Unit History
The 4th Regiment of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry was composed of companies from Wayne, Stark, Knox, Delaware, Marion, and Hardin Counties in Ohio. They were raised in the week following President Lincoln’s Proclamation asking for 75,000 men to serve three months.[2] Lorin Andrews was reportedly the first to volunteer for the war, sending a letter to Governor Dennison before the Fall of Sumter on 14 April 1861. While he enlisted as a private, he was chosen as colonel, and in the same month soldiers were organized under at Camp Jackson in Columbus, Ohio under his command to form a unit for three months service as Lincoln had called for.[3] However, on 5 June 1861, many of these soldiers were reorganized at Camp Dennison in Hamilton, Ohio. These 1004 soldiers would reenlist for a three year term ending on 21 June 1864.[3] They spent most of their time as a unit in West Virginia and Virginia with a few additional battles in Maryland and Pennsylvania.[4] They served in the Army of the Potomac and helped to ease the draft riot in New York. When Colonel Andrews died during the war of camp fever, John S. Mason took charge of the command of the regiment. At the time when their three years ended, some soldiers of this unit were merged with the 8th Regiment of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry and formed the 4th Battalion Ohio Infantry.[3]
Company C was among the 4th Regiment and it was under the command of Captain James M. Crawford. The company was composed mostly of soldiers from Delaware County, Ohio and was known as the, ‘Delaware Guards’.[2] They were organized on the evening of the 16th of April in the Templar Hall in Delaware. These soldiers were assigned to the left flank, and adopted a battle technique known as the Zouave drill.[2] The unit was given Enfield rifles to use.[2]
Battles
The battles the 4th Regiment was involved in are as follows:
- Rich Mountain, VA (now West Virgina) on 11 July 1861
- Romney, VA (WV) on 23 September 1861
- Romney, VA (WV) on 26 October 1861
- Winchester, VA on 23 March 1862
- Front Royal, VA on 30 May 1862
- Port Republic, VA on 9 June 1862
- Antietam, Maryland on 17 September 1862
- Fredericksburg, VA on 13 December 1862
- Chancellorsville, VA from the 1st to 4th of May in 1863
- Gettysburg, PA on the 1st to the 3rd of July 1863
- Bristoe Station, VA on 14 October 1863
- Mine Run, VA from the 26th to the 28th November 1863
- Wilderness, VA on the 5th to the 7th of May 1864
- Po River, VA on 10 May 1864
- Spottsylvania, VA on the 8th to the 18th of May 1864
- North Anna River, VA on the 23rd to the 27th of May 1864
- Tocopotomy, VA from the 29th to the 31st of May 1864
- Cold Harbor, VA from the 1st to the 12th of June 1864
- Petersburg, VA on the 15th to the 19th of June 1864
- Deep Bottom Run, VA on the 14th to the 18th of August 1864
- Ream’s Station, VA on 25 August 1864[4]
As mentioned above, the unit mustered out after three years on the 21 June 1864, and the veterans of the unit consolidated with the 8th Regiment of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry and became the 4th Ohio Battalion.[3] On 12 July 1865, the 4th Ohio Battalion was mustered out in Jeffersonville, Indiana.[3]
Sources:
- ↑ Johnson. Camp Dennison: taken from Old Aunt Roady’s Hill. Map. Cincinnati: Gibson & Co. Lith, 186-.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Kepler, William. History of the Three Months’ and Three Years’ Service From April 16th, 1861, to June 22d, 1864, of the Fourth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry in the War for the Union. Cleveland, Ohio: Leader Printing Company, 1886. Print.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 —. The Military History of Ohio. New York: H. H. Hardesty, 1886. Print.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Roster Commission. Official Roster of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865. Vol. II. Cincinnati: Wilstach, Baldwin & Co, 1886. Print
