1862–1863
Formed on October 7, 1862, the Army of Kentucky served for eight months in the states of Kentucky and Tennessee, before being disbanded on June 8, 1863.
On October 7, 1862, Major General Horatio Wright, commanding the Department of the Ohio, issued Special Order No. 51, assigning Major General Gordon Granger to command the newly created Army of Kentucky. Wright's orders specified that Granger's command would include, "all of the forces now operating in Kentucky on the line of the Licking River, extending from the Ohio River southward in the direction of Lexington." Wright went on to state that, "As new regiments, detachments, batteries, &c, arrive from the several states of this department they will be incorporated into and organized with the forces of his command already assembled.”
On October 31, 1862, Granger reported that he had 19,751 enlisted men and 939 officers present for duty.
On January 20, 1863, Wright sent Granger and most of the Army of the Kentucky, "to the Department of the Cumberland, to operate with the forces within that department." Brigadier-General Absalom Baird's division fought at the Battle of Thompson's Station in Williamson County, Tennessee on March 5, 1863. One month later, the Army of Kentucky defeated Confederate General Earl Van Dorn's forces at the First Battle of Franklin (also known as the Battle of Harpeth River) on April 10, 1863.
On June 8, 1863 Major General William S. Rosecrans, commanding the Department of the Cumberland, issued Special Field Order No. 156, reorganizing most of the units comprising the Army of the Kentucky. Many of the soldiers remained under Granger's command as the Reserve Corps of the Army of the Cumberland. Others were reassigned to various divisions of the 14th Army Corps. Rosecrans's special order ended the brief eight-month existence of the Army of Kentucky.
Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiments that served with the Army of Kentucky included:
100th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
103rd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
104th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
111th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
113th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
117th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
118th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
120th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
124th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
125th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
Ohio Volunteer Artillery Regiments that served with the Army of Kentucky included:
18th Ohio Independent Battery of Ohio Volunteer Artillery
19th Ohio Independent Battery of Ohio Volunteer Artillery
Ohio Volunteer Cavalry Regiments that served with the Army of Kentucky included:
7th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Cavalry
9th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Cavalry (Three Years Service)