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| Battle of Fort Fizzle | |||||
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| Part ofAmerican Civil War | |||||
 State of Ohio Historical Marker for the event | |||||
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The "Battle of Fort Fizzle" (also called theHolmes County Draft Riots and theHolmes County Rebellion) was a skirmish fought on June 17, 1863,[1] which took place during theAmerican Civil War in the village ofGlenmont (then known as Napoleon) inHolmes County, Ohio, betweenUnion troops and localdraft resisters opposed to theConscription Act of 1863.
Adopted byCongress on March 13, 1863, the Conscription Act authorizedPresidentAbraham Lincoln todraft men into military service in states that did not meet their volunteerquotas. When Federal officials tried to enforce the act in Holmes County in June, about 900 to 1,000 locals built a makeshift fort, equipped with fourartillery pieces, to prevent the act's enforcement. After a brief encounter in which two resisters were wounded, Ohio GovernorDavid Tod ordered a force of nearly 420 Union troops, including the3rd Ohio Infantry, to disperse the resisters, giving the place the name "Fort Fizzle" because the rebellion had "fizzled out". The episode ended when the last four resisters who had assaulted a Federal draft official turned themselves in.[2]
Forty-three men from the Napoleon area were indicted for assaulting an officer and preventing the execution of law (US Military Conscription Act of 1863). The armed men involved in the prisoner rescue were indicted for treason. An additional 37 men were indicted for their involvement in activities in other parts of Holmes County, and in nearbyKnox andCoshocton counties.[3]
Of the 80 men involved in these activities, the cases of just two men went to trial. Only one man, Laurant Blanchat (also known as Blanchard) was found guilty. Sentenced to six months at hard labor at theOhio Penitentiary, Blanchat was pardoned by President Lincoln prior to the completion of the sentence. The prosecution of every other case was eventually dropped.
In 2009, the landmark Fort Fizzle became a census designated town with the same zip code asGlenmont, Ohio.