry/Third Arkansas Civil War re-enactors will march from the prison cemetery to the prison site. David R. Bush, chair of Friends and Descendents of Johnson's Island Civil War Prison and an anthropology professor at Heidelberg College, will give opening remarks. Heidelberg President F. Dominic Dottavio will provide introductory comments as well.

Included on the program will be a group of Findlay High School students who have worked with Bush at Johnson's Island as a service learning project. The school's principal, Craig Kupferberg, will address guests during the program. U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur's office will be represented, as will the National Park Service and the Johnson's Island Civil War Round Table.

The ceremony will conclude with a dramatic 21-gun salute at the prison site, the first time since the Civil War. The Johnson's Island Civil War Prison of 1862-1865 served as a vital depot for the confinement of confederate prisoners of war during much of the American Civil War.  This Prison was one of 65 such facilities in which the United States and confederate governments held hundreds of thousands of military prisoners during the American Civil War. It has been said that nothing in 19th Century Warfare better illustrates man's inhumanity to man than the Civil War Prisoners of War camps and stockades.

For additional information, contact Bush at (419) 448-2327 or visit www2.heidelberg.edu/johnsonsisland/index.html.