23rd Ohio Infantry

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23rd Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry

Ohio flag
Active 1861–1865
Country United States of America
Allegiance Union
Branch Infantry
Type Regiment
Size 950 soldiers at outset of the war
Engagements Carnifex Ferry
South Mountain
Battle of Antietam
Morgan's Raid
Pomeroy
Cloyd's Mountain
Lynchburg
Winchester
Shenandoah Valley Campaign
Fisher's Hill
Cedar Creek
Commanders
Notable
commanders
William S. Rosecrans
Rutherford B. Hayes

The 23rd Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry (or 23rd OVI) was an infantry regiment that participated in the American Civil War. The regiment became noted for its many postbellum politicians. Future Presidents Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley served in this unit, as did future U.S. Senator and Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court Thomas Stanley Matthews and Robert P. Kennedy, a future U.S. Congressman. Other notable officers included James M. Comly and Eliakim P. Scammon, both of whom became influential nationally after the war.

Contents

[edit] Organization and service

The regiment was organized at Camp Chase (Columbus, Ohio) and mustered into duty on June 11, 1861, as a three-year regiment. Its 950 enlistees were originally led by Col. William Rosecrans. In July, after training and drilling, the regiment departed for western Virginia, where it served for several months, helping to restore that portion of Virginia to the Union. It was attached to Jacob D. Cox's Kanawha Brigade and served throughout much of the war in what became the IX Corps. The unit saw heavy action during the Battle of South Mountain, where Colonel Hayes was wounded in an attack on the slopes near Fox's Gap. Within a week, the 23rd fought at Antietam in the fields southeast of Sharpsburg, Maryland, before returning to duty in West Virginia. It was again heavily engaged in Philip Sheridan's 1864 Valley Campaign. The regiment mustered out in July 1865.

The 23rd OVI lost 5 officers and 154 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded, and 1 officer and 130 enlisted men by disease (total 290 out of 2230 who were members of the regiment at various times).

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Dyer, Frederick Henry, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. 3 volumes. New York: T. Yoseloff, 1908.
  • Reid, Whitelaw, Ohio in the War: Her Statesmen, Her Generals, and Soldiers. Volume 2. Cincinnati: Moore, Wilstach, & Baldwin, 1868.

[edit] Further reading

  • Ohio Roster Commission. Official Roster of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio in the War on the Rebellion, 1861–1865, compiled under the direction of the Roster commission. 12 vol. Akron: Werner Co., 1886–95.

[edit] External links