Dan Masters' Civil War Chronicles

The 14 th Ohio sustained its heaviest casualties of the war at the Battle of Chickamauga: 35 killed, 167 wounded, and 43 missing, or 245 of 460 men. In fierce engagements on both days of the battle, the crimson and azure folds of the regimental colors witnessed the death of five soldiers who struggled to hold the flag high and provide a rallying point for the men. The story of the 14 th Ohio flag at Chickamauga is truly symbolic of the regiment’s sacrifice at this, the western theater’s most ferocious and sanguinary battle. Colonel John Thomas Croxton led a five regiment brigade consisting of the 10th and 74th Indiana, 4th and 10th Kentucky, and the 14th Ohio at Chickamauga. The 26 year old Kentuckian was wounded on September 20, 1863. The morning haze hung heavily in the tangled woods near Jay’s Mill on the morning of September 19, 1863. After an all night march, the weary 14 th Ohio was just settling down to the morning routine of brewing coffee and cooking breakfast

     Cruft rallied his troops and once the situation stabilized, he and General Manson determined to give battle once more. He redeployed the brigade on the right of the Richmond-Kingston Pike near White’s Farm along a ridge with skirmishers deployed well in front of the line, and artillery placed on high ground near the road. Brig. Gen. Charles Cruft      The 95 th Ohio, anchoring the left of Cruft’s line, was stationed behind a worm rail fence along a cornfield, with its left flank resting on the intersection of the pike with Duncannon Road. The 66 th Indiana, 18 th Kentucky, and 12 th Indiana were placed to their right. The second Federal position was located at the intersection of Duncannon Lane and the Richmond-Kingston Pike. The 95th Ohio rallied from their earlier defeat near Mount Zion Church, and kept up a stiff fight for nearly an hours against McCray's Texans. The veteran troopers kept up cover while the 95th Ohio blazed away its ammunition at the Texan ski

     For the 95 th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, the disastrous Battle of Richmond, Kentucky served as the regiment's introduction to the Civil War. Mustering in a mere 8 days prior to the battle, the regiment marched on the field at Richmond with the barest knowledge of drill or military maneuvers; the enlisted men in many cases did not yet know their officers by sight, and the unit cohesion that was such a critical factor to battlefield success was altogether missing from not only the 95 th Ohio, but many of the Federal regiments that fought on this field. Sergeant H. Warren Phelps of Co. H remembered that the neophyte soldiers marched off to war in the stylish soft leather boots, “having not yet learned to value the simple army shoe” and subsequently suffered from sore feet after their rapid march to Richmond from Lexington, Kentucky. U.S. Flag Collection at Battle of Richmond Visitors' Center      It was the end of the momentous summer of 1862, and the Confederacy was o

Today marks the 153rd anniversary of the important Battle of Monocacy, Maryland where a scratch force of 100-days men along with two brigades from the VI Corps of the Army of the Potomac under the overall command of General Lew Wallace slowed Confederate General Jubal A. Early's advance on Washington for a crucial day, allowing additional reinforcements to be brought into the capital before Early's arrival. Monocacy proved to be a tactical victory for the Confederates, but Wallace's force comported itself well and ultimately fulfilled its mission. For the three companies of the 144th Ohio and seven companies of the 149th Ohio, they earned the praise of their commander for their steadfast defense of Reich's Ridge and the Jug Bridge on the Union right flank, covering the retreat of the army and suffering heavy losses in covering that retreat. The 144th and 149th Ohio were part of Gen. Erastus B. Tyler's First Separate Brigade, which consisted of a total of ten compa