1864
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. They served for varying lengths of time, averaging one hundred days to three years. In 1864, the governors of several Northern states convinced federal authorities to call up state militia forces for regular military duty. The governors believed that these militiamen would free regular soldiers currently serving in forts or guarding other important sites in Northern states for duty with the Union's invading armies in the Confederacy. Hopefully this surge of men, known as Hundred Days' Men, would allow the North to defeat the South in one hundred days or less while keeping Northern states safe from Confederate attack and anti-war unrest.
On May 8, 1864, Ross County's 27th Regiment Ohio National Guard and Clinton County's 55th Battalion Ohio National Guard organized at Camp Dennison, near Cincinnati, Ohio, forming the 149th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The men in the regiment were to serve one hundred days.
On May 11, 1864, authorities dispatched the 149th to Baltimore, Maryland. Upon arriving at Baltimore, authorities assigned the regiment to garrison various forts that protected the city. On May 29, 1864, officials dispatched the 149th to Maryland's Eastern Shore, where the regiment's members garrisoned various locations. On July 4, 1864, the 149th departed from the Eastern Shore for Monocacy Junction, where the regiment arrived on July 8. The next day, at the Battle of Monocacy, the 149th was stationed on the right side of the Union line. When Confederate forces attacked, the 149th held throughout the day, while the Union left collapsed. That evening, the 149th withdrew with the remainder of the Union right. At the Battle of Monocacy, the 149th had approximately thirty men killed or wounded and an additional one hundred or so men captured. Following the Confederate defeat at the Battle of Fort Stevens and the end of Early's Raid, the 149th, with the rest of the Union army, pursued the Southerners down the Shenandoah Valley. On August 13, 1864, Colonel John Singleton Mosby's Confederate partisan rangers attacked portions of the 149th along with the 144th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry at Berryville, Virginia. The partisans wounded one member of the 149th and captured several more men.
On August 20, 1864, officials ordered the 149th to return to Camp Dennison, where its members mustered out of service on August 30. At this time, sixty-seven members of the 149th remained as Confederate prisoners.
During the 149th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry’s term of service, thirty-eight men perished from disease or accidents, while four men died from wounds received on the battlefield.
