16TH OHIO REGIMENT
OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY

Source: History of Ashland Co., OH, Publ. 1880
(Transcribed by Sharon Wick)

     A Complete Roll of all the Commissioned and Non-commissioned Officers and Privates, with a History of the Company and Regiment in Which they Served, and the Casualties Attending the Service.
     WHATEVER may be the judgment of future historians as to the avoidance or necessity of the great civil war of 1861-65, it must be conceded that the soldiers and officers who served in the campaigns of that struggle, acquitted themselves promptly, efficiently and bravely, and are entitled to a just meed of praise.
     Ashland county furnished a just proportion of volunteers and officers, and the number of deaths, the scars and missing limbs of the surviving, show that her sons did not cower in the presence of the enemy.
     It is therefore deemed appropriate, in sketching the history of this county, to record the soldierly bearing of the sons of the pioneers, in the late war.   The want of space alone, prevents a full narration of the achievements of our volunteers on the ensanguined fields of the far south.
    During the late war, the State of Ohio furnished three hundred and ten thousand six hundred and fifty-four soldiers, who were enlisted in the various counties in proportion to the draftable population.  This enormous force was embodied into one hundred and ninety-eight regiments of volunteer infantry, thirteen regiments of volunteer cavalry, twenty-six independent batteries, one regiment light artillery, two regiments of heavy artillery, one regiment of colored volunteer infantry, and a number of independent companies of sharpshooters, light guards, squadrons of cavalry, etc., etc.
     These combined regiments make an army equal to some of the larger empires of Europe, and came from a State that three quarters of a century ago, contained a population of less than fifty thousand.  How amazing has been the growth of Ohio in population and wealth within the last fifty years!  Her sons won imperishable laurels on every battlefield of the war, and commanded most of the armies of the Republic.  McDowell, Sherman, McClellan, Grant, Sheridan, McPherson, Morgan, Rosecranz, Buell and hundreds of other prominent officers, were the sons, or the adopted sons, of the Buckeye State.

THE SIXTEENTH REGIMENT, OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY

     Of the seventy-five thousand enlisted soldiers of April 15, 1861, Ohio furnished twelve thousand three hundred and fifty-seven.  Ashland county had one company of volunteers for the three months' service.  The officers were:

     The company rendezvoused at Camp Jackson, near the city of Columbus, Ohio, April 23, 1861, where it was enrolled to the eighteenth day of August 1861.  On the third day of May, 1861, Captain John S. Fulton was promoted to lieutenant colonel, and Thomas J. Kenny to be captain of company B.  On the seventh of May, William B. McCarty was commissioned first lieutenant, Samuel L. Wilson, second lieutenant; William P. Wright, ensign.

     The company became a part of the Sixteenth regiment, at Camp Jackson, Columbus, in May, 1861, under the command of Colonel James Irvine; John S. Fulton, of Ashland, being lieutenant colonel by promotion.  The regiment was immediately ordered to Bellaire, and thence to Grafton, West Virginia, where it met the Fourteenth, under Colonel James B. Steedman, and the Fifteenth, under Colonel Lorin Andrews, and a regiment of West Virginians under Colonel Kelley.  The Confederate forces, on the approach of these regiments, retired from Grafton in the direction of Philippi, and were pursued to that point, where a sharp skirmish ensued with Colonel Porterfield, who again retreated, and West Virginia was practically liberated.  From Bellaire to Grafton the railroad track had been greatly damaged by theSouthern forces, and the Ohio regiments immediately commenced repairs, and put the road in proper condition, placing guards to prevent further injury.  To accomplish the task of restoring the road, the Sixteenth Ohio performed arduous duty.  A short time after the affair at Philippi, General McClellan made a demonstration in the direction of Laurel Hilll, but, from delays, and want of concert in movement, nothing was accomplished beyond marches and counter-marches.  The Fourteenth regiment, under Colonel Steedman, was the first to cross at Parkersburg, and the Sixteenth, under Colonel Irvine, of Bellaire.
     The company was mustered out August 18, 1861, at Columbus, Ohio.

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