September 1862 was a dangerous time to be a resident of Cincinnati. The Confederate Army was on the move in Kentucky; heading north out of Lexington, Kentucky toward Cincinnati, Ohio. Almost an entire year before Robert E. Lee's famous march to Gettysburg, an invasion of the North was looming and appeared imminent in the nation's interior. The Queen City (Cincinnati), the sixth largest city in the United States in 1860, was in danger of falling into Confederate hands, further endangering the Union's hopes of winning the war. In an effort to defend the city, several hundred free African Americans were... Continue reading