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1st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry (Three Months Service)

With the American Civil War’s outbreak, neither the North nor the South had sufficient military forces to conduct a war. Both the United States of America and the Confederate States of America, at first, relied upon volunteers either to form or to bolster their respective militaries.

With the American Civil War’s outbreak, neither the North nor the South had sufficient military forces to conduct a war. Both the United States of America and the Confederate States of America, at first, relied upon volunteers either to form or to bolster their respective militaries. Typically, individual states would recruit and send volunteers to their respective federal governments. Initially, many states relied on militia forces. Historically, every British colony in North America had established a militia. The militia usually consisted of adult, able-bodied men, who would rally to defend the colonies and, following the American Revolution, states during military crises. By the start of the American Civil War, unfortunately for both the Confederate States of America and the United States of America, most state militias were in a decline and unprepared for a major war.

In Ohio, Governor William Dennison hoped to supply the United States government with men and supplies from the Ohio militia. Ohio’s militia system was virtually nonexistent by 1861. While militia forces played a vital role in Ohio’s history from the American Revolution to the War of 1812, most major military threats to Ohio’s security ended with the War of 1812. Following this conflict, the federal government quickly removed most Native Americans further west, and in the decades immediately following the war, no European or other major power attacked the United States. Facing no serious internal or external threats, most states, including Ohio, allowed their militia organizations to weaken. Most militia groups became mere social organizations and did not actively practice or study military maneuvers or tactics.

Dennison quickly discovered that Ohio’s militia system could not play an active role in the American Civil War. Following the Battle of Fort Sumter and President Abraham Lincoln’s call for seventy-five thousand volunteers to return the seceded states to the Union in April 1861, Ohio’s governor sent Jacob Cox, a state politician, and George McClellan, a former United States Army officer and current businessman, to Ohio’s arsenal to assess the availability of weapons and supplies. Cox and McClellan found three or four crates of smoothbore muskets, a number of inoperable six-pound cannons, and some mildewed horse harnesses. Upon learning of the dire condition of the state’s military supplies, Dennison still encouraged Ohioans to reestablish militia units to defend the state from Southern attack and to assist the federal government in reuniting the nation.

Ohioans quickly responded to the governor’s and the federal government’s call for troops. These militia units that rallied to reunite the nation formed the basis of the 1st Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Among the militia organizations forming this regiment were the Dayton Light Guards, the Lancaster Guards, the Lafayette Guards, the Montgomery Guards, the Cleveland Grays, the Hibernian Guards, the Portsmouth Guards, the Zanesville Guards, the Mansfield Guards, and the Jackson Guards. Officials organized the 1st Ohio Volunteer Infantry on April 18, 1861, in Columbus, Ohio.

On April 19, 1861, Governor Dennison dispatched the 1st Ohio Volunteer Infantry to Washington, D.C. While traveling to the nation’s capital, on April 29, 1861, the regiment was formerly mustered into the United States military while traveling through Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

The 1st Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment participated in the Battle of Vienna on June 17, 1861 and in the Battle of First Bull Run on July 21, 1861. At Vienna, the 1st Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment lost nine men killed and two wounded. At Bull Run, this regiment suffered three men killed, two wounded, and two captured. Having only enlisted for three months of duty, on July 31, the 1st Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment mustered out of service, but many of its former members quickly enlisted in other regiments.

1st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry (Three Months Service):

Roster of Officers:

Name

Rank

Age

Date of Entering Service

Term of Service

Alexander McCook

Colonel

30

April 28, 1861

Three months

Edwin A. Parrott

Lieutenant Colonel

31

April 17, 1861

Three months

John G. Hughes

Major

40

April 17, 1861

Three months

William E. McMillen

Surgeon

36

April 17, 1861

Three months

Albert Wilson

Assistant Surgeon

32

April 17, 1861

Three months

Joseph S. Parrott

Adjutant

27

April 17, 1861

Three months

George D. McKinney

Sergeant Major

25

April 17, 1861

Three months

James E. Jones

Sergeant Major

24

April 17, 1861

Three months

George P. Leonhard

Quartermaster Sergeant

24

April 17, 1861

Three months

Enoch P. Hooven

Hospital Steward

20

April 17, 1861

Three months

William F. Robinson

Fife Major

47

April 17, 1861

Three months

Joel A. Stafford

Captain

30

April 16, 1861

Three months

Peter Dister

Captain

33

April 16, 1861

Three months

Waller B. Pease

Captain

28

April 16, 1861

Three months

George D. McKinney

Captain

23

April 16, 1861

Three months

John Crowe

Captain

32

April 16, 1861

Three months

Thomas S. Paddock

Captain

47

April 16, 1861

Three months

John Kell

Captain

44

April 17, 1861

Three months

George B. Bailey

Captain

38

April 16, 1861

Three months

John C. Hazlett

Captain

29

April 14, 1861

Three months

William McLaughlin

Captain

60

April 17, 1861

Three months

John P. Bruck

Captain

42

April 16, 1861

Three months

Jeremiah Ensworth

Captain

43

April 16, 1861

Three months

Thomas M. Hunter

First Lieutenant

24

April 16, 1861

Three months

Lewis Kuhlman

First Lieutenant

26

April 16, 1861

Three months

John Winder

First Lieutenant

29

April 16, 1861

Three months

Patrick O’Connell

First Lieutenant

27

April 16, 1861

Three months

James B. Hampson

First Lieutenant

23

April 16, 1861

Three months

Paddock S. Turner

First Lieutenant

26

April 17, 1861

Three months

Obadiah C. Maxwell

First Lieutenant

24

April 17, 1861

Three months

William H. Raynor

First Lieutenant

27

April 16, 1861

Three months

Isaac R. Eckhart

First Lieutenant

23

April 17, 1861

Three months

Alexander McIlvain

First Lieutenant

41

April 17, 1861

Three months

Moses Klein

First Lieutenant

31

April 16, 1861

Three months

Eara Ricketts

Second Lieutenant

33

April 16, 1861

Three months

John Hand

Second Lieutenant

26

April 16, 1861

Three months

Washington W. Woodward

Second Lieutenant

28

April 16, 1861

Three months

Joseph Finch

Second Lieutenant

23

April 16, 1861

Three months

Joseph Richards

Second Lieutenant

37

April 16, 1861

Three months

John N. Frazee

Second Lieutenant

29

April 16, 1861

Three months

Ira N. Snell

Second Lieutenant

25

April 17, 1861

Three months

Alfred Kinney

Second Lieutenant

31

April 16, 1861

Three months

Frank Fracker

Second Lieutenant

29

April 17, 1861

Three months

Thomas E. Douglas

Second Lieutenant

29

April 17, 1861

Three months

John Bruck

Second Lieutenant

25

April 16, 1861

Three months

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