COMPANIES C & D.

     On the call of the President, July, 1862, the military committees of the counties of Muskingum, Coshocton, Guernsey and Morgan, met at Zanesville, on the 18th of July, and recommended officers for the 97th Regiment, then being organized at Zanesville, but from some cause their commendation was unheeded.
     Under this call for 300,000 men the quota of Morgan was two companies, and in case of a deficiency of volunteers a draft was ordered in the county or district deficient.
     On the 21st the military committee met for the purpose of recommending suitable persons to the governor as second lieutenants or recruiting officers for the two companies.  From the twenty names presented the committee selected George S. Davis, of Malta, and Sextus Scott, of McConnelsville.  Mr. Scott declined and the committee appointed W. P. Gilley; but after a reconsideration Mr. Scott concluded to accept, and was again recommended.  On the 28th the committee again met, and recommended Andrew Arracks, of Bristol, Ira Ellis, of Homer, and Bart. Coalman, of McConnelsville, all of whom had their commissions by the 30th.  On the 7th of August each company had half the number required, and on the 15th one company reported at Camp Potwin, near Zanesville, with Sextus Scott captain, Bart. Coalman first and W. P. Gilley second lieutenants.  On the 16th the other reported with Captain George S. Davis, First Lieutenant Ira Ellis, and Second Lieutenant Andrew Arrick.  These were Companies C and D.
     The regiment was mustered into the service on the 1st and 2d of September, 1862; on the 7th went by rail to Cov-

Page 200 -
ington Heights, opposite Cincinnati, and on the 8th took position near Fort Mitchell, three miles from the river, during the Kirby Smith raid. 
     On the 22d of September, at Louisville, the regiment was attached to General Buel’s army, and on the 1st of October started in pursuit of Bragg’s force, and on the 4th of October encountered the rear guard, and after a slight skirmish the rebels retreated toward Perryville.  At the beginning of the battle of Perryville, October 8th, the regiment was ten miles distant, but came up, and was efficient in the defeat of the enemy.
     On the reorganization under General Rosecrans the 97th was retained in General Crittenden’s Corps, which formed the left wing of the Army of the Cumberland.  On the 27th, in the movement against Murfreesboro, the regiment encountered the outposts of the enemy at Lavergne, fifteen miles from Nashville, and at Stone River on the 31st December, 1862, and on the 1st, 2d and 3d January, 1863.  September 9th, after driving the enemy’s sharpshooters from Chattanooga, the regiment entered the city three hours before the main army.  For this gallant action the regiment, with the brigade, was left to garrison the place, and consequently was not in the engagement at Chickamauga.  On a second organization of the army under Major-General Thomas, the regiment with the brigade was assigned to Sherman’s 2d Division, and with it was at the battle of Mission Ridge, in which it lost one hundred and fifty officers and men killed and wounded. On the 28th of November, 1863, the regiment left Chattanooga for Knoxville to reinforce General Burnside.  In this march they suffered from being thinly clad and without transportation; but while at Knoxville they evinced their taste for learning by the occupation of the East Tennessee University.  On the 15th of December their services were, required in driving Longstreet over the Strawberry Plains and Plain’s Cross Roads.
     On the 25th of April, 1864, the 97th joined the main army at Cleveland, Tenn., and on the 3d of May, with Sherman's army, entered on the Atlanta campaign.  On the 11th of May the regiment, with Marker’s Brigade, made an unsuccessful charge on the enemy at Rocky Face Ridge.  At Resaca the regiment was under fire for two days (14th and 15th of May), and at Adairsville, on the 17th, had a sharp tight, resulting in a loss of twenty men in less than fifteen minutes.  At Dallas the regiment was under constant lire from the 25th of May to the 5th of June.  But the great and in fact only discomfiture of the 97th, was in the two engagements of the 22d and 27th of June on the enemy’s position on the Kenesaw Mountain - in both of which it lost heavily. In the first, of 153 men of the regiment engaged, 112 were either killed or wounded, and in the second thirty-five. The boys celebrated the 4th by a tight at Smyrna church.
     At the battle of Peach Tree Creek, on the 20th of July, 1863, the 97th, numbering less than three hundred men, being on the extreme left, received the terrible shock of Hood’s rebel forces, and stood firm against seven charges made against it.  For this gallantry General Howard (commanding the brigade) and General Newton (commanding the division) went to the regiment and personally thanked the officers and men.  In addition an order was issued

Page 201 -
exempting the regiment from picket and fatigue duty during the remainder of the campaign.
The regiment was in the battle of Jonesboro, Ga., September 1, and with Sherman entered Atlanta, Sept. 2, 1804.  After this time the regiment participated in the battles of Lovejoy Station, Spring Hill, Franklin and Nashville, and was at Bull’s Gap, in East Tennessee, rebuilding the Tennessee and Virginia railroad, with a view of going by rail to Richmond via Lynchburg, when the news of Lee’s surrender changed its course to Nashville, where the regiment was mustered out of the service.

COMPANY C, 97TH O. V. I.

Page 202 -

Page 203 -

     Company mustered out at Nashville, Tenn., June 10, 1865.

COMPANY D, 97TH REGIMENT, O. V. I.

     Company D was mustered into the United States service at Camp Zanesville, O., Sept. 2, 1862, and was mustered out at Nashville, Tenn., June 10, 1865.

Page 204 -

Page 205 -

Page 206 -