Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Civil War Oddities #118


When Ohio volunteers skirmished with seven hundred secessionists at West Liberty, Kentucky, on October 23, 1861, a triumphant account published in Cincinnati reported that twenty-one enemies were killed and victors returned with an entourage.

Captured, according to the news account, were 34 prisoners, 52 horses, 10 or 12 mules, 2 jacks and one large bear. Like the cub kept as a mascot by another outfit, this animal was probably half tame, but was estimated to weight about three hundred pounds.