Battle of Fort Fizzle

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The "Battle of Fort Fizzle" (also called the Holmes County Draft Riots and the Holmes County Rebellion) is the name given to a skirmish that took place during the American Civil War in Holmes County, Ohio, between federal troops and local draft resisters opposed to the Conscription Act of 1863.

Adopted by Congress on March 13, 1863, the Conscription Act authorized President Abraham Lincoln to draft men into military service in states that did not meet their volunteer quotas. When federal officials tried to enforce the act in Holmes County in June, about 900 to 1000 locals built a makeshift fort, equipped with four artillery pieces, to prevent the act's enforcement. After a brief encounter in which two resisters were wounded, a force of 420 federal troops dispersed the resisters, giving the place the name "Fort Fizzle" because the rebellion had "fizzled out."

Civil order was restored when four resisters who had assaulted a federal draft official turned themselves in.