The 23rd Ohio Infantry Regiment was an

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and m ...

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted ...

in the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

during much of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

. It served in the Eastern Theater in a variety of campaigns and battles, and is remembered with a stone memorial on the Antietam National Battlefield not far from Burnside's Bridge. The regiment later became noted for its many up-and-coming politicians. Future presidents Rutherford B. Hayes and

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in t ...

served in this unit, as did future

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and

associate justice Associate justice or associate judge (or simply associate) is a judicial panel member who is not the chief justice in some jurisdictions. The title "Associate Justice" is used for members of the Supreme Court of the United States and some sta ...

of the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point ...

Stanley Matthews Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English footballer who played as an outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the British game, he is the only player to have been knighted while st ...

and Robert P. Kennedy, a future U.S. Congressman. Other notable officers included

James M. Comly James Munroe Stuart Comly (March 6, 1832 – July 26, 1887) was an American soldier, diplomat, and newspaper editor. Before and after his service as Colonel in the Union Army during the American Civil War, he was a journalist, attorney, newspape ...

and

Eliakim P. Scammon Eliakim Parker Scammon (December 27, 1816 – December 7, 1894) was a career officer in the United States Army, serving as a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Early life and career Scammon, a native of Whitefield, ...

, both of whom became influential nationally after the war. Harrison Gray Otis, the famed owner and publisher of the

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

, also fought with the 23rd Ohio during the war.

Organization and service

The 23rd Ohio Infantry Regiment was organized at Camp Chase (

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, an ...

) 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 Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...

to the Union. The 23rd 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 The Battle of South Mountain—known in several early Southern accounts as the Battle of Boonsboro Gap—was fought on September 14, 1862, as part of the Maryland campaign of the American Civil War. Three pitched battles were fought for posse ...

, where Colonel Hayes was wounded in an attack on the slopes near Fox's Gap. Within a week, the regiment fought at

Antietam The Battle of Antietam (), or Battle of Sharpsburg particularly in the Southern United States, was a battle of the American Civil War fought on September 17, 1862, between Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Union G ...

in the fields southeast of

Sharpsburg, Maryland Sharpsburg is a town in Washington County, Maryland. The town is approximately south of Hagerstown. Its population was 705 at the 2010 census. During the American Civil War, the Battle of Antietam, sometimes referred to as the Battle of Sharps ...

, before returning to duty in West Virginia. It was again heavily engaged in

Philip Sheridan General of the Army Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close as ...

's 1864 Valley Campaign. The regiment mustered out in July 1865. The regiment 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).

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.

External links

Ohio in the Civil War: 23rd OVI by Larry Stevens

Ohio in the Civil War User Based Archive and Network

- National Park Service {{Ohio in the Civil War Units and formations of the Union Army from Ohio 1861 establishments in Ohio Military units and formations established in 1861 Military units and formations disestablished in 1865

Organization and service

See also

References

Further reading

External links