1864-1866
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.
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. Soldiers of Ohio infantry regiments served the Union for varying lengths of time, ranging from one hundred days to three years. One of the three-year organizations was the 11th Regiment Detachment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The 11th Detachment had previously organized for three years as the 11th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry.
On June 11, 1864, the 11th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry's soldiers who did not reenlist in January 1864 mustered out of service. The remaining soldiers of the regiment, two companies that had not fulfilled their three-years service and the men from other companies who had reenlisted in the military, became the 11th Regiment Detachment Ohio Volunteer Infantry on June 1, 1864 at Ringgold, Georgia.
On May 3, 1864, the 11th Detachment embarked upon Union General William T. Sherman's Atlanta Campaign. The goal of this expedition was for Northern forces to capture the important manufacturing center of Atlanta, Georgia. The 13th fought in many of the largest engagements of the campaign, including the Battles of Resaca, Kennesaw Mountain, and Atlanta. Union forces occupied Atlanta on September 2, 1864, bringing the campaign to a victorious conclusion for the North. During the Atlanta Campaign, the 11th's commanding officer issued the following report:
HDQRS. ELEVENTH REGT. OHIO VOL. INFANTRY, Resaca, Ga., May 30, 1864.
SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report of the part taken by my regiment during the late movement from Ringgold, Ga., and action near this place:
The regiment moved with the brigade from Ringgold on the morning of the 7th instant and bivouacked near Tunnel Hill same evening. On the 8th and 9th moved to the right and front with the brigade to a point near Mill Creek Gap. On the evening of the 9th the regiment was ordered out to build a bridge across Mill Creek, near the gap, and construct a road for getting artillery in position at the gap. The work was completed at 2 a. m. of the 10th, when I returned to the brigade with a loss of 2 men wounded. Remained in bivouac until the morning of the 12th, when I moved with the brigade south and to the east side of Rocky Face Ridge, through Snake Creek Gap, bivouacking near the east end of the gap. On the 13th the regiment with the brigade took position in front of the enemy, west of the railroad, north, of and about two and a half miles from Resaca. Changed position on the morning of the 14th to a point about one-half a mile north of the position occupied the evening previous. The brigade being formed in two lines, my regiment was the third from the right of the second line, and in the rear of the Eighty-second Regt. Indiana Volunteer Infantry. At about 12.30 p. m. an advance was made by the Twenty-third Army Corps, when the brigade moved forward in support, I being ordered to follow the Eighty-second Regt. Indiana Volunteers. After having moved about half a mile the fire from the enemy became severe, when I deployed my column, having been formed in double column at half distance. Owing to the dense undergrowth the Eighty-second Indiana became lost to sight during this movement. My regiment having been deployed, moved forward on the double-quick, and in descending a precipitous hill in front of the enemy's works, became mixed with the Eighty-second Indiana and some regiments of the Twenty-third Army Corps. Finding my regiment disorganized by this mixture, I withdrew to the top of the hill, as soon as I saw that no further advance was being made by the troops originally in my front, where I reformed and was preparing to move forward to the point from which I had withdrawn, when I was ordered by Lieut.-Col. Grosvenor, aide-de-camp, to report my regiment to the crest of the hill, a few hundred yards to the right, at which point I remained until dark, when the brigade was moved to the rear. On the morning of the 15th the brigade was moved to the right about one mile, where it remained in bivouac until the morning of the 16th, when moved to this place, where my regiment has since been stationed.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
OGDEN STREET, Lieut.-Col., Cmdg.
Capt. W. B. CURTIS Assistant Adjutant-Gen.
Following the Atlanta Campaign, the 11th entered camp near Atlanta for several weeks, before joining General Sherman's "March to the Sea" in mid-November 1864. The ultimate goal of this campaign was for the Union military to seize Savannah, Georgia. The regiment saw limited combat on this campaign until reaching Savannah, where the organization participated in the Union's siege lines of the city's Confederate garrison. The Union military occupied Savannah on December 21, 1864, with the 11th entering camp in the city's vicinity.
In late January 1865, the 11th Ohio embarked upon General Sherman’s Carolinas Campaign. In South Carolina, the regiment participated in several skirmishes with Confederate forces. In early March 1865, the 11th entered North Carolina, arriving at Fayetteville in the middle of the month. The regiment participated in the Battle of Bentonville, North Carolina from March 19 to 21, 1865. Following this Union victory, the organization moved to Goldsboro, North Carolina, before advancing to Raleigh, North Carolina.
Following the surrender of General Joseph Johnston's Confederate army in late April 1865, the 11th marched to Washington, DC, where the organization participated in the Grand Review on May 24, 1865. In early June 1865, the regiment proceeded to Louisville, Kentucky, taking the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to Parkersburg, West Virginia and then boarding a steamer and sailing down the Ohio River the remainder of the way. On June 11, 1865, the 11th mustered out of service at Louisville. The regiment then proceeded to Ohio, where officials discharged the unit's members, allowing the men to return to their homes.
