The most iconic building on the Richmond battlefield is Mt. Zion Church. For many years it was one of only two “public” buildings on the battlefield; the other was the Madison County Courthouse.
The church was built between 1848 and 1852, apparently in a large grove of old-growth trees, some of which went into the building. The wooden beams supporting the church are 63 feet long and 16 inches square, and the bricks were fired on the property, as was common at the time. The pews are original, each pew back made from a single piece of wood. A basement was dug in the early 1960s, no small feat even then.
Less than ten years old at the time of the battle, Mt. Zion was one of the largest church buildings in Madison County. It was originally one large room; interior walls have since been added for Sunday school rooms and offices on the main floor, but you can still get a good feel for how it looked in August 1862. The exterior is virtually unchanged.
With Federal forces occupying Richmond, Federal medical director Capt. Bernard J. D. Irwin, M.D., took over the Madison County Courthouse and the Madison Female Institute as hospitals. Irwin noted that he had “few medical officers, instruments, ambulances, tents or other camp equipage to enable them to perform their duties.”
Mt. Zion became a field hospital early in the fighting on August 30, marked by a yellow flag. Even so, Confederate artillery struck the church, and the scars remain on the south side near the top of the electrical service.
Confederate forces took the church as the Union soldiers fled toward Richmond. Caring for the wounded became a joint effort by both sides, helped by many people from the surrounding community. Along with military surgeons, local doctors including Dr. William Chase and Dr. Charles Wilmore treated scores of wounded. The dead were buried across the road from Mt. Zion and later moved to the Richmond Cemetery; the Union dead were moved to Camp Nelson National Cemetery in 1867–68.
Mt. Zion Church is still an active congregation with a strong sense of its unique history, and it has been a great partner in preserving and interpreting the Battle of Richmond.
In the summer of 2012, a Michigan historical marker was dedicated about 30 yards south of the church, marking the first position of the Federal artillery from Michigan.