Could You Give Me Some Information About Buffington Island?

"Could you give me some information about Buffington Island?" One of our Newton Falls Public Library patrons who had recently traveled to Buffington Island wanted to know more about it.

The Battle of Buffington Island has the distinction of being the only significant Civil War battle in Ohio. The battlefield is in Meigs County, Ohio, and is owned by the Ohio Historical Society. It's free and open to the public year-round during daylight hours. The 150^th anniversary of the Battle of Buffington Island took place this past July, and was commemorated with a memorial service and demonstrations by Civil War reenactors.

The battle took place when Confederate Brigadier-General John Hunt Morgan and his raiders made an attempt to ford the Ohio River. They were met by Union soldiers and gunboats under the command of Brigadier-General E.H. Hobson and General H.M. Judah. Morgan and several hundred of his men escaped and headed north in the hopes of finding a better place to cross. They were finally surrounded and taken captive in Columbiana County, thus ending the raiding campaign. 

For more information on John Hunt Morgan's raids, "The Last Night and Last Day of John Hunt Morgan's Raid: Eyewitness Accounts of Morgan's Ohio Raid of 1863" and James A. Ramage's "Rebel Raider: The Life of John Hunt Morgan" are available through CLEVNET. For general information on Ohio's involvement in the Civil War, "Ohio's War: The Civil War in Documents" and Robert S. Harper's "Ohio Handbook of the Civil War" are both available at the Newton Falls Public Library. Ohiohistorycentral.org, History.com, and Ohiohistory.org all have information on the Battle of Buffington Island.

Can You Find a Vietnam War Veterans Newspaper?

"I saw a Vietnam War Veterans newspaper. Does the library receive anything like that?  I am also interested in possibly getting a subscription to it. Can you find me the contact information?"  The initial online search by the staff of the Newton Falls Public Library was not successful, so we spoke with our patron to see if we could learn more about the one he saw, and if it was a newspaper, newsletter, or magazine in format.

He said he remembered it as being fairly large and glossy, on better paper than newsprint. From this description it sounded as if the publication was actually a magazine. The staff was able to locate two possibilities for him.  The website This is VietNow states its primary focus is veterans and their families. A selection of their magazine's articles are available online.  If our patron decides that this is the publication he wants, he would need to join the organization in order to receive a print copy.  The second is put out by Vietnam Veterans of America.  Digital editions of the VVA Veteran, back to October/November 1999, can be read on their website. A print version of the magazine is sent to members, and can also be purchased by subscription.

While the library does not have a subscription to either of these magazines, we do have one to Military History.  The articles featured vary greatly, and the May 2013 issue includes topics from a timeline of the battles for Gaza from 1650BC-1967 to the history of camouflage.  Also included are examples of some of the ones featured on their website, MilitaryHistory.com.  We were able to show this to our patron as something for him to enjoy while deciding which of the Vietnam War Veteran magazines he preferred.

Is There Only One 307th in the United States Army?

“Is there only one 307^th in the United States Army?”  The Newton Falls Public Library staff was not exactly sure for what our patron was asking, so we asked for additional information.  She needed to know if there was only one 307^th designation in the Army, whether it is a regiment, battalion, etc.

We began with the U.S. Army’s homepage, www.army.mil.  Searching this site using the term 307^th, we found about 429 results. The list of articles included the 307^th Expeditionary Signal Battalion, 307th Airborne Engineer Battalion and 307^th Airborne Medical Company which were part of the 82nd Airborne Division during D Day, 307^th Infantry Regiment and others.  Wanting to know if we were looking for the correct information, we spoke with the patron again. She explained that she is looking for the 307^th that was in North Japan during World War II.

Sometimes successful searching is a matter of happening to select the correct term.  When we Googled the term “307^th regiment”, we found the Department of the Army Lineage and Honors 307^th Regiment.  This history said that it was constituted August 5, 1917 in the National Army as the 307th Infantry and assigned to the 77th Division. It was both active and inactive over the following decades, and was ordered back into active military service March 25, 1942.  March 15, 1946 it was inactivated in Japan, and then activated again December 17, 1946 in the Organized Reserves with Headquarters at Bronx, New York. 

Baxterbulletin.com has an article titled, 3-Wars Veteran Recalls Battles on IslandJust Off Okinawa by Frank Wallis. Wallis states “The 307th Regiment was the third segment of 13 77th Infantry battle groups to land on the west of Okinawa for the battles of Kerama Retto and Keise Shima. The Battle of Okinawa would produce more American deaths — 12,513 in 81 days — than any other battle in the Pacific.”  We gave our patron these links, and told her if she needed more information, we would be happy to continue searching for her.

What Does This Odd Mailing Address Mean?

“I work for private agency. We are sending out some inquiries, and a few of them have an odd mailing address. It is a name, followed by a 6-7 digit number, then BCS LS MC Newton Falls, Ohio 44444. We can’t discover what that means. Can you help us?” This question from an out-of-state caller intrigued the Newton Falls Public Library staff.

First we telephoned the local post office and spoke with the Newton Falls postmaster. She informed us that while she didn’t know the meaning of the letters, the mail that came through with that designation was delivered to the Ravenna Arsenal [now named Camp Ravenna Joint Military Training Center]. Following our conversation with her, we spoke with someone at Camp Ravenna. The series of numbers is the unit designation, but she was not familiar with the meaning of the letters.

We next examined the books in our collection. Neither The Oxford Essential Dictionary of Abbreviations nor Acronyms, Initialisms & Abbreviations Dictionary gave abbreviations or acronyms which seemed to answer our question.

The search continued online. When the stewardship of the Ravenna Army Ammunition Plant was transferred to the Ohio National Guard, it became Camp Ravenna. We looked at their website www.ong.ohio.gov. While informative about the Ohio National Guard, we could find no pertinent information. The Military Postal Service Agency [http://hqdainet.army.mil/mpsa] has interesting details about the mailing of packages, FAQs, and some commonly used abbreviations. However, we were unable to locate any examples matching ours.

Abbreviations.com has an extensive listing of military abbreviations. There were 4 examples for BCS, 4 for LS, and 13 for MC. MC for Marine Corps or Medical Corps seemed to be only one that may apply as part of a military mailing address. None of the others seemed appropriate for this question.


We informed our caller by email of what we discovered.

Twenty One Gun Salute

“After the recent Memorial Day gun salute, I got to thinking. What is the origin of the twenty one gun salute?” The Newton Falls Public Library staff finds questions about customs to be interesting.

We began and ended our search with Brassey’s Encyclopedia of Military History and Biography. The section on Customs and Etiquette addresses the various types of military salutes, which are perhaps the oldest of military customs. “Although most commonly given by hand, a salute can also be rendered by guns, swords, banners, or music [p. 253].” “Friendly foreign naval vessels . . . sometimes saluted with blank cannon fire . . . supposedly started when ships and/or shore batteries would harmlessly discharge their cannon to show that they were unloaded and there was no hostile intention. Usually, the maximum number of rounds is 21 [p. 254].”

Also according to Brassey’s Encyclopedia of Military History and Biography, the final salutes fired over graves of fallen warriors are not tributes, but rather the result of an old superstition to frighten evil spirits away from the graves. “Customarily, three volleys are fired by an honor guard [p. 255].”

Valentine Cards for the Troops

“The presenter for our church’s next ladies group meeting had to cancel and we need someone to take her place. We are also making Valentine cards for the troops as part of the program. Can you help us?” The staff of the Newton Falls Public Library, schedules permitting, can present programs to local groups. This event offered an opportunity to share some interesting books available at the library.

Letters are an important part of the lives of the men and women in the military. The books Letters Home, the Ohio Veterans Plaza compiled by Daniel A. Meeks and David E. Aldstadt, A Tribute to Military Families: letters of thanks from our nation's children, and War Letters: extraordinary correspondence from American wars all revealed how those serving our country depend on word from us at home. The letters in the latter book were especially compelling; covering correspondence from the Civil War through the Vietnam War, Persian Gulf War, Somalia and Bosnia. Additional information was often included with these letters, giving the reader insight into what else was occurring at the time the letters were written and what happened to the writer. Some are very heartrending, including one in the section of World War II letters by Rabbi Alex Goode to his wife, Theresa; written merely hours before his embarking on the USAT Dorchester. It is the last letter he wrote to her. History respectfully remembers him as one of the four chaplains who gave up their life preservers when the Dorchester was sunk by a German torpedo in the North Atlantic on February 3, 1943.

Along with the sometimes funny, sometimes sad, military love letters enjoyed by the ladies, the library staff brought a sampling of our greeting card craft books for ideas. The selection included The Card Book by Susan Attenborough and Simply Cards by Sally Traidman. The card makers found inspiration in the poetry found in the Valentine’s Day edition of Ideals. When making their own cards they took quotations and tweaked them to appropriately recognize the sacrifice made and service given by those in the armed forces.