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(About) Battle of Chickamauga, part of the Chickamauga
Campaign, was fought September 18-20, 1863, with Confederate commander Braxton Bragg confronted
by Union commander William Rosecrans. 66,326 Confederates engaged a Union force of 58,222 and the casualties were a staggering 34,624
(16,170 Union and 18,454 Confederate), making Chickamauga the 2nd deadliest battle of the
Civil War.
The Service of Ohio Soldiers
They fought
and bled on every great battlefield of the Civil War, from Big Bethel (June 10, 1861), the first, to Blakely at Mobile (April
9, 1865), the last battle of the war.
Ohio soldiers followed Thomas to victory at Mill Springs, and Garfield, of Ohio,
at Prestonburg, Ky., in Jan., 1862.
Ohio soldiers formed a large part of the army that stormed the works and captured
Fort Donelson, where, under Grant, a son of Ohio, the eagles of the Union soared first to victory on the grander theatre of
war. They fought at Island No. 10, at Shiloh, Corinth, luka and Perryville. Her soldiers bore a large share in the deadly
conflicts at Stone's River, and Chickamauga, under Rosecrans, another of Ohio's great and patriotic generals.
They
were of the grand army under Grant, Sherman and McPherson — what a trio of Ohio generals ! — which swung around
to the south of Vicksburg, and fought and won the battles of Champion's hill, Jackson and Big Black river, and joined in the
siege and capture of Vicksburg.
They fought at Arkansas Post, Port Hudson and Grand Gulf. They also manned gunboats
under Adm. Porter, which, with the aid of the army, opened the "Father of Waters" to the Gulf.
During the war they
campaigned against the Indians in the far West. They were with Hooker, and thundered down "the defiance of the skies" from
above the clouds at Lookout mountain.
They were under the eagle eye of Thomas at Chickamauga, and in scaling the heights
and seizing the redoubts on Missionary ridge.
| Total Ohio Civil War Soldiers, Sailors and Marines |
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| Total Ohio Civil War Soldiers and Killed |
(Above) Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion (1908).
Dyer and fellow Civil War statistician Fox, William F. Regimental Losses in the American Civil War (1889), are considered
the sources for Civil War statistics. As leading statisticians, their collective works were written through the eyes
of two fellows who had also witnessed the Civil War. Still, nevertheless, their material remains the standard in the
field. Dyer, above, includes the total number of White Troops, Sailors and Marines, Indian Nations (or Native Americans),
and Colored Troops who served in the Union military. Table is simple, easy to read for reference, and allows the
student, Civil War buff, and interested person answers to some of the conflict's basic questions regarding numbers and totals.
For your convenience, Dyer is represented with two additional, easy to read tables on this page.
They formed a great part of each of the grand divisions of that triune army
in which solid "Old Pap Thomas" led the center, McPherson (of Ohio) the right and Schofield the left; the whole under "Old
Tecumseh Sherman," who is neither last nor least of Ohio's great generals. Under his directing eye that army blazed a pathway
almost through mountains, forced the passage of streams, overcame natural and artificial defenses, and a great army, well
commanded; fought battles daily for weeks, with more regularity than they partook of their daily bread; stormed the fortified
heights of Resaca, and Kennesaw mountain ; assaulted the works at Ruff's mills, where the gallant Gen. Edward F. Noyes (since
governor of Ohio and minister to France), lost a leg; also the fortifications at Jonesboro and Atlanta, and, after capturing
the latter place and leaving behind a considerable detachment, swept off eastward to Savannah and the Sea, thence northward
through the Carolinas to the Old Dominion, tearing out the vitals of the Confederacy, striking terror to the enemy and carrying
the flag to victory.
They were present at the captures of Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans and Richmond. The Ohio soldiers
fought and triumphed at Franklin, under Cox and Stanley, both of Ohio, and at Nashville, under Thomas.
Ohio "boys
in blue" fought at Pea ridge, and assaulted at Forts Wagner and Fisher; they also, under Gen. Wm. B. Hazen, of Ohio, stormed
Fort McAllister, on the Atlantic coast.
They fought at Rich mountain, Bull Run, Cheat mountain, Port Republic, at
Fair Oaks, Malvern hill. Cedar mountain, Groveton and Manassas, South mountain and Antietam, Winchester (under Milroy and
others), Fredericksburg, under Burnside; Chancellorsville, under Hooker, and Gettysburg, under Meade; also at Mine Run. They
were of the Army of the Potomac in that "all summer" campaign of 1864, in which an almost continuous battle raged from the
Rapidan to Petersburg. They bled and died at Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor. They constituted,
throughout the war, a part of the body-guard of the capitol.
| Ohio Civil War Units with Grand Total |
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| Dyer's Official Ohio Civil War Regiments, Battalions, Companies |
(Above) Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion (1908). Dyer indicates state
totals for cavalry, heavy artillery (siege and garrison, and seacoast), light artillery (horse and field), engineers, sharpshooters,
and infantry.
They were under that other son of Ohio, Gen. Sheridan, at Opequan and Fisher's hill, in the Shenandoah
Valley, in the former of which Gen. Crook (an Ohio man), with Hayes of Ohio (since president of the United States), at the
head of the Kanawha division, hurled, like an avalanche, the Army of West Virginia upon Breckinridge's forces, overthrew
the left wing of Early's army and insured its defeat and rout.
They were with Sheridan, too, at the bloody battle of Cedar creek, where he rode from Winchester,
"twenty miles away," to the music of the cannon's roar and, at the end of the day, achieved a victory, which, for completeness,
is without a parallel among the important field-engagements of the war, if in the annals of history.
The battle of
Marengo, in Italy, in some degree affords a parallel to the battle of Cedar creek in its dual character — practically
two battles in one day — and also in the complete overthrow and almost total annihilation of the army, victorious in
the onset of the battle. In other respects the two battles were dissimilar. Napoleon won the battle of Marengo by the opportune
arrival on the field of Desaix, the hero of the battle of the Pyramids, with six thousand fresh troops. The battle of Cedar
creek was won by the timely arrival of Sheridan, without troops.
Ohio's soldiers were in the sieges of Petersburg
and Richmond; also of Charleston, S.C, under Gillmore, another of her heroes. They defended Knoxville, under Burnside. They
rushed to glory over the ramparts at Petersburg. They bared their breasts to the storm at Five Forks (under Sheridan and Custer
of Ohio), and at Sailors' creek, under the same and other officers of Ohio.
They were in at the crowning success,
and witnessed the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, under Lee, at Appomattox, to Gen. Grant. They were with Sherman
at Bentonville, and in the redemption of North Carolina, and the capture of that other great Confederate army, under Gen.
Joseph E. Johnston.
| Ohio Civil War Casualties by Killed & Total Deaths |
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| Ohio Total Civil War Dead: Indicated by how killed or died with grand total in deaths |
Her generals and soldiers held posts of honor, when they were posts of responsibility and
danger. Many of the scenes of conflict where Ohio's sons fought and fell are nameless, and they are almost numberless. They
were in every place of danger and duty, where blood flowed and battle-flags were unfurled. They marched, bivouacked, fought
and died along the shores of the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, on the Rio Grande, the Mississippi, the Cumberland and Tennessee.
They, as sailors and marines, were under Dahlgren, DuPont, Porter, Foote and Farragut, and with them also, on the rivers,
the gulf and the sea, won glory and renown, and paid the debt of patriotism and valor.
Ohio blood was poured out wherever
sacrifices were required. They were neither sectional in their opinions or their duty. Believing in one flag and one country,
they fought side by side with men of all sections and of all extractions, and for the preservation of the God-granted and natural boon of liberty and
equality.
They were component parts of each of the grand Union armies which contended upon the thirty-one principal
battlefields of the war. They were generally present at each of the 2,731 battles, affairs or skirmishes of the war. Their
trials, sufferings and dangers were not confined to the combats of the contending hosts.
Source: The Union Army, vol. 2
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