Kickoff meeting for Highland County Revolutionary War Memorial Aug. 8; community encouraged to help organizers identify local patriots

Have you considered Highland County’s connection to the American Revolution? After the War in 1783, many war veterans were issued land grants in the new Northwest Territory. Many of these veterans and their families settled in what is now known as Highland County, Ohio.

On Tuesday, Aug. 8 at 5 p.m. at the Highland County Veterans Service Office, 1575 N. High Street in conference room 27B, the Highlanders Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) Chapter and the Waw-Wil-A-Way Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Chapter will be hosting a kickoff meeting for the American Revolution War Memorial project.

This is a community initiative to dedicate your American Revolution War Memorial on the Highland County Courthouse grounds. We are planning our dedication around July 4, 2026, to coincide with the celebration of the United States’ 250th anniversary.

The Memorial will list all Revolutionary War Patriots who have lived, died or are buried in Highland County. So far, we are vetting 218 patriots. Ninety-three patriots are from the Waw-Wil-A-Way DAR plaque on the Highland County Courthouse wall; the other 125 patriots are from various sources identified within Highland County.

We consider our patriots as those who fought on the American side, aided the cause (patriotic service), paid taxes and signed an Oath of Allegiance. We also want to identify both men and women patriots.

This is a project for the Highland County community. When we dedicate the Memorial, we wish to identify the ancestors of your patriots still living in Highland County or other parts of the country. We hope the community will help us identify other patriots not on our list and share information on the family history of our Revolutionary War patriots.

We are looking for burying grounds where our patriots were interned. If you know any of this information, please contact us. We hope to mark each cemetery with a marker identifying the patriots buried there. Some of these burying grounds may not be in Highland County. Regardless, we need to identify them.

We are seeking assistance from our community, the City of Hillsboro, our Highland County townships, villages and unincorporated communities. We are in hopes that we can identify all patriots who have lived, died and are buried and information about each including their family history.

The Memorial project is funded by donations from the community, so please donate if you can. We will have an organizational meeting soon to fill you in on our progress and needs.

This article includes an image of the rendering of the proposed Revolutionary War Memorial we plan to build at the Highland County Courthouse. On the right of the memorial is the DAR plaque that exists on the Courthouse now. It will be relocated to the memorial. On the left of the memorial is the proposed SAR plaque with names of patriots who have lived, died or are buried in Highland County.

Please join us at the kickoff meeting for the American Revolutionary War Memorial project Aug. 8 at 5 p.m. For more information, contact Buzzard Wilkin at (937) 393-3730 or Gary Duffield at gduffield@zoomtown.com.