The 18th Regiment, United States Infantry, was organized and largely recruited at Camp Thomas, near Columbus, Ohio, in the summer and fall of 1861.  It was the intention to organize a regiment of twenty-four companies in three battalions of eight companies each, but the third battalion was not fully recruited and the regiment was organized in two battalions of ten companies each.
     Henry B. Carrington, who was Adjutant General of Ohio, was appointed the first Colonel, but never served with the regiment in the field, although he remained in the service on detached duty and was promoted to Brigadier-General.  About forty men were recruited in Union County for this regiment, and of this number fifteen died on the field.  Twelve enlisted from Jerome Township, and of that number six died in the army.
     In the winter of 1861-62 the regiment was on duty in Kentucky and was ordered to Nashville in the early spring of 1862.  From Nashville they marched with General Buell's army to Pittsburg Landing in General George H. Thomas' Division, but did not arrive in time to participate in the battle of April 6th and 7th.
     The regiment was actively engaged in that terrible campaign of rain and mud from Pittsburg Landing to Corinth during the months of April and May.  After the evacuation of Corinth they moved with General Buell's army east toward Chattanooga, and on to Nashville during the summer.  Up to this date the regiment had not been engaged in any hard battles, but had some sharp skirmishes during the siege of Corinth.
     A brigade of Regular Army regiments was organized at Nashville, Tenn., in December, 1862, composed of battalions from the 15th, 16th, 18th and 19th U. S. Infantry and the 5th U. S. Battery.  Lieutenant Colonel Oliver S. Shepherd of the 18th Infantry was assigned to command the brigade.  The brigade was designated as the Fourth Brigade, First Division,

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14th Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland.  This was one of the best organized fighting machines in the "Grand Old Army of the Cumberland," and a brief statistical history of its campaigns, terrific fighting and great losses on the battle lines is all that can be given in the limited space that can be taken in this Township History.
     On the 31st of December, 1862, the 18th Regiment, with the brigade, was engaged in the battle of Stone River.  The regiment was under fire continuously during the day and was ordered to different weakened lines on the field and suffered its heaviest loss in the cedars, as they were in such close contact with the enemy the Union lines were being driven back when the 18th Regiment arrived as support.  General Rousseau, commanding the Division, says in his report:
     "On that body of brave men the shock fell heaviest, and the loss was most severe.   Over one-third of the command fell killed or wounded, but it stood up to the work and bravely breasted the storm. * * * Without them we could not have held our position in the center."  The 18th Regiment went into this battle with 5T1 men and the loss in killed and wounded was 278.
     The campaign closing with a victory for the Union arms, the brigade, having buried its dead on the battlefield, where there is now a monument erected to their memory, marched on the fifth day of January, 1863, from its last position on the field to Murfreesboro and encamped between the Shelbyville and Salem Turnpikes, near the town.
     The regiment moved with the army from Murfreesboro on the Tullahoma and Chickamauga campaign, June 2-4th, and took a prominent part in all of that campaign up to the battle of Chickamauga.  Just before this battle the brigade was placed under command of General John H. King.  The regiment participated in the battle of Chickamauga on both the 19th and 20th of September, 1863.  The fighting was terrific and some of the battalions were almost annihilated.
     Here the battery of the brigade was captured, but was soon retaken by a charge of the Ninth Ohio Infantry.  The

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loss in the regiment in the two days' fighting was 291.  In the battle of Missionary Ridge the regiment captured a battery with a loss of twenty-nine.  During the fall and winter months of 186-i the regiment was in camp near Chattanooga, but was sent out on a number of reconnoitering expeditions.  When the Atlanta campaign commenced, in May, 1864, the 18th Regiment had been recruited up to 650 men from 270 after the battle of Chickamauga.
     On the Atlanta campaign from May 5th to September 1st, 1864, the regiment participated in almost every battle for 100 days, and in the last battle of the campaign, at Jonesboro, the loss was forty-eight.  The total loss on the Atlanta campaign was two hundred and twenty-six.  After the fall of Atlanta the regiment was sent back to Lookout Mountain, where it remained on duty until August, 1865, and the battalions were sent to different parts of the country.  Colonel Oliver L. Shepherd commanded the regiment during the greater part of the Civil War with most distinguished ability.
     The battalions were under command of line officers in
many of the campaigns.  Major Frederick Townsend was in command of a battalion during many of the hard battles and until he was promoted successively to Colonel and Brigadier-General.  Many other officers whose names might be mentioned commanded battalions, but they cannot all be named.  The percentage of killed and wounded among the officers was very heavy, and among others Lieutenant James Mitchell of Union County died near Chattanooga, Tenn., a short time before the battle of Chickamauga.
     The regiment served continuously in the Army of the Cumberland and participated in every great battle of that army and in scores of skirmishes. The best evidence of their hard service is a statement of the losses:

Total losses by death ................... 470
Killed and wounded .................... 606
Missing in action ......................... 135
                                                   
Total casualties...........................  741

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     The reports of the officers of the command, from brigade to company commanders, which have been examined, speak in the highest terms of the bravery and devotion of both officers and men in the many hard battles in which the regiment participated, in many cases mentioning the names of private soldiers for heroic deeds on the battlefield.  To the boys who served in this regiment from Jerome Township is due the gratitude of all patriotic citizens for their devotion to the cause of the Union.