1861
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.
Artillery batteries formed in Ohio became known as batteries of Ohio Volunteer Artillery. They served for varying lengths of time, averaging one hundred days to three years. Six days after the Battle of Fort Sumter in April 1861, Ohio officials ordered the 1st Regiment Ohio Light Artillery of Ohio Volunteer Artillery to Columbus, Ohio. Four batteries of the regiment organized at Cleveland, Ohio, while the other two batteries formed at Brooklyn, Ohio and Geneva, Ohio. The regiment’s soldiers were to serve for three months.
;Upon the regiment reaching Ohio’s capital city, authorities dispatched the 1st to Marietta, Ohio, where the organization encamped at Camp Putnam, which was located at the county fairgrounds. The regiment was to guard the city from Confederate forces, with the 14th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry (Three Months Service) and the 18th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry (Three Months Service) reinforcing the 1st Regiment on May 24 and May 25, 1861 respectively.
On May 29, 1861, Batteries D and F of the 1st Regiment departed Marietta for Parkersburg, Virginia (modern-day West Virginia), where officials ordered the regiment to repair railroad bridges, destroyed by Confederate forces, on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad between Parkersburg and Clarksburg, Virginia (modern-day West Virginia). The organization joined the Union advance against Confederate forces at Philippi. In the Battle of Philippi (June 3, 1861), the Northern soldiers surprised the Southerners, resulting in a resounding Union victory. The 1st Regiment had a few men wounded in this affair.
On May 30, 1861, the four batteries at Marietta began a movement, via Benwood, Virginia (modern-day West Virginia), to Grafton, Virginia (modern-day West Virginia). After reaching Grafton, the regiment moved to Philippi but arrived after the battle was completed. The entire regiment spent June 1861 headquartered at Philippi, but officials assigned some of the organization’s batteries to guard railroad bridges in the vicinity. On July 7, 1861, officials ordered the 1st to Laurel Mountain to shell Confederate forces at that location. The regiment served in this capacity for the duration of the Battle of Laurel Mountain (July 7 to July 12, 1861) and the Battle of Rich Mountain (July 11, 1861) and pursued the retreating Confederates to Carrick’s Ford, where the Union victory at the Battle of Carrick’s Ford occurred on July 13, 1861. Following this last engagement, the 1st moved to Belington, Virginia (modern-day West Virginia) at the base of Laurel Mountain. The organization remained here until authorities ordered the regiment to Columbus, where the 1st mustered out of service on July 27, 1861.
