In September, 1862, the Confederate Army under General Kirby Smith, marching up through the State of Kentucky, threatened to invade Ohio.
     Governor Tod issued a proclamation calling upon the citizens of Ohio to rally to the defense of Cincinnati. He said:  "Our Southern border is threatened with invasion. I therefore recommend that all loyal men form themselves into mili-

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tary companies to beat back the enemy at all points he may attempt to invade the State.''
     In response to this call two companies went from Union County, aggregating about one hundred men in all, many of them old and gray-haired, prominent among whom was the Rev. B. D. Evans, a very intelligent old Welshman and Presbyterian minister of Jerome Township. They went with their shotguns, rifles, powder horns and shot pouches.  "They responded gloriously to the call for the defense of Cincinnati, and you should acknowledge publicly this gallant conduct," said Governor Tod in a dispatch to the Secretary of War.  These men were denominated "Squirrel Hunters" and were, by act of the Legislature, given honorable discharges.
     Sixteen men of Jerome Township responded to this call and went to Cincinnati.  Some of them crossed over the Ohio River into Kentucky and assisted in building the breastworks around Covington.  While their service was not arduous, yet they responded to the call cheerfully and patriotically, and no doubt this prompt response had a great moral effect and was a revelation to the rebels that the North had a great reserve army ready at all times to respond to the call "to arms," as did the "Minute Men" of the War of the Revolution.
     About 14,000 assembled at Cincinnati under this call of Governor Tod, and a few years ago the Legislature of Ohio made an appropriation to pay each survivor $13.00 in full for his services, this being the regular pay per month of volunteers at that time. They were all given discharges, of which the following is a copy:
     Our Southern Border was menaced by the enemies of our Union. David Tod, Governor of Ohio, called on the Minute Men of the State and the "Squirrel Hunters" came by thousands to the rescue. You ( .......... ) were one of them and this is your honorable discharge.
   September, 1862.                              Chas. W. Hill,
David Tod, Governor.                              Adj. Gen. of Ohio.