Ohio Troops in the Field

Edward T. Downer is Registrar of Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, and is a member of both the Richmond, Virginia, and the Cleveland Civil War Round Tables. Ohio Troops in the Field EDWARD T. DOWNER three out of every five Ohio men between the ages of eighteen and forty-five served at various times in the Union Army and Navy during the Civil War. Conservatively, the state furnished a third of a million men to the Northern services. Only New York and Pennsylvania exceeded this number. The precise number of Ohio men in uniform during the conflict has never been definitely established. The Adjutant General, in a report compiled in 1885, credited Ohio with 313,180 men in the land and naval forces.1 This figure, however, does not take into account the Ohio troops assigned to the regiments of other states, estimated to have numbered no less than 8,000, and probably more. The Ohio Adjutant General reported an over-all total of 346,326, but this figure included re-enlistments and citizens who paid commutation in lieu of military service.2 Whitelaw Reid in his Ohio in the War, by using the reports of the Provost-Marshal General, arrived at a figure of 310,654 white land troops to which he would add 5,092 Negro troops and 3,443 additional troops, including those in the gunboat service and "recruits raised in Ohio, but, in the varying exigencies of the department, credited elsewhere." Summarizing these various numbers, he concluded that the army of the state "swelled to the noble proportions of a third of a million men."3 Robert V. Johnson and C. C. Buel ( eds. ), Battles and Leaders of the Civil War . . . (4 vols.; New York: The Century Co., 1887-1888), IV, 767. Eugene H. Roseboom, The CioU War Era, 1850-1873 ( "The History of the State of Ohio," VoL IV; Columbus: Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, 1944), 440. Whitelaw Reid, Ohio in the War ... (2 vols.; Columbus: Eclectic Publishing Co., 1893), II, 4-5. 253 254 EDWARD T. DOWNER Feeding troops at Fifth Street Market, in Cincinnati. From Whitelaw Reid's Ohio in the War (Moore, Wilstach ir Baldwin, Cincinnati, 1868), Volume I, opposite page 192. Ohio Troops in the Field255 Virtually all were volunteers. Altogether, 12,251 were drafted, but of these, only 2,400 were secured for the service.4 Many volunteered after being called by the draft, a large number were discharged for various reasons , some fled and were never found. The first two regiments were organized immediately upon the fall of Fort Sumter. They were drawn from organized military compames in all parts of the state, but particularly in the larger cities, such as the Lafayette Guards of Cincinnati, the Columbus Videttes, and the Cleveland Grays. Following Lincoln's call for 75,000 men, recruiting was organized throughout the state and was continued until the end of the war. Meetings were held in every city, town, and hamlet at which political leaders, prominent citizens, and military heroes, who returned from the front for recruiting purposes, appealed to the patriotic sentiments of their audiences. Moved by these appeals, boys and young men would step forward to enlist amidst the plaudits and tears of relatives and neighbors. A typical recruiting meeting held in the college town of Hiram in August, 1861 was described by an onlooker as follows: Mr. Garfield, then State Senator, was present and spoke with an earnest eloquence that stirred every heart .... A few of the students and alumni, living within eight or ten miles of the College, had heard of the meeting and came up to attend it. To these were added the people of the village generally; and so earnest was the feeling that when the meeting dispersed, fifty young men, mostiy students, had signed the enlistment roll.5 Ohio youths came from farms, mills, mines, colleges, and offices to join the Union Army. Most of them had never been more than a few miles from their boyhood homes. Many had never seen a railroad train. Before the war ended, they were to be found wherever the Union forces moved, from Florida and the Carolina coast to Fort...