West Jefferson

West Jefferson, Ohio was a small town fifteen miles west of Columbus. It was defended by U.S. Army because there was a ford over Little Darby Creek. While the creek was no impediment to infantry, the ford was needed by barrels.

The U.S. defended the town with a company of infantry commanded by Captain Gilbert Boyle. Armstrong Grimes was placed into this company even though he had not completed basic training. The assumption seemed to be that he could get the finer points if he survived. His immediate superior was Corporal Rex Stowe.

Boyle prepared his defences as though it were still the Great War with barbed wire, machinegun emplacements and foxholes rather than trenches. This did him little good as a platoon of Confederate barrels smashed their way through.