On February 14, 1861, Abraham Lincoln, on his way to his first inauguration, spoke to a large gathering in front of the Whitacre House, a hotel, in Wellsville. On July 26, 1863, Confederate States Army General John Hunt Morgan and several hundred of his soldiers surrendered to pursuing Union forces after Morgan's Raid ended in nearby West Point, and were held in Wellsville before being shipped to the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus. Morgan's Raid was the northernmost advance of Confederate troops during the Civil War. At this time, Ohio State Route 45 was known as the Warren-Ashtabula Turnpike, which ran from Wellsville to Lake Erie. It was an important part of the Underground Railroad.