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 March 1, 1865, the 187th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry organized at Camp Chase in Columbus, Ohio. The men in the regiment were to serve a one-year term of enlistment.
On March 3, 1865, authorities dispatched the 187th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry to Nashville, Tennessee, where it became part of the Department of the Cumberland. Upon the regiment’s arrival in Nashville, the soldiers remained here just a short time before being transferred to Dalton, Georgia. The 187th Regiment remained in Dalton on garrison duty for approximately two months, when it then moved to Kingston, Georgia. At Kingston, approximately two thousand Confederate soldiers surrendered to the 187th Regiment. Most of these men were from Joseph Johnston’s Confederate army. The 187th’s men soon returned to Dalton, where they spent one additional month repairing a railroad line. The soldiers then went to Macon, Georgia, serving on provost-marshal duty until authorities mustered out the regiment on January 20, 1866. The men returned to Columbus, Ohio, where officials discharged the soldiers.
Unfortunately for the soldiers, the Civil War ended approximately six weeks after the regiment’s formation on March 1, 1865, preventing the soldiers of the 187th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry from seeing any major combat in the American Civil War. The regiment did lose one man killed in a skirmish with Confederate forces and an additional fifty-three men, including one officer, due to disease or accidents. Despite not engaging in major combat as the 187th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, many of the regiment’s enlisted men had served in other regiments of Ohio Volunteer Infantry earlier in the war.
