Ferdinand Van Derveer
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Ferdinand Van Derveer (February 27, 1823 – November 5, 1892) was a lawyer and a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Van Derveer was born in Middletown, Ohio. He was educated in the local schools, studied law, passed his bar exam and established his practice in Middletown. However, when the Mexican-American War erupted, he left his law office and enlisted in the military as a private in the 1st Ohio Volunteers. By the end of the war, he had risen to the rank of captain and commanded an assaulting column at the Battle of Monterey. Van Derveer returned home after the war and resumed his legal career. He served for a number of years as the Sheriff of Butler County, Ohio.
When the Civil War began, Van Derveer organized the 35th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry and became its first colonel. It originally consisted of 921 men, 750 of whom came from Butler County. Before disbanding in September 1864, the 35th O.V.I. fought in the Battle of Mill Springs, the Battle of Stones River, the Battle of Missionary Ridge, and the Battle of Chickamauga, during which nearly half the men in the regiment were killed or wounded. In 1864, Van Derveer was appointed Brigadier General of Volunteers and assigned to the IV Corps in Alabama in January 1865.
After the conclusion of the war, Van Derveer returned to Butler County and served as a judge. He is buried in Hamilton, Ohio.
[edit] References
- Warner, Ezra J., Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1964, ISBN 0-8071-0822-7.
- A History of the Thirty-Fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- The 35th Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- Ferdinand Van Derveer at Find A Grave Retrieved on 2008-02-12
