7th Ohio Infantry

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7th Ohio Infantry
12th Corps, 2nd Division, 1st Brigade
Active	1861–1864
Country	United States of America
Allegiance	Union
Nickname	"Roosters"
Battles/wars	* Cross Lanes * Cotton Hill * Blue's Gap Affair * Kernstown I * Port Republic * Cedar Mountain * Snicker's Gap * Second Bull Run * Antietam * Dumfries * Chancellorsville * Gettysburg * Lookout Mountain * Missionary Ridge * Ringgold Gap * Tunnel Hill & Buzzard's Roost * Dug Gap * Resaca * Cassville * Pumpkin Vine Creek * New Hope Church

The 7th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (or 7th OVI) was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It served in the East in a number of campaigns and battles with the Army of Virginia and the Army of the Potomac, and was then transferred to the Western Theater where it joined the Army of the Cumberland besieged at Chattanooga. But perhaps it should be most noted for its actions as being a critical reserve for George S. Greene and his New York brigade during the fight for Culp's Hill at the Battle of Gettysburg.

[edit] Three-months regiment

It was on April 27, 1861 that the order was given to form the 7th Ohio from companies gathered at Camp Taylor, Cleveland.

Original Companies:

A - "Cleveland Zouave Light Guards"
B - "Cleveland Zouave Cadets"
C - "Oberlin Monroe Rifles"
D - "Painesville Union Guards"
E - "Huron Infantry"
F - "Franklin Rifles"
G - "Ravenna, Tyler Guards"
H - "Warren, Company A"
I - "Youngstown Union Guards"
K - "Cleveland National Guards"

On May 6, 1861 the Seventh would leave Camp Taylor and travel to Cincinnati where they would train at Camp Dennison. In mid June the regiment was asked to volunteer for three years service, so on the 26th, the regiment departed Camp Dennison for Western Virginia, where they would see their first actions of the war.

[edit] Three-years regiment

WESTERN VIRGINIA

On August 26, 1861 Brig. Gen. John B. Floyd, commanding Confederate forces in the Kanawha Valley, crossed the Gauley River to attack the 7th Ohio encamped at Kessler's Cross Lanes. The Seventh was surprised and routed. Floyd then withdrew to the river and took up a defensive position at Carnifex Ferry. During the month, General Robert E. Lee arrived in western Virginia and attempted to coordinate his forces. On November 13, the Seventh would then be involved at Cotton Hill.

VIRGINIA

On January 5, 1862 the regiment engaged in Blue's Gap Affair. On March 23, it was in the Battle of Kernstown I. This was the opening battle of Confederate Army Major General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's campaign through the Shenandoah Valley. Although the battle was a Union victory, it in fact would become Jackson's only defeat in the war. The last battle of Jackson's Valley Campaign was the Battle of Port Republic, which took place on June 9. Here, the Seventh fought very effectively. With less than three thousand muskets, Jackson's force of fourteen thousand were held at bay for five hours. The Union forces however, were finally forced to retreat. On August 9, at the Battle of Cedar Mountain, the regiment was again at the front and engaged in a fierce hand-to-hand conflict. Of the three hundred men engaged, only one hundred escaped unhurt. The Seventh suffered more than any other Union regiment in this battle. On August 21, they experienced a brief engagement at Snicker's Gap. During the campaign which lasted from August 21 to September 2, which culminated in the Battle of Second Bull Run, the Seventh was held in reserve guarding the railroads.

ANTIETAM

On September 17, the day of the battle, the 7th Ohio made the farthest advance of any Union regiment. With Greene's Division, they first formed in the East Woods, and then moved through the fields until they were in front of the Dunker Church. Then they proceeded into the West Woods contesting the enemy. After the altercation, the division was forced to withdraw leaving all of the ground it had gained.

After Antietam, with the Confederate Army retreating back across the Potomac River and back into Virginia, the Seventh was camped at Loudoun Heights and Bolivar Heights near Harper's Ferry.

After the Battle of Fredericksburg, which the 12th Corps did not take part in, the Seventh was camped farther north near the town of Dumfries. There, on the 27th, they had a brief engagement which resulted in minor casualties.

CHANCELLORSVILLE

The regiment arrived at Thursday p. m., April 30, and camped for the night on the road leading southeast from Chancellorsville to the south of Fredericksburg Plank road. Friday, the 1st, the regiment was unemployed until 11 a. m. when it advanced with the brigade out on the south and east roads and formed part of the second line of battle in the open wood-lot facing southeast. It returned to camp about 4 p. m. and in a short time was ordered farther back and formed the second line of battle facing south at the edge of the wood directly south of the Chancellor House. Just before dark the regiment was ordered by General Geary to move to the left to support Knap's Pennsylvania battery against an attack coming from the woods bordering on the southeast road. At this point, while lying on the ground, one man was killed and two severely wounded from Company A, by the carelessness of Battery F, Fourth U. S. Artillery, which was in the Seventh's rear. During this engagement the loss in the left wing was very slight, a few being wounded only, but the right wing lost severely considering the nature of the engagements. After arriving at camp the regiment again formed part of the second line of battle in its old position at the edge of the woods opposite the brick house, and remained there during the night. At daylight, Sunday morning, May 3, they were ordered to the left of Best's battery, situated at the left of the old rifle-pit, which is south of the Fredericksburg road, and remained there until 8 o'clock. At this time the regiment was sent to occupy the rifle-pit and remained in it while the troops were falling back across the cleared field south of the Plank road. It then left the pit, formed under the fire of the batteries at the west end of the field, and moved back to the left and rear of Best's battery and lay there while the brigade occupied the breastworks and wood opposite the brick house. During all this time the regiment was under a severe fire from both front and rear, and a portion of the time receiving also musketry fire of the enemy with whom the brigade was engaged. The brigade finally being forced from the woods, passed over the regiment and formed in its rear, and the order was then given to advance and if possible clear the woods. The order was obeyed with alacrity, and the Seventh Ohio led the way, supported by the other regiments to the left and rear and driving back the enemy for a considerable distance, until seeing no support for the brigade it fell back to the left of the battery again, lying down in the road until the shelling became too heavy. At about 11 o'clock a. m. the regiment and the brigade withdrew across the cleared field east of the brick house, turning through the woods on the north side of the road and losing a number of men from the enemy's guns shelling the woods as they retired. Monday the 4th, it was relieved by the Fifth Ohio, and ordered to move by a circuit to the left, where it encamped for the night in the ravine near the river. During the afternoon of the 5th, it employed in the entrenchments on the left until dark. At half past ten Tuesday night the order to be ready to move was received, but the regiment did not leave its position until twenty minutes before four Wednesday morning, the 6th. At a quarter before five the same morning it crossed the pontoon at U. S. Ford to the north side of the Rappahannock and arrived at its old camp near Aquia Landing, Va., early Thursday afternoon, the 7th.

Once the battle commenced, the 7th Ohio was one of the regiments that covered the retreat of the Army of the Potomac. It was a dangerous task since they had just been defeated and driven from Chancellorsville.

GETTYSBURG

The 7th Ohio arrived on the fields of Gettysburg in the late afternoon of July 1. They camped in the area of Little Round Top for the night. On July 2, they were sent to Culp's Hill and helped build breastworks with the rest of the division. Later in the day, there division was sent to the southern end of the battlefield in order to provide support for the Union left. They ended up getting lost along Baltimore Pike and never reached the area they intended. That night, they returned to Culp's Hill. On July 3 at about 6 a.m. the Seventh chosen to relieve the 60th New York at the left of Greene's line. It would be the first time the regiment had ever fought behind breastworks. Sherman R. Norris of Company D found that the Rebel formation in the 7th Ohio's front "melted away before our volleys, and after they had been broken, numbers of the enemy took refuge behind trees and rocks." At 8 a.m. the 60th New York again exchanged places with the 7th Ohio. Creighton's Ohioans were back in the breastworks by 9:45 a.m., relieving an unspecified regiment to the left of the 29th Ohio. This is when General Edward Johnson flung his last assault at Culp's Hill. Among the attacking Confederates were the five regiments of the vaunted Stonewall Brigade. After an attempt to storm the right center of Greene's line, some Rebels became stranded on the hillside. About 11 o'clock Creighton noticed a makeshift white flag thrown out from behind rocks in front of the 7th Ohio's entrenchments. He shouted for his men to stop shooting. The Buckeyes then observed a mounted officer in gray at the foot of the hill. He spurred his horse forward hoping to stop any attempt of surrender. Partway up the slope he was met by a fusillade of bullets. Rider and horse both tumbled to the ground, dead. The officer proved to be Major Benjamin W. Leigh, Johnson's chief of staff. Afterwards, 78 soldiers gave themselves up to the 7th Ohio, many of them members of the 4th Virginia. The next morning, Company H corporal John Pollock climbed over the works and picked up the 4th Virginia's rumpled colors, one of three battle flags captured by Geary's division at Culp's Hill. Gettysburg was the last battle for the 7th Ohio in the Army of the Potomac and the East. When chasing the Army of Northern Virginia back into Virginia, the 11th and 12th corps were transferred West to support the besieged Union Army in Chattanooga, Tennessee. They were placed under the command of Joe Hooker.

CHATTANOOGA

On November 24, 1863, the 7th Ohio marched with Geary's Division from Wauhatchie early in the morning, crossed Lookout Creek about 9:30 and formed the left of Geary's line when the latter was formed for advance toward the northern slope of Lookout Mountain. Ireland's brigade was on their right about 50 paces in front, a march of a mile and a quarter uncovered the fords by which Grose's Brigade of Cruft's Division joined the left of the line. In the general attack, they pushed on to Cravens' house, and continued in action on the front line throughout the afternoon, and then participated in the heavy skirmishing of the night. The next day, the 25th, they were in the pursuit of the Confederates towards the Rossville Gap on Missionary Ridge. They captured many men and guns without losing a single man in the regiment. On the 27th, with General Hooker, the Seventh charged up a series of hills in which the Confederates were holding called Taylor's Ridge in the battle of Ringgold. In this battle, the Seventh lost their Colonel, William R. Creighton, and many of their men. Besides Cedar Mountain, this was the Seventh's toughest battle casualty wise. When the Chattanooga campaign concluded, the 7th Ohio was gathered back to Chattanooga with the rest of the Army of the Cumberland and then camped at Bridgeport for the winter in preparation for General Sherman's campaign to take Atlanta.

ATLANTA CAMPAIGN

On May 3, 1864, the Seventh left Bridgeport. On the 7th it crossed Taylor's Ridge, passing Gordon's Springs to Nuckles, and to Dug Gap in Rocky Face Ridge on the 8th, where Geary's division made vigorous attack by way of a diversion, while other troops passed through Snake Creek Gap lower down the range. That night, the Seventh was on picket and well to the front at that point until the 12th, when the command moved through Snake Creek Gap and toward Resaca, where the enemy had halted for battle. On the 13th it drew closer to Resaca; on the 14th moved to the extreme left of the line on the left of Williams' division, while on the 15th the battle of Resaca was fought. At about 7 a.m. Thursday, May 12, moved from its position near Mill Creek Gap in a southerly direction, and at sundown arrived at Snake Creek Gap, where they bivouacked for the night. May 13, moved forward in a southeasterly direction until about 5 p.m., when they came upon their outer lines, which were skirmishing with the enemy. The regiment was ordered to take a position on a hill, where it remained during the night and until 4 p.m. the next day, May 14, when they were ordered to the extreme left of the line of battle. They arrived after dark, formed in line and threw out pickets in front; remained there until 10 a.m. May 15, when the regiment was ordered to the right to the support of the Third Division, then heavily engaged in resisting the charge of the enemy. The regiment in line of battle advanced to within a few paces of the rest of the hill, in front of which were two lines of battle, and rested upon the ground. While lying in this position 5 men of the regiment were struck with the enemy's balls. None were dangerously wounded. After lying there about an hour they were ordered to support the One Hundred and Forty-seventh Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers. They moved to the immediate front and formed on the right of that regiment, the regiment being in a ravine. Forty men were sent to the crest of the hill in advance as sharpshooters, their position being protected by piles of rails, breastworks having been built and artillery got into position on a commanding hill a few paces in their rear. At about 10 p.m. the regiment was ordered to join the remainder of the brigade, then lying in a ravine to the right and near the road running east and west. Here arms were stacked and the men laid down to rest. I was aroused at about 11 p. m. by rapid discharges of musketry, and caused the regiment to fall in and be in readiness for any emergency. By order of General Geary three companies of the regiment were deployed on the crest of the hill to stop the retreat of stragglers from the front. The firing soon ceased, and the regiment rested undisturbed until daylight. At about 9 a. m. they were ordered to fall in, and moved off by the road toward the east, crossing the railroad a mile north of Resaca at noon; crossed Connesauga Creek at 5 p.m. ; arrived at Coosawattee Creek ; found the cavalry had discovered a body of the enemy in a piece of woods on the opposite bank. They were ordered to move a half mile to the left to support a section of artillery in position on commanding ground near the bank of the creek, the troops having crossed the creek without opposition. At 9 p.m. they received orders to rejoin the brigade, then in camp on the opposite bank. May 18, fell in at 4 a.m., and after a very fatiguing march, principally across fields and over mountains, went into camp soon after sunset. May 19, moved off soon after sunrise in an easterly direction, scarcely any of the time being on a beaten path. At about 4 p. m., when approaching the town of Cassville, found that they were in the vicinity of the enemy. The regiment was ordered to take position behind some breastworks of rails hastily thrown up. After remaining here something like two hours the command was again moved forward about a mile and formed in line of battle on a retreating piece of ground in the rear of a piece of woods, where the regiment remained.