Ohio in the American Civil War
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During the American Civil War, the State of Ohio played a key role in providing troops, military officers, and supplies to the Union army. Due to its central location in the Northern United States and burgeoning population, Ohio was both politically and logistically important to the war effort. Despite the state boasting a number of very powerful Republican politicians, portions of Southern Ohio followed the Peace Democrats and openly opposed President Lincoln's policies. Ohio played an important part in the Underground Railroad prior to the war, and remained a haven for escaped and runaway slaves during the war years.
The state raised nearly 320,000 soldiers for the Union army, behind only New York and Pennsylvania in total manpower contributed to the military. A disproportionate number of leading generals hailed from Ohio, including Ulysses S. Grant, William T. Sherman, and Philip H. Sheridan. Five Ohio-born Civil War officers would later serve as the President of the United States, and the Fighting McCooks gained fame as the largest immediate family group ever to become officers in the U.S. Army.
The state was spared many of the horrors of war, although Morgan's Raid in the summer of 1863 spread terror among the populace. Only two relatively minor battles were fought within the state's borders. However, Ohio troops fought in nearly every major campaign during the war, and nearly 7,000 Buckeye soldiers were killed in action.
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[edit] History
[edit] Ohio politics during the war
Although much of southern Ohio's economy depended upon trade with the South (due in part to the Ohio River, which bordered the slave states of Virginia and Kentucky) most of the state was solidly against secession and in favor of a strong central government. During the 1860 Presidential Election, Ohio voted in favor of Abraham Lincoln (231,709 votes or 52.3% of the ballots cast) over Stephen Douglas (187,421; 42.3%), John C. Breckinridge (11,406; 2.6%), and John Bell (12,194; 2.8%).[1]
A number of men with Ohio ties would serve important roles in Lincoln's Cabinet and administration, including Steubenville's Edwin M. Stanton as Attorney General and then Secretary of War, and former Ohio U.S. Senator and Governor Salmon P. Chase as Secretary of the Treasury. Prominent Ohio politicians in Congress included Senators John Sherman and Benjamin F. Wade.[2]
During the war, three men would serve as Governor of Ohio – William Dennison, David Tod and John Brough. Without being asked by the War Department, Dennison sent Ohio troops into western Virginia, where they guarded the Wheeling Convention, which eventually led to the admission of West Virginia as a free state. Tod becamed known as "the soldier's friend," for his determined efforts to help equip and sustain Ohio's troops, and was noted for his quick response in calling out the state militia to battle Confederate raiders. Brough strongly supported the Lincoln Administration's war efforts and was key to persuading other Midwestern governors to raise 100-day regiments such as the 131st Ohio Infantry in early 1864 to release more seasoned troops for duty in Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's spring campaign.[3]
Through the middle of the war, the Copperhead movement had significant traction in Ohio, driven in part by noted states rights advocate, Congressman Clement Vallandigham. After General Ambrose E. Burnside had issued General Order #38 in early 1863, warning that the "habit of declaring sympathies for the enemy" would not be tolerated in the Military District of Ohio, Vallandigham gave a major speech charging the war was being fought not to save the Union, but to free blacks and enslave whites. Burnside ordered his arrest and took Vallandigham to Cincinnati for trial. At the trial, Vallandigham was found guilty, and the court sentenced him to prison for the duration of the war. President Lincoln attempted to quiet the situation by writing the Birchard Letter which offered to release Vallandigham is several Ohio congressmen agreed to support certain policies of the Administration. Seeing a potential political backlash and at the same time not wanting to humiliate Ambrose Burnside or curtail the arrests of disloyalists, Abraham Lincoln changed the sentence to banishment to the South with promise of imprisonment if he returned to northern soil. The South allowed him to migrate to Canada from where the exiled Vallandigham unsuccessfully ran for governor against Brough in 1863. However, his efforts had bitterly divided much of southern Ohio.[4]
Public sentiment shifted towards the Lincoln Administration, particularly as Ohio generals rose in prominence and with military successes in the Atlanta Campaign, the Siege of Petersburg, and Sheridan's Valley Campaigns. In the 1864 Presidential Election, Ohio strongly supported Lincoln's reelection, giving the president 265,674 votes (56.4% of the total) to General George McClellan's 205,609 votes (43.6%).[5]
President Lincoln's train passed through Ohio en route to Washington D.C. for his inauguration, with brief stops in numerous cities. Although Lincoln had visited the state several times before the war, he would not return during the Civil War until his funeral train passed through the state for Springfield, Illinois, in 1865.
[edit] Military recruitment
At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, in response to a call to arms by President Lincoln, Ohio raised 23 volunteer infantry regiments for three months service, 10 more regiments than the state's quota. Soon, when it became evident that the war would not end quickly, Ohio began raising regiments for three-year terms of enlistment, the vast majority at first stocked with eager volunteers and recruits. By the war's end, they would be joined by 8,750 draftees.[6]
Nearly 320,000 Ohioans served in the Union army, more than any other northern state except New York and Pennsylvania.[7] Of these, 5,092 were free blacks. Ohio had the highest percentage of its population enlisted in the military of any state, with 60% of all the men between the ages of 18 and 45 in the service. Ohio mustered 230 regiments of infantry and cavalry, as well as 26 light artillery batteries and 5 independent companies of sharpshooters. Total casualties among these units numbered 35,475 men, over 10% of all the Buckeyes in uniform during the war. 6,835 men were killed in action, including 402 officers.[8]
There were dozens of small camps established across the state to train and drill the new regiments, in addition to two large military posts, Camp Chase in Columbus and Camp Dennison near Cincinnati. The 1st Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry (OVI) would eventually be joined on the muster rolls by well over 100 additional infantry regiments.[9]
The first military action seen by Ohioans was at the Battle of Philippi Races in June 1861, where the 14th and 16th Ohio Infantry participated in the Union victory. Ohioans comprised one-fifth of the Union army at the April 1862 Battle of Shiloh, where 1,676 Buckeyes would be killed or wounded. Ohio would suffer its highest casualty count at the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863, with 3,591 killed or wounded and 1,351 more taken prisoner of war by the Confederates. Thirty-six men from the 2nd Ohio Infantry taken captive at Chickamauga would perish in the infamous Andersonville prison, as well as hundreds more Buckeyes.[10]
Several Buckeye regiments played critical roles in other important battles. The 8th OVI was instrumental in helping repulse Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg. At the same battle, the 66th OVI flanked repeated Confederate assaults and helped secure the crest of Culp's Hill. George Nixon, great-grandfather of President Richard M. Nixon, died at Gettysburg in the 73rd OVI.[11]
John Clem, celebrated as "Johnny Shiloh" and "The Drummer Boy of Chickamauga," became the youngest person to become a noncommissioned officer in United States Army history. Over 100 soldiers from Ohio units would win the Medal of Honor during the conflict, including several for participating in the ill-fated Great Locomotive Chase.
President Lincoln had a habit on the eve of a battle of asking how many Ohio men would participate. When someone inquired why, Lincoln remarked, "Because I know that if there are many Ohio soldiers to be engaged, it is probable we will win the battle, for they can be relied upon in such an emergency."[12]
[edit] Military actions in Ohio
Ohio was spared from serious military encountered, unlike its neighbors West Virginia, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. In September 1862, Confederate forces under Brig. Gen. Henry Heth marched through northern Kentucky and threatened Cincinnati (see Defense of Cincinnati), but turned away when they encountered strong Union fortifications south of the Ohio River. Not long afterwards, Brig. Gen. Albert G. Jenkins briefly passed through the extreme southern tip of Ohio during a raid.
However, it was not until the summer of 1863 that Confederates arrived in force, when John Hunt Morgan's cavalry division traversed southern and eastern Ohio during Morgan's Raid, which culiminated in Morgan's capture in Columbiana County. The Battle of Buffington Island was to be the largest encounter fought in Ohio during the Civil War.
[edit] Notable leaders from Ohio
A disproportionate number of leading generals and army commanders hailed from Ohio. The General-in-Chief of the Union armies, Ulysses S. Grant, was born in Clermont County in 1822. Among the 19 major generals from Ohio were William T. Sherman, Philip H. Sheridan, Don Carlos Buell, Jacob D. Cox, George Crook, George Armstrong Custer, James A. Garfield, Irvin McDowell, James B. McPherson, William S. Rosecrans, and Alexander M. McCook (of the "Fighting McCook" family, which sent a number of generals into the service). The state would also contribute 53 brigadier generals. A handful of Confederate generals were Ohio-born, including Bushrod Johnson and Robert H. Hatton.[13]
In addition to Grant and Garfield, three other Ohio Civil War soldiers would become President of the United States in the decades following the war – William McKinley, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Benjamin Harrison.
 Ulysses S. Grant |
 William T. Sherman |
 Philip H. Sheridan |
 Edwin M. Stanton |
 Chief Justice |
 James B. McPherson |
 Jacob D. Cox |
 James A. Garfield |
 Rutherford B. Hayes |
 William S. Rosecrans |
 George A. Custer |
 Clement Vallandigham |
[edit] Civil War sites in Ohio
Two significant cemeteries for the dead from the Confederate States Army can be found in the Buckeye State, including one at the prisoner-of-war camp on Johnson's Island and another at Camp Chase, where over 2,000 Southerners were interred.
The only battlefield of significance is Buffington Island, which is threatened today by development. This was the largest fight of the July 1863 dash across Ohio by Confederate cavalry under John Hunt Morgan, an incursion immortalized as "Morgan's Raid". A more minor engagement in size was the Battle of Salineville, which resulted in the capture of General Morgan. He and a number of his officers were incarcerated in the Ohio State Penitentiary before escaping. Extreme south-central Ohio had previously been briefly invaded in early September 1862 by cavalry under Albert G. Jenkins.
Many Ohio counties have Civil War monuments, statues, cannons, and similar memorializations for their regional contributions to the Civil War effort. Often these are located at or near the county courthouses. The Ohio State Capitol has a Civil War display of guns on its grounds. In downtown Cleveland's Public Square is the impressive Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument. Other large monuments are in Dayton, Hamilton, and Columbus. A large equestrian statue of General Sheridan is in the center of Somerset, and New Rumley has a memorial to George Armstrong Custer. There are a number of Ohio Historical Markers scattered throughout the state commemorating places and people associated with the Civil War. Monuments in Cincinnati and Mansfield commemorate the hundreds of Ohio soldiers who had been liberated from Southern prison camps such as Cahaba and Andersonville, only to perish in the Sultana tragedy.
The Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center and Library in Fremont contains a number of Civil War relics and artifacts associated with General Hayes. Similarly, "Lawnfield," the home of James A. Garfield in Mentor, has a collection of Civil War items from the assassinated President.
The Ohio Historical Society maintains many of the archives of the war, including artifacts and many battle flags of individual regiments and artillery batteries. More relics can be found in the Western Reserve Historical Society's museum in Cleveland.
[edit] See also
- Category:Ohio Civil War regiments
- List of Ohio's American Civil War generals
- Cincinnati in the Civil War
- Cleveland in the Civil War
[edit] References
- Baumgartner, Richard A., Buckeye Blood: Ohio at Gettysburg. Huntington, West Virginia: Blue Acorn Press, 2003. ISBN 1-885033-29-X.
- Harper, Robert S., Ohio Handbook of the Civil War. Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio Historical Society, 1961.
- Reid, Whitelaw, Ohio in the War: Her Statesmen, Her Generals, and Soldiers. 2 vol. Cincinnati: Moore, Wilstach, & Baldwin, 1868.
- U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 70 volumes in 4 series. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1880-1901.
- Leip, David. 1860 Presidential Election Results. Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections (July 27, 2005).
- Leip, David. 1864 Presidential Election Results. Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections (July 27, 2005).
[edit] Notes
- ^ Leip, David. 1860 Presidential Election Results. Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections (July 27, 2005).
- ^ Harper, p. 23.
- ^ Harper, pp. 33 and 42.
- ^ Harper, pp. 35-36.
- ^ Leip, David. 1864 Presidential Election Results. Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections (July 27, 2005).
- ^ Harper, page 10.
- ^ Reid, Vol. 1, pp. 160–64.
- ^ Harper, pp. 9–10.
- ^ Harper, pp. 58-77.
- ^ Official Records; Harper, pp. 51-52.
- ^ Baumgartner, pp. 85–86.
- ^ Harper, p. 50.
- ^ Harper, 53–57.
[edit] Further reading
- Dornbusch, C. E., Regimental Publications & Personal Narratives of the Civil War., Vol I Northern States, Part V Indiana and Ohio. New York: The New York Public Library, 1962.
- Dyer, Frederick Henry, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. New York: T. Yoseloff, 1908. 3 vol.
- Hall, Susan, Appalachian Ohio and the Civil War, 1862-1863. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2000. ISBN 0-7864-0866-9.
- Leeke, Jim, editor. A Hundred Days to Richmond: Ohio’s "Hundred Days" Men in the Civil War. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1999.
- Ohio Roster Commission. Official Roster of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio in the War on the Rebellion, 1861–1865, compiles under the direction of the Roster commission. 12 vol. Akron: Werner Co., 1886–95.
[edit] External links
- Ohio in the Civil War by Larry Stevens
- Civil War Monuments in Ohio by the Cincinnati Historical Society Library
- Ohio Civil War Attractions
- List of Ohio's Civil War generals
- National Park Service map of Civil War sites in Ohio
| Ohio in the American Civil War |  |
|---|---|
| 1861: Early military recruiting - Camp Chase - Camp Dennison - Department of the Ohio - McClellan's Buckeyes seize western Virginia - Fighting McCooks - Johnson's Island POW camp 1862: Anti-war movement - Knights of the Golden Circle - First Confederate incursion into Ohio - Defense of Cincinnati - Black Brigade of Cincinnati 1863: "Fort Fizzle" - Morgan's Raid - Battle of Buffington Island - Battle of Salineville 1864-65: Hundred Days Men - Ohio's generals and admirals - Ohio's regiments - Cincinnati in the Civil War - Cleveland in the Civil War - Buckeye POWs and the Sultana Post-war memorialization: Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument |
