From 1879 to 1929, this bell was rung to open court at the Mercer County Courthouse in Princeton. After the courthouse was dismantled in 1929, the bell was used as a dinner bell at the County poor farm at Gardner. Later discarded at the farm, the . . . — — Map (db m60030) HM
Near a hill south of town on May 17, 1862, Confederate troops led by Maj. Peter Otey surprised and routed a Union regiment commanded by Colonel Louis von Blessing. Federal losses were 18 killed, 56 wounded and 14 captured. Confederate losses were 1 . . . — — Map (db m37742) HM
Side A
Erected to the Honor & Memory of the Confederate Soldiers of Mercer County, Virginia (now West Virginia)
By the Members of Sons of Confederate Veterans
Camp No. 1694-'Flat Top Copperheads’ & Parshandatha Foley Chapter of the Order . . . — — Map (db m161238) WM
This house, the home of physician Robert B. McNutt, is the only antebellum dwelling in Princeton. It survived the fire that Col. Walter H. Jenifer of the 8th Virginia Cavalry ignited on May 1, 1862, as he evacuated the town.
Jenifer was . . . — — Map (db m37744) HM
The Mercer Salt Works, located at the junction of New River and Lick Creek, began operation in 1850 and supplied salt to the southern part of western Virginia through the use of free and slave labor. On August 10, 1862. troops under Col. Rutherford . . . — — Map (db m140096) HM
Born in 1811, French represented Mercer County as delegate and later senator in the Virginia General Assembly. Although he voted against secession as a delegate to the 1861 Richmond Convention, he served in the Confederate Army. He led the 30th . . . — — Map (db m161236) HM
Scene of several actions, May 1862, between Federal troops from General Cox's army and Confederate forces under Jenifer and Wharton. When the Confederates abandoned their camp here, the town was set on fire and partially burned. — — Map (db m34813) HM
Richard Blankenship, Revolutionary War Soldier, was a member of Major James Robertson's company of New River Valley volunteers who fought at the Battle of Point Pleasant, October 10, 1774. He lived on a 33 acre farm 8 mi. southeast, at Ingleside, . . . — — Map (db m37738) HM
