1861–1865
For much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, army forces across the world consisted of three different types of units. These units included infantry units, cavalry units, and artillery units.
For much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, army forces across the world consisted of;three different types of units. These units included infantry units, cavalry units, and artillery units. Most soldiers served in infantry units, which consisted of men who marched into battle, while cavalry units included soldiers who would ride on horses into the fray. Artillery units consisted of men who fired large guns that were usually so heavy that horses or oxen pulled the weapons to the battlefield.
All three of these units played a major role in the American Civil War. Ohioans served in all three types of units, eventually comprising more than 260 regiments, including over two hundred infantry and thirteen cavalry regiments, as well as three artillery regiments and twenty-six independent batteries. Some Ohioans also served in units from other states, especially Kentucky, Massachusetts, and West Virginia. In all, 310,654 Ohio men served in the United States armed forces, including in the Army, Marines, and Navy. Of these men, 5,092 of them were African Americans, who usually served in the United States Colored Troops or in units created in other states especially for African Americans. Numerous Ohio blacks served in the war’s most famous African-American regiments—the Fifty-Fourth and Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts Infantries. Other Ohioans, 6,479 of them, chose to opt out of military duty when drafted by paying a monetary fine. To ensure ample soldiers for the Union military, the federal government implemented quotas that each state had to meet based on the state’s population. Ohio was to provide 306,322 men. At the war’s conclusion, the state had met its quota exceeding it by almost sixteen thousand men.
Most sources contend that 24,591 Ohioans died during the Civil War, with 11,237 dying from wounds and an additional 13,354 succumbing to disease. Most Ohio soldiers performed admirably, with only approximately 13,640 men deserting during the conflict.
