INTRODUCTORY.

     Prior to 1861 the people of Vinton County knew only the arts of peace.  Even the martial spirit which inspires and animates the bold militia-man had never been broken the stillness of her hills and valleys.  The "muster days" of the forefathers had long since been numbered with the events of the past, and save and except the treasured "military education" of a few veterans of the war of 1812 and what a few Mexican soldiers knew of the "school of the company," the men of Vinton County were as ignorant of the art and science of war as they were peaceably disposed.  Scarcely a man in the county had ever seen a battalion, or knew enough of the formation of a company to place the Corporals in position.  But when the tocsin of war sounded and the call was made for volunteers, the men of the county responded promptly and enthusiastically.
     To prepare a full history of the part Vinton County bore in the late war would be impossible.  Almost a quarter of a century has passed since the opening of the terrible struggle, and the men who bore a part in those stirring scenes and incidents have drifted away to different parts of the country  Many have gone to their long homes.  Friends and even relatives have little or no data from which accurate details can be given, so that a mere general history only can be given of the thousand to twelve hundred men who went to the front from Vinton County, and the companies that can only be traced by their regiments - then with brigades and divisions and thus, as integral parts of those mighty army corps which crushed the rebellion and restored the flag.

EIGHTEENTH OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY (THREE MONTHS' REGIMENT).

     April 18, 1861, James L. Aikin, a young attorney of McArthur, prepared in "enlistment paper," and signed it as a "volunteer soldier."  William J. Rannells was the second man to enlist, but there was no hesitancy on the part of the people, and on the 20th of April the company was more than up to the maximum.  These people - farmers, laborers, furnace men, artisans, business men generally - came from all parts of the country and represented all classes of society, all political parties and all religious denominations.
     They enlisted for three months and organized the company by electing Judson W. Caldwell ( a Mexican soldier) as Captain; Henry S. Hamilton, First Lieutenant, and Alex Pearce, Second Lieutenant.  The company remained at McArthur, drilling and getting ready for the field, for about four weeks.  They were sworn in by a "'Squire," but not mustered in until May 28, 1861.  They were mustered into service at Marietta, by Lieutenant, afterward General, Sill.  The muster-roll at the Adjutant-General's office in Columbus shows that the company numbered ninety-nine privates, four Corporals, and four Sergeants.
     After the muster-in of the company it was ordered to Parkersurg, W. Va., where it was united with other companies from Ohio, and the Eighteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry three months regiment was formed by the selection of Timothy R.. Stanley, of Vinton County, as Colonel; Wm. M. Bowles, of Scioto County, as Lieutenant-Colonel, and William H. Bisbee, as Major.  Lieutenant Alex. Pearce was appointed Adjutant, and John C. Paxton, as Quartermaster.
     Thus organized the Eighteenth went into service in the valleys and mountains of West Virginia.  The regiment served its time doing such duty as was assigned to it, suffering such hardships as fell to its lot, many of which were owing to the then unprepared condition of the general Government or the State of Ohio to properly clothe and feed the troops.  It was engaged generally in guarding railroads, bridges, etc.  It returned to Ohio in August and was mustered out Aug. 28, 1861.

EIGHTEENTH OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY (THREE YEARS' REGIMENT).

     "The Government at Washington" having learned that the suppression of the Rebellion was more than a three months' contract, had issued a call for more troops, and before the three months' men had been mustered out, men were being enlisted for "three yeas' service."
     Ashbel Fenton, George W. Dunkle and H. C. Jones had recruited "squads" of men which consolidated made a company.  These men were mostly from Swan, Brown and Elk townships, a few being from Clinton and Richland.  The company organized Aug. 12, 1861, by electing Ashbel Fenton, Captain; George W. Dunkle, First Lieutenant, and H. C. Jones, Second Lieutenant.  Thus organized the company went to Camp Wool, Ohio, where another company under Captain Miller, of Ross County, was encamped, and there became the nucleus of the Eighteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry.  In the first part of September another company was formed in Vinton County, which organized by electing William L. Edmiston, Captain; Perley G. Brown, First Lieutenant; and William H. Band, Second Lieutenant.  Two companies, C. and G, came from Athens County; K, from Meigs; F, from Washington; D and I, from Gallia and Meigs, and Company E also came from Ross County.
     Captain Fenton's company became Company B, and Edmiston's company became Company H on the organization of the regiment. 
     The regiment was organized Sept. 6, 1861, at Camp Wool, T. R. Stanley being msutered as Colonel, Jjosiah Given as Lieutenant-Colonel, and C. H. Grosvenor as Major.
     The regiment was ordered to Camp Denniston, Ohio, early in September, when it went into camp of instruction; Alex. Von Schrader, afterward Inspector-General of the Fourteenth Army Corps, acting as "Drill Sergeant."  In November the regiment was ordered to Elizabethtown, Ky., by way of West Point.  At Elizabethtown it was brigaded with the Nineteenth and Twenty-fourth Illinois and Thirty-seventh Indiana under Colonel Turchin, of the Nineteenth Illinois.
     This brigade formed a part of General O. M. Mitchel's Division of the Army of the Ohio  The regiment remained at Elizabethtown and "fought the measles" some four or five weeks when the division went to Bacon Creek, where it remained until the first part of February, 1862, when it left its last camp of instruction and started South.
     The division marched to Edgefield, opposite Nashville, reaching there Feb. 24.  General Mitchel was then ordered to move upon the Memphis and Charleston Railroad through Murfreesboro and Fayetteville.  His division of three brigades of infantry, three batteries of light artillery and a regiment of ca alry was an independent command.  The division left Nashville in March and made a bold and rapid advance through Murfreesboro, Shelbyville and Fayetteville to Huntsville, Ala., reaching there April 7.  The town was taken, 170 prisoners captured, besides fifteen locomotives 150 passenger and freight cars, and a large amount of stores and property of great value to the enemy.  Immediately Colonel Turchin's brigade was sent westward to seize Decatur and Tuscumbia.  General Mitchel's mission seemed to be to keep the enemy out of Middle Tennessee and North Alabama, to give Generals Grant and Buell an opportunity to clear the Cumberland River, get possession of the enemy's stronghold and whip the Confederate army if possible.  Whatever the object was, it will remain forever a fact that General Mitchel pushed his commands into the enemy's country by forced marches, rapid marches, night marches, as well as day marches, from point to point, with a degree of energy, skill and audacity unequaled in the history of any infantry command in the late war.  He controlled the country from Nashville to Huntsville, Ala., and from Bridgeport to Tuscumbia.  His command had no general engagement, but was engaged in numerous skirmishes and small battles which kept the enemy clear of his territory.
     The Eighteenth Ohio was stationed at Athens, Ala.  May 1, 1862, they were attacked by Scott's rebel cavalry, supported by infantry and artillery.  General Mitchel ordered the regiment, after it had held its ground for some time, to retire toward Huntsville.  This took the command through the village.  The citizens seeing the regiment falling back threw up their hats.  The rebel women waved their handkerchiefs.  Some shots were fired from the houses, and the tirade of abuse was such that the officers had hard work to keep the men from firing into the citizens.  The enemy's cavalry seemed cautions about coming too close, and the artillery was badly aimed, so that little harm was done.  General Turchin coming to their support with the Nineteenth Illinois and some artillery, the regiment faced about and drove the enemy out of town and out of that vicinity.  This was the occasion when Turchin's brigade "went through Athens.  Some companies of the Nineteenth Illinois contained some as hard characters as could be enlisted in Chicago, and with such men as leaders, and the soldiers feeling outraged at the conduct of citizens who had been properly treated by them, with Colonel Turchin's European ideas of war customs, there was scarcely a store or warehouse that was not pillaged.
     Colonel Turchin laid in the court hosue yard while the devastation was going on.  An aid-de-camp approached, and the Colonel remarked,
     "Vell, Lieudenant, I dink it ish dime to shtop dis tam billaging."
     "Oh, no, Colonel," replied Bishop, "the boys are not yet half done jerking."
     "Ish dot so?  Den I schleep for half an hour longer," said the Colonel, as he rolled his fat, dumpy body over on the grass again.
     The boys of the Nineteenth Illinois used the word "jerk" in the sense of "steal" or "pillage."
     This gave the two regiments the expressive title, "Turchin's Thieves."  It secured Turchin a court-martial and dismissal from the service, but President Lincoln, recognizing the services of his brigade and the fighting qualities of Turchin, made him a Brigadier-General in the very sight of Buell's kid-gloved policy.  This served, however, as a lesson to the rebel citizens, and although it didn't make them love us any more, it taught them that we were at least entitled to decent treatment, if not to respect.  On May 29 General Mitchel started an expedition to Chattanooga.  The Eighteenth accompanied it.  Turchin's brigade marched through, and on June 7 Chattanooga was being bombarded from the north bank of the Tennessee River.  Kirby Smith having re-enforced the town, the command returned to Shelbyville.
     After the command of Buell's moved back to Tennessee  from Corinth, the old Turchin brigade was broken up, and the Eighteenth Ohio, Nineteenth Illinois, Sixty-ninth Ohio and Eleventh Michigan formed a new brigade under Colonel Stanley.  This was assigned to General James S. Negley's division.  This brigade remained at Nashville during Buell's march across Kentucky.  It was on the right of Negley's division at Stone River, Negley's division being on the right of General Thomas' army.
     On the morning of Dec. 31, 1862, General McCook's command, still on the right of Thomas's line, gave way.  This allowed the rebel army to swing around and envelope Negleys command, but the brigade commanded by Stanley stood firm under a terrific fire, and the ground was held until our reserve came up.  Seeing the enemy pressing across a small cleared field, and that they would gain great advantage thereby, Roussion rode up to Colonel Given and asked him to charge the enemy.  The enemy were flushed with what seemed certain victory, and were rushing forward with new spirit.  When Roussion asked Colonel Given if he could make the charge, Given replied: "I can do anything," and the order to charge was given.  The charge was made in gallant style, the enemy fairly hurled back with the bayonet.  General Roussion spoke of it as the hurled back with the bayonet.  General roussion spoke of it as the most gallant charge of that terrible battle.  On Friday, Jan. 2, the regiment was again heavily engaged, in fact it was in the thickest of the fight, on Friday as well as on Wednesday.  The regiment lost at this battle: Captain Fenton, Company B; Captain Taylor, Company E; Captain Stivers, Company K; Lieutenant Blacker, Company E, and thirty-two enlisted men killed.  Lieutenant-Colonel Given Captain Welch, Company C; Captain Ross, Company I, and Adjutant Minear with 143 men were wounded.
     The Eighteenth remained in the same brigade and division until after the battle of Chickamauga.  It bore its part through the Tullahoma campaign, and was in some sharp engagements.  It also bore its part in the Chickamauga campaign and through that terrible but misjoined battle.  In the battle of Chickamauga it lost heavily in killed and wounded.  Six commissioned officers were wounded, among them Captain Brown, Company A, and Lieutenant Honnold, Company B, both of Vinton County. 
     After the battle of Stone River Lieutenant-Colonel Given was made Colonel of the Seventy-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry.  Major Grosvenor was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel, and upon the death of Captain Fenton Captain Welch was made Major of the regiment.  during the summer of 1864 the regiment remained at Chattanooga, Colonel Stanley being in command.  In August the rebel cavalry under Wheeler and other daring rebel generals began a series of raids to destroy the railroads and abridges between the army and Nashville.  The work of driving them back and restoring roads and bridges fell to the Eighteenth Ohio, Seventy-eighth Pennsylvania and a few other old regiments assisted by new colored troops.  The marching over the hot pikes in August and September can hardly be described; after several forced marches the command was mounted, and the men having been unused to horseback riding for nearly three years the suffering was terrible, but the command could get over more miles of road, and come nearer taking care of Wheeler than it could on foot.
     During some twenty days and nights the men were almost constantly in the saddle, this, too, after nearly three years of foot soldering, and it wore out the men and ruined the horses.  Wheeler was driven out of Tennessee and the regiment again dismounted.  They were never  envious of cavalrymen after this "horse-back" experience.
     A large number of the Eigteenth re-enlisted as veterans, but not enough to maintain the organization of the regiment, so that in November the regiment was ordered to Camp Chase, Ohio, where it was mustered out Nov. 9, 1864.
     The following commissioned officers were from Vinton County.  Colonel T. R. Stanley; Captain Ashbel Fenton, Company B, who died Apr. 14, 1863, of wounds received Dec. 31, 1862, at Stone River; First Lieutenant Dunkle promoted to Captain, died June 9, 1863, at home, from disease contracted in the line of duty; Captain William L. Edmiston, Company H, resigned Aug. 30, 1862; Captain Alex. Pearce, Company D, mustered out with regiment, Nov. 9, 1864; Captain Homer C. Jones, Company B, mustered out with the regiment; First Lieutenant John G. Honnold, Company B, mustered out of invalid corps at expiration of service; Lieutenant Honnold was permanently disabled by a gun-shot wound in the knee at Chickamauga; Lieutenant Sylvanus Bartlett, mustered out of engineer regiment in 1865; Lieutenant Bartlett was transferred to United States Engineer regiment and promoted to First Lieutenant; First Lieutenant Daniel Bates mustered out with veterans 1865; Second Lieutenant William H. Band resigned Sept. 26, 1862, died of disease contracted in the service.
     After the regiment was mustered out the veterans of the regiment together with the veterans of the First, Second, Twenty-fourth and Thirty-fifth Ohio regiments with such recruits as had been enlisted, were consolidated and formed a veteran regiment, called the Eighteenth Ohio, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel, afterward Colonel and Brevet-Brigadier-General, C. H. Grosvenor.
     This new organization got into good fighting shape before the battle of Nashville, which was fought Dec. 6, 1864.  In this battle the new organization of old soldiers made up of the veterans of five fighting regiments won lasting honor by gallant conduct.  On the 19th it participated in the bloody and finally successful assault upon Overton Hill.  It here lost four officers out of seven and seventy-five men killed and wounded out of less than two hundred,
     Attached to General Stedman's command the Eighteenth followed Hood's defeated army to Huntsville, and two days later assisted in the capture of Decatur.  In April, 1865, the regiment went into camp near Fort Phelps.  In July it accompanied General Stedman's command to Augusta, Ga. Oct. 9, the order came for its honorable discharge; it returned to Columbus, Ohio, and was mustered out.  Having seen much hard service and having left upon the battle-fields of the South many gallant men, it leaves a record of which those who come after it need never be ashamed.

SECOND WEST VIRGINIA CAVALRY.

     As soon as the Eighteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, three months' men, were mustered out, Sergeant H. S. Hamilton and others began recruiting men for the three years' service.  Desiring to go into the cavalry service, and there being no opportunity to join a regiment of Ohio cavalry, they went to Virginia and assisted in forming the Second West Virginia Cavalry.  This company organized by electing Henry S. Hamilton, Captain; George W. Snyder, First Lieutenant, and Edwin S. Morgan, Second Lieutenant.  It was mustered into service Nov. 8, 1861.  The regiment was made up of Ohio men, and organized by selecting Wm. M. Bowles as Colonel; John C. Paxton, Lieutenant-Colonel; Rollin L. Curtis and John J. Hoffman, Majors.  It never had but ten companies hence only two Majors.  Its first service was with General Garfield aiding in driving the forces under General Humphrey Marshal from the fastnesses of Eastern Kentucky.  In 1862 the regiment was under General Crook, a great portion of the time.  It was conspicuous in the battle of Lewisburg, Va., in May, 1862, and was complimented by General Crook for its gallantry.  Colonel Bowles resigned in June, 1862, and Lieutenant-Colonel Paxton was promoted to Colonel.  May 7, 1863, Paxton was succeeded by Wm. H. Powell, who was promoted to Colonel.  During 1863 the regiment was in the Kanawha Valley and in the mountains of Southwestern Virginia.  During the year it was engaged in many sharp skirmishes and some severe engagements, notably at Wytheville, on July 18, where Colonel Powell was wounded and taken prisoner.
     In May, 1864, the regiment was attached to the Third Brigade of General Averill's division, Colonel Powell commanding the brigade.  This command participated in several engagements, was constantly on duty, and received honorable mention by General Averill for its coolness under fire and skillful evolutions in the face of the enemy.
     The Second West Virginia was with General Sheridan's army during his brilliant campaign in the Shenandoah Valley, taking an active part in the engagements at Winchester, Va., July 19, 1864; Moorfield, W. Va., Aug. 7; Bunker Hill, Va., Sept. 2 and 3; Stephenson's Depot, Sept. 7; Opequam, Sept. 19; Fisher's and Weis's Cave, Sept. 27, 1864.  This campaign won for Colonel Powell the rank of Brigadier-General, and the gallant Custer added his compliments and thanks to those of Crook and Averill.  The Adjutant-General of West Virginia says of this regiment:
     "No regiment in the service from any State has performed more arduous duty than the Second Regiment, West Virginia Cavalry, and none have better deserved the compliments and praises it has received."
     The Second West Virginia Cavalry belonged to General Custer's famous Third Cavalry Division, and was present when Lee surrendered.  General Custer being at the front received the flag of truce.  General Custer being at teh front received the flag of truce.  General Custer's order thanking his command, when the Third Division was disbanded, is as dashing as Custer himself, and in as much as the Second West Virginia Cavalry helped to make the record to which the General refers, we give an extract from it as follows:
     "The record established by your indomitable courage is unparalleled in the annals of war.  Your prowess has won for  you even the respect and admiration of your enemies.  During the past six months, although in most instances confronted by superior numbers, you have captured from the enemy in open battle 111 pieces of field artillery, sixty-five battle-flags and upward of 10,000 prisoners of war, including seven General officers.  Within the past ten days, and included in the above, you have captured forty-six pieces of field artillery and thirty-seven battle-flags.
*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *
     In May, 1864, the regiment was attached to the Third Brigade of General Averill's division, Colonel Powell commanding the brigade.  This command participated in several engagements, was constantly on duty, and received honorable mention by General Averill for its coolness under fire and skillful evolutions in the face of the enemy.

          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *
     "You have never lost a gun, never lost a color, and have never been defeated.  And, notwithstanding the numerous engagements in which you have borne a prominent part, including those memorable battles of the Shenandoah, you have captured every piece of artillery the enemy has dared to open open you.
          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *
     "And now, speaking for myself alone, when the war is ended and the task of the historian begins; when those deeds of daring which have rendered the name and fame of the Third Cavalry Division imperishable are inscribed upon the bright pages of our country's history, I only ask that my name may be written as that of the commander of the Third Cavalry Division.
                                                              G. A. Custer, Brevet-Major-General

     A.  Adj.-General Barnhardt.
     Company D, aggregated 117 men, nearly all from Vinton County.  The regiment did not re-enlist as veterans enough men to keep up the organization to the minimum number, and they were not entitled to a Colonel.  this left the regiment in command of Lieutenant Colonel James Allen, Majors E. S. Morgan and Charles E. Hambleton.  Some of the companies were consolidated, and a new company joined the regiment in 1864, under Capt. A. J. Smith, of Jackson County.  This new organization gave the regiment only eight companies, but the regiment maintained its place as a regiment on the rolls of the volunteer cavalry, and its place in the brigade and division, and its identity among the grand army of Heroes that made such men as Sheridan and Custer famous.  The

THE SEVENTY-FIFTH OHIO INFANTRY.

THE NINETIETH OHIO INFANTRY.

ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTEENTH OHIO INFANTRY.

TWELFTH OHIO CAVALRY.

ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY-FOURTH OHIO INFANTRY.

     In March, 1865, the One Hundred and Ninety-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, "one year" regiment was organized at Camp Chase, Ohio.  Two companies of Vinton county men were enlisted for this regiment, about 180 men.  Company D organized by electing John Gillilan, Captain; David Guthrie, First Lieutenant, and Frank Rowlie, Second Lieutenant.  Company K organized by electing Henry Lantz, Captain; Wm. W. Buckley, First Lieutenant, and Anthony W. Bratton, Second Lieutenant.  Lieutenant Bratton resigned July 12, 1865.
     These two companies thus organized went to Camp Chase, Ohio, where the regiment organized by the mustering in of Anson G. McCook as Colonel; O. C. Maxwell, Lieutenant-Colonel; H. Lee Anderson, Major.
     On the 14th of March, 1865, the regiment left Camp Chase for Charlestown, Va., where it was assigned to Major General Eagan's division.
     The regiment being well officers was rapidly becoming proficient in drill, and but for the surrender of Lee, which occurred when they were just ready for the field, they would no doubt have been heard from at the front.
     They returned to Camp Chase and were mustered out Oct. 24, 1865.

ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT NATIONAL GUARDS.

     In May, 1864, in response to a call of Governor Brough, the One Hundred and Forty-eighth Regiment of Ohio Infantry, called "National Guards," was formed at Marietta, Ohio.
     Three companies of men from Vinton County went into camp, out one company was distributed around to fill up other companies.  Company C, Captain, Jos. J. McDowell; First Lieutenant, Hanson P. Ambrose; Second Lieutenant, Robt. S. Barnhill, retained its organization, as did also, Company H, Captain, Isaiah H. McCormick; First Lieutenant, Nathan Murphy; Second Lieutenant, Saml. G. Scott.  Second Lieutenant Wm. H. Jenning, of Captain Garrett's company, was retained in service, assigned to another company.
     The regiment was organized by the mustering in of Thomas W. Moore as Colonel; Isaac R. Kinkead, Lieutenant-Colonel, and Wm. L. Edmiston, of Vinton County, as Major.
     The regimental organization was completed May 18, 1864, and as most of the officers and many of the men had seen service, the command was at once ready for the field.
     On May 23 they left Marietta for Harper's Ferry, where they remained until June 6, when they went to Washington and thence to Bermuda Hundred.  Here Lieutenant Saml. G. Scott died.  After remaining a short time at Bermuda Hundred they went to City Point, and while there an explosion of an ordnance boat took place, and some of the men of the regiment were killed, but none of the Vinton County men.
     On the 5th of September, 1864, the regiment returned to Marietta, and on the 14th was mustered out, having completed its "hundred days" of service.

DETACHMENTS.

     In addition to the companies organized in Vinton County a number of men enlisted in other commands, and were officered by men from other counties.

FIFTY-THIRD OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY.

     In the Fifty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, as nearly as can be ascertained, there were ten Vinton County men in Company F, about the same number in Company D, and about thirty in Company E.
     R. E. Phillips, of Vinton County, was made Second Lieutenant of Company E, and soon after the battle of Shiloh he was promoted to First Lieutenant.
     The Fifty-third was organized at Camp Diamond, near Jackson.  Jesse J. appler was first Colonel; Robert Fulton, Lieutenant-Colonel and Harrision S. Cox, Major.  The Organization was completed in January, 1862.  Apr. 18, 1862, Captain Wells S. Jones was mustered in as Colonel, vice Appler "mustered out."
     Lieutenant Phillips was afterward made Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifty-ninth United States Colored Infantry, in which capacity he served until Dec. 8, 1863, when he resigned his commission.  The Fifty-third Ohio was unfortunate in its first Colonel, and while the men suffered severely at Pittsburg Landing or Shiloh, and did good fighting for the chance they had, the conduct of their Colonel, J. J. Appler, was such as to cast a cloud upon the entire regiment.  The men of the regiment, as brave and true as the men of any other Ohio regiment, felt the disgrace keenly, and right well did they redeem their good name, by soldierly conduct, gallant fighting, and heroic endurance on the march, under Colonel Wells S. Jones.  General Sherman said, in 1864, that "under another leader, Colonel Jones, it (the Fifty-third) has shared every campaign and expedition of mine since, is with me now, and can march and bivouac and fight as well as the best regiment in this or any army.  Its reputation now is equal to that of any from the State of Ohio."

THIRTY-SIXTH OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY.

     Lieutenant Aaron Martin and Lieutenant Lafayette Hawk and a number of men from the eastern and southeastern part of the county enlisted in the Thirty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry.  As nearly as can now be ascertained, about thirty-five men enlisted in Companies C and K; ten of these were from Wilkesville Township.  The Thirty-sixth was organized at Camp Putnam, Marietta.  A brief sketch of the services performed by this regiment will be found farther along in the additional military history of Athens County.

SIXTY-SIXTH OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY.

     Henry Strong and Samuel Rowley enlisted in the Sixty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry; they marched with Sherman to the sea.

SEVENTEENTH UNITED STATES COLORED TROOPS.

     Ed Arrington and four other men from Wilkesville Township went into the Seventeenth United States Colored Regiment and served till the close of the war.

ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTEENTH OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY.

     Michael Strausbaugh and some others from Wilkesville, Knox and Vinton townships enlisted in the One Hundred and Sixteenth.  As nearly as can be ascertained there were fifteen or sixteen men form Vinton County in this regiment.

FIRST UNITED STATES VETERAN VOLUNTEER ENGINEERS.

     Charles L. White, present Auditor of Vinton County, and six or eight other Vinton County men enlisted in this regiment, Colonel William E. Morrill commanding.  They were mustered into service in October, 1864.  The regiment served until after the close of the war, and was mustered out at Nashville, Tenn., Sept 30, 1865.

THIRTIETH OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY.

     Five or six men from Knox Townshp enlisted and served in Company C, of the Thirtieth Ohio Volunteer Artillery.

ELEVENTH OHIO LIGHT ARTILLERY.

     John Robbins and eight or ten other Vinton County men enlisted in the Eleventh Ohio Light Artillery, Captain Frank Sands commanding.  This battery was in General Pope's army.  It saw a great deal of service.

SECOND OHIO HEAVY ARTILLERY

     Wallace E. Bratton and some other Vinton County men enlisted in the "Second Heavy" and soldiered in East Tennessee.

THIRTY-FIRST OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY.

     George Gaffney and about ten men from Swan Township enlisted in the Thirty-first Ohio, Colonel Moses Walker's regiment.  They were in the Army of the Cumberland.

TWENTY-SEVENTH OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY.

     Armineus Gear, Henry Gear, Jacob Gear, Hiram Gear and David Gear all from Wilkesville Township, enlisted in the Twenty-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry.  Hiram and David died in the service.

MISCELLANEOUS.

     Dr. David V. Rannells, of McArthur, was commissioned as Assistant Surgeon in August, 1862, and assigned to duty in the Fifth Ohio Cavalry.  In October, 1864, he was commissioned as Surgeon, and remained with the same regiment until May 5, 1865.
     Dr. H. H. Bishop, of Wilkesville, was also a Surgeon in the Tennessee army.
     Dr. Charles French, of McArthur, was Assistant Surgeon of the Eighteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry.
     Rev. G. W. Pilcher, of Vinton County, was Chaplain of the Eleventh Illinois Cavalry.  He being in Illinois in 1862 enlisted in that regiment and the commissioned as Chaplain.  He remained in the service two years.
     Rev. John Dillon, of Vinton County, was Chaplain of the Eighteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry.
     In addition to these commands and detachments Vinton County men went into various regiments and batteries, and while it is impossible to trace them and give date of enlistment and discharge it is yet true that Vinton County sent out about 1,400 men in various commands to do battle for the country and the flag.

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