PORTLAND — In 1962 a historical marker commemorating the 100th anniversary of Brigadier General Albert G. Jenkins’ Civil War raid into Ohio was erected in the Buffington Island Memorial Park at Portland.

For some unknown reason, it was removed some years ago, stored and forgotten, according to Karen Hassel, Regional Site Coordinator for the Ohio Historical Society.

Recently rediscovered, it has now been re-erected just in time to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Jenkins’ raid into Ohio in 1862. It is located near the new exhibit kiosk at the park on Ohio 124.

“It ‘s wonderful that this important marker could be restored to the Buffington Island site and the surrounding community,” said Hassel. “This historical marker commemorates an event vital to the nation’s and Ohio’s Civil War history.”

Titled “Ohio’s First Invasion,” the marker recognizes the first invasion by Confederate forces into Ohio during the Civil War, led by Brigadier General Jenkins, a former Virginian Congressman.

It was on Sept. 3, 1862, that Jenkins and 350 Confederate cavalrymen crossed the Ohio River near Portland and continued on to Racine. Jenkins and his troops occupied Racine for a few hours, seized a dozen or so horses, and then re-crossed the river at Wolf’s Bar.

Jenkins’s raid is often overlooked since Confederate General John Hunt Morgan’s raid across Ohio the next year, 1863, lasted days rather than hours, crossed numerous counties, and included the Battle of Buffington Island at Portland.

A celebration of the 15oth anniversary of Jenkins’s Raid will be held at 2:30 p.m., Saturday, at the Racine American Legion Post military monument, located on Ohio 124 on the upriver side of Racine. The commemoration is being sponsored by Ohio Commander Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, which is the oldest Civil War organization in Ohio.

According to Keith Ashley, a historian and organizer of the event, a member of the family of the Confederate General, Albert Gallatin Jenkins, will be participating in the program. Local civic, patriotic and veterans organizations are invited to lay a wreath at the military monument.