In the American Civil War, Ohio provided the federal government with 260 regiments of men, including infantry, artillery, and cavalry units. Ohioans also served in several other regiments from other states, most notably from Kentucky, West Virginia, and Massachusetts, as well as in federal units.
In the American Civil War, Ohio provided the federal government with 260 regiments of men, including infantry, artillery, and cavalry units. Ohioans also served in several other regiments from other states, most notably from Kentucky, West Virginia, and Massachusetts, as well as in federal units. Almost 330,000 Ohio men, including 5,092 African Americans, served in the Union military during the conflict.
Infantry regiments formed in Ohio became known as regiments of Ohio Volunteer Infantry. On September 18, 1862, officials mustered the 115th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry into three years of service at Camp Massillon at Massillon, Ohio. On October 4, 1862, the regiment reported for duty at Cincinnati, Ohio. Five days later, authorities dispatched five companies to Camp Chase, in Columbus, Ohio, where the members of these companies served on prison guard duty. The remaining five companies stayed in Cincinnati, serving on provost-guard duty. These companies in Cincinnati, pursued General John Hunt Morgan during his Ohio raid of July 1863.
In November 1862, officials sent the Columbus companies to Maysville, Kentucky. The following month, these same companies moved to Covington, Kentucky, where their members served as provost guards until October 1863, when authorities reassigned the companies, along with those in Cincinnati, to Major-General William Rosecrans’s command at Chattanooga, Tennessee. The regiment did not reach Chattanooga. When passing through Murfreesboro, Tennessee, officials detained the 115th’s members, having them subdue Confederate guerrillas operating in the vicinity. Some members of the regiment became mounted infantry, while the other troopers served on garrison duty at Murfreesboro and then, in June 1864, occupied blockhouses along the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad. In August 1864, Confederate cavalry under Joseph Wheeler’s command attacked two of the blockhouses. The Confederate force captured the Northern troops in Blockhouse No.4, but the Union men in Blockhouse No. 5 repulsed the attack, having three men killed and seven wounded. In December 1864, During John Bell Hood’s Franklin-Nashville Campaign, Confederate cavalry under Nathan Bedford Forrest’s command captured Blockhouse Nos. 1, 3, and 4. Confederate forces also attacked Blockhouse Nos. 2, 5, 6, and 7, and the Northern troopers repulsed them or withdrew before the attacks took place. These men of the 115th Regiment regrouped at Murfreesboro, where Confederate forces attacked on December 5, 6, and 7, 1864 at the Battle of the Cedars, but the Northerners successfully defended the city. These companies of the 115th performed garrison duty at Murfreesboro or continued to guard the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad for the remainder of the war.
On June 23, 1865, officials mustered the 115th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry out of service. The regiment then traveled to Cleveland, Ohio, where authorities discharged its members on July 7, 1865.
During the American Civil War, the 115th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry lost nine men, including one officer, killed on the battlefield. An additional 142 men, including four officers, died due to disease or accidents. Eighty-three of these men perished when the Sultana exploded on April 27, 1865. The men who perished were former prisoners of the Confederate military and were returning to Ohio to be discharged.
