Honoring A Licking County Veteran, George Washington Preston
Record of the Month! For the month of November, in honor of Veteran’s Day, we are featuring a Civil War Discharge for First Sargent George Washington Preston of the 76 th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Company C. The formal discharge record displayed here was unearthed in a box of other records at the Licking County Records and Archives Center. George Washington Preston was born November 10, 1839 in Newark, Ohio and was the second oldest of eleven siblings. His parents Jacob L. Preston and Elizabeth Sophia Harding owned a farm near Chatham in Newton Township. They were devoted Methodists and regularly attended services. George was approximately 20 years old when Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina in April of 1861, sparking the beginning of the Civil War. Shortly after the attack George enlisted and was mustered into the 76 th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Company C. In his three years of service, George fought in several major battles, including Fort D