(By Stephen Kelley from the People’s Defender 1983)
Continuing from last week, the old Manchester Militia company was organized in June ,1883. It was at first designated as Company C of the 13th Ohio Infantry, forerunner of the present-day National Guard System. Company C was almost immediately pressed into service after its formation. The members were called upon in February 1884, to help evacuate and resettle victims of the great Ohio River flood of that year. They barely had time to recuperate from that exhausting ordeal before the next crisis. In late March 1884, they were mobilized and, with several other units, were dispatched to Cincinnati to help quell a serious lynching riot. Large mobs, exceeding nine thousand in strength, were repeatedly storming the Hamilton County Courthouse and Jail. Before peace was restored, there were two days and nights of violence, the courthouse was burned, forty-five lay dead in the streets and another one hundred twenty-five were wounded.
Company C was made part of the Sixth Ohio Infantry in 1886. It remained in that unit until 1889 when the company was disbanded.
The Manchester based unit was revived in November 1900, and designated as Company G of the Seventh Ohio Infantry, Its new commander was Captain W.V. Conley. One of the first official duties of Company G was to assist in the military rites at the funeral of President William McKinley in 1901. The assassinated chief executive was a native of the Buckeye State and had a number of Adams County friends.
Company G was pressed into service a number of times during this century’s first decade. Services rendered included riot control in the Hanging Rock region of Eastern Ohio in 1906, aid to Ohio citizens affected by the Ohio River flood in 1907 and military honors at the presidential inauguration of Cincinnati native William Howard Taft. The company was also musted into serve in 1908 to defend southern Ohio tobacco farmers from the Night Riders during the “Tobacco War” In the early 1910’s the Manchester unit was again reorganized, this time as Company E. While so designated, it was sent to France during the First World War. It arrived in Europe in July 1918, and fought at Lorraine, Meuse-Argonne and Ypres-Lys.
Following the World War, Company E’s state side services included the eastern Ohio coal strike in 1932, Ohio River floods of 1933, ‘36 and ‘37 and the northeastern Ohio steel strike of 1937.
As U.S. involvement in World War II loomed on the horizon, Company E was mobilized and attached to the Army’s 37th infantry Division. The unit saw action in Jiji, Guadalcanal, Samoa, Wallace, New Caledonia, Emeru and the Pacific Theater’s bloodiest battle, Iwo Jima.
Returning home after the war, the company was deactivated in 1945 only to be reorganized in 1947. It was then designated Hq & Hq Company, 2nd Battalion, 147th Infantry commanded by Lt. Col. Albert G. Lockhart. It remained Company E until 1959 when it was again redesignated as Company B of the 216th Engineer Battalion of the Ohio National Guard. Since that time this unit has been primarily involved in construction jobs benefitting the civilian populace. Some of their better-known projects include the development of the Alexander Salamon Airport North of West Union, several bridges and a target range on the Tranquility Wildlife Area and construction for the open-air theater at Sugarloaf Mountain near Chillicothe where the outdoor drama, TECUMSEH! is performed.
Company B was also instrumental in clearing many Adams County highways during the great blizzard of 1977. It participated in more than one rescue of stranded citizens in need of emergency medical attention, food and heat during that hazardous winter storm. Although an engineering outfit, Company B was called upon during the student riots of the early 1970’s. Members of the Manchester unit were involved in riot control activities on the Ohio State University campus is Columbus and at Ohio University in Athens in 1970.
Now entering its second century of service, Company stands ready to serve its country in war and in peace.