Holmes County Rebellion is topic of CRF speaker event

The Cleo Redd Fisher Museum will welcome back historian Patrick Drouhard for its next speaker series event, Fort Fizzle: The Holmes County Rebellion.

This program is slated for Monday, Feb. 12 and will be held in the lecture hall of the Cleo Redd Fisher Museum at 203 E. Main St. in Loudonville. The event is free and open to the public, with doors opening at 6:30 p.m.

No history of the Mohican area is complete without mention of the rebellion, known locally as Fort Fizzle. Over 400 Union soldiers with two cannons were ordered to the small village of Napoleon, now called Glenmont, to put down what was believed to be a rebellion against the federal draft laws during the Civil War. The incident even commanded the attention of President Lincoln and members of his cabinet, with Loudonville also playing a key role in the affair.

From almost the time of its occurrence in June 1863, a raging debate arose as to just what happened up on French Ridge, just south of the village. Fortifications, charges with fixed bayonets, breastworks, underground tunnels, arms shipments, cannons, stored foodstuffs, secret societies, draft resistance and rebellion were the subjects of the many written accounts to circulate over the years. At center focus was a stone building on the property of a French-speaking Swiss immigrant named Laurent Blanchat (Blanchard). It was about seven-tenths of a mile east of the intersection of Holmes County Roads 25 and 6, just off County Road 6. While the stone building was Blanchat’s home, it became known as Fort Fizzle, where a purported 600-900 men had gathered to stop U.S. authorities from drafting men for the Union Army during the Civil War.

Drouhard, the foremost expert on the matter, will explain the details of the event using National Archival records and research to dispel the many inaccurate accounts that have appeared over the years. Drouhard was born and raised near Loudonville before beginning a career in public education as a history teacher and later as a principal and superintendent. He is the author of “It Don’t Look Right for the Times: The Factual History of the Holmes County Rebellion,” which will be available for sale following the program.

The event will begin at 7 p.m. For more information on the museum and activities, call 419-994-4050 or visit www.crfmuseum.com.