The picturesque Helmick Mill Covered Bridge in Morgan County has a place in Ohio’s Civil War history. (Credit: Ken Drenten)

By Ken Drenten

Helmick Mill Covered Bridge in Morgan County was built several years after the Civil War ended, but still serves as a reminder of Ohio’s Civil War history.

The bridge, built in 1867, got its name from a sawmill run by Joseph Helmick once located near the north abutment. The 1875 Morgan County Atlas also indicated a grist mill near the south abutment.

Several years before the bridge was built, the location earned its place in history. On July 22-23, 1863, several of Morgan’s Raiders were captured and held in Helmick’s Mill.

“When the raiders were only a few feet away, Mr. Gray, in a voice with as much authority as he could muster, shouted, ‘Halt, dismount and give up your arms.’ Not knowing how many Union men surrounded them, the raiders surrendered. Not a shot had been fired. The Confederate captives included a Captain Williams and four men. When they saw young Jacob Knapp with his axe upraised, one of the raiders put his spurs to his horse and galloped away into the darkness. The prisoners were marched to Helmick’s Mill, where they were held until morning. During the night, one of the raiders escaped. The others were turned over to the authorities in Zanesville.” (p. 267, “The Longest Raid of the Civil War,” by Lester V. Horowitz.)

Morgan’s Great Raid of 1863, led by Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan, resulted in the only Civil War battle fought on Ohio soil, the Battle of Buffington Island in Meigs County. Morgan and many of his men were captured; Morgan and a number of officers were held in the Ohio Penitentiary and escaped the prison in November 1863.

The 74-foot-long bridge crosses over a stream named Island Run in Deerfield Township, 7 miles northwest of Malta on Township Road 269. The bridge is still open to traffic; the setting is enhanced by a waterfall just a few feet downstream of the bridge.

The bridge, the third on its original site, is an example of the multiple kingpost truss covered bridge. The bridge design became known across the state as the Buckingham truss, named after Catherinus Buckingham, bridge builder and adjutant general of Ohio. His Y Bridge at the confluence of the Muskingum and Licking rivers at Zanesville (1832) was so widely admired that the truss became known as a Buckingham in honor of its builder.

Until the late 1940s, Morgan County had 15 covered bridges. Now there are five –Barkhurst, Helmick Mill and Adams-San Toy bridges are on their original sites; the two others are Milton Dye and Rosseau. Learn more about Morgan County’s covered bridges.

Learn more about Ohio’s covered bridges in Dusty Tires.

(Sources: Historic Structures; The Longest Raid of the Civil War, by Lester V. Horowitz)

Historical markers trace the steps of Civil War Morgan’s Raid in Ohio – July 11, 2023, Dusty Tires

Ken Drenten is creator and editor of Dusty-Tires.com, a travel blog for out-of-the-ordinary places in Ohio.

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