History of the 118th Ohio Volunteer Infantry: Interview with Author Mike Klinger

     The 118th Ohio Volunteer Infantry is one of those regiments that has been virtually forgotten in the avalanche of literature produced about the Buckeye state's participation in the war since 1865. Raised from counties located along the western border of the state in the summer of 1862, the 118th Ohio served in the backwater districts of Kentucky and eastern Tennessee for the first 18 months of its service. Brought forward to Chattanooga, Tennessee at the beginning of the Atlanta campaign, the regiment served ably with the 23rd Army Corps for the remainder of the war, seeing hard service at battles such as Resaca, Franklin, and Nashville. It was among the unfortunate Union regiments that were under the command of General Henry M. Judah, a regular army officer with a penchant for alcohol, whose blunders at Resaca led to more than a third of the 118th Ohio's men being gunned down during an ill-advised attack at that battle. 

    Despite this extensive service, a regimental history had never been previously published about the 118th Ohio until this year when Delphos, Ohio resident Mike Klinger published The History of the 118th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 23rd Corps. Klinger, a U.S. Army veteran and descendant of five soldiers of the 118th Ohio, started collecting relics, artifacts, and accounts from the 118th Ohio many years ago and the more he studied and learned, he felt the need to write a history to honor these men. 

    Coming in at over 480 pages, Klinger's book is based on more than 500 letters, six diaries, the regimental surgeon's day book, and also draws extensively from secondary literature to put the service of the 118th Ohio into a broader context. The book is loaded with dozens of period images (many of them seeing publication for the first time) and several maps, all of which serves to enhance the story. Klinger fills a notable void in the literature by devoting much of the book to the regiment's service in Kentucky and eastern Tennessee, and I really enjoyed the extensive quotes pulled directly from the men's letters and diaries. An additional bonus is a very detailed unit roster included in the back of the book that does much to correct the numerous errors and omissions found in the state roster. 

     "The Federal army was hungry and it fed on men," Klinger begins book. "In July of 1862, President Lincoln went to the state larders and called for more. Ohio responded with over 58,000 men. The men for this regiment came from the western border counties of Ohio and the southern reaches of the Great Black Swamp. These volunteers started their walk on the dusty roads of Ohio in the late summer. These men had not yet learned the swinging cadence of the route march, so they walked. In the ditches and the swamps, cattails were starting to molt. Red wing blackbirds perched and waved in the breeze on the cattail stalks; they were considered bad luck in coal country as the red looked like blood on coal." 

    I recently sat down for a Q&A session with Mike to dive into this exciting new Ohio regimental. 

Q: Please give me some life background on yourself: where are you from, where did you attend school including college, current life situation and employment.

A: I grew up in Van Wert County Ohio, most of it in Delphos, Ohio. I was drafted into the Army and served as a medic. Upon my discharge I worked for an ambulance service before going to nursing school in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I worked in Critical Care my whole career, either in ER or Cardiovascular Intensive Care. I have collected info and artifacts on this unit since high school. I retired three years ago and began the writing process. 

Q: What sparked your interest in the Civil War?

A: I walked by the Delphos Civil War memorial walking home from school as a child. It is a well-done bronze statue. I came to think eventually that the statue did not look victorious, the man it represented looked tired. I thought that was probably more representative. Later, I found I had ancestors in the company from Delphos (Co. F) that enlisted in the 118th. I eventually discovered I had five ancestors in that company.

Q: The History of the 118^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry fills an important void in the Civil War literature of Ohio- what circumstances led to you writing the book?

A: It didn't take much research to discover there was very little published on this unit. I started out by researching the individual battles that they fought in. The first thing I wrote and sold was on the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee. I learned a valuable lesson in that I trusted the "famous" authors some of whom were flat out wrong! I began accumulating primary sources for this book eventually I found 500 letters and 6 diaries as well as the regimental surgeon’s daybook. These are mostly new unpublished sources. I say mostly because some were published during the war in hometown newspapers.

Q: Sources on the 118^th Ohio are rather elusive, but you did a superb job bringing together hundreds of letters, diaries, and other primary accounts to construct your narrative. How did you go about conducting the research for this book? Any great research stories from the road or from the field?

A: The internet made the research so much easier and much more expansive. I think the best story about acquiring research involves the Asa Zeller diary and artifacts. I took out an advertisement looking for anything on the 118th. A dealer named Larry Strayer contacted me and said he had a diary transcript, two tin types, and a Corps badge from the company from Delphos. I bought it sight unseen. I wrote off for Asa's military and pension records meanwhile I discovered that two Klinger brothers and the two Zeller brothers enlisted on the same day. Dan Klinger’s family plot was between the two Zellers in the cemetery. I suspected they were closer than friends. When the pension papers came for Asa (who was killed at Mossy Creek in their first major battle) they were filled out by Dan Klinger for his Aunt Sarah Klinger Zeller. I bought my great-great-great-uncle’s Civil War artifacts and did not know who he was or the family connection.

Captain David M. Doty, Co. I, 118th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Note the 23rd Army Corps badge on the right breast of his frock coat. 

Q: What was your favorite part of the research and publishing process? Least favorite? 

A: My favorite part was the writing. I hated the publishing part.

Q: The 118^th Ohio was raised in the late summer of 1862 in response to President Lincoln’s call for 300,000 more troops. What counties was the regiment raised from, where did they train, and how did they describe that experience?

A: The regiment was raised in the counties on the southern edge of the great Black Swamp and the western border counties along the Indiana border. Those counties included Hardin, Hancock, Putnam, Paulding, Van Wert, Allen, Mercer, Auglaize, and Shelby. Their last company joined them in the field and was consolidated in Mansfield. However, I believe they were an at-large company. The Mansfield Historical Society knew nothing about them. They formed in Camp Lima and had only received their uniforms when they were shipped off to Cincinnati because of Morgan’s raid. They went without arms or accoutrements. finally, being armed in Cincinnati with poor quality Lorenz rifles they were sent south to guard the Kentucky Central Railroad. Here the regiment was broken up into company formations and scattered along the line. They never operated in regiment size until they moved into East Tennessee.

Q: The 118^th Ohio first went into service performing guard duty in Kentucky then served in one of the “forgotten” theaters of the war, eastern Tennessee as part of 23^rd Army Corps. How did their experience serving in a rear area prepare the men for their later services in the Atlanta campaign and beyond?

A: During their time along the railway the various companies partook in small unit actions against Rebel recruiting officers and spy operations and they broke up Rebel mail operations. Their time in East Tennessee was brutal as they lived on quarter to half rations for eight months. They fought in their first battle as a regiment at Mossy Creek Tenn. and inflicted much heavier casualties than they took. Their Lorenz rifles had been replaced with quality Enfield's and they made good use of them. The conditions in East Tennessee were every bit as bad as the troops during the Revolution suffered at Valley Forge. When the Atlanta Campaign started, they were hardened veterans.

Q: The 118^th Ohio first saw action December 29, 1863, at the Battle of Mossy Creek, Tennessee. Could you describe the regiment’s first fight, how they fought, and what the men thought of the engagement afterwards?

A: At Mossy Creek, the regiment along with Eli Lilly’s Indiana Battery and three cavalry units fought two Confederate cavalry brigades and two batteries to a standstill. The Union claimed 109 casualties and said they inflicted 400, the Rebels admitted to 300. The 118th lost 31.

General Henry M. Judah

Q: The worst day of the war for the 118^th Ohio was May 14, 1864, at Resaca where the regiment lost a third of its numbers in roughly ten minutes after charging on the enemy’s works. The 118^th had the misfortune to serve under the command of General Henry Judah including at Resaca. Please explain his role in the debacle at Resaca and what eventually happened to him. How did the men of the 118^th react to his removal from command?

A: There was a great deal of bitterness in the Second Division toward General Judah before the debacle at Resaca. When moving out of East Tennessee, Judah marched the division 100 miles in five days, hard going for half-starved men. Most believed he did it for a $50 bet. Men from the division died on the march. At Resaca, he ordered his division to charge with no reconnaissance, he failed to get his batteries in position, and did not give them orders to fire. He also was out of position and charged across a 4th Corps brigade. The 118^th Ohio lost 116 men out of 270 in ten minutes. The rest of the division suffered nearly as badly. General Judah was removed from combat command and he died shortly after the war ended. His grave was vandalized annually for several years.

Q: The 118^th Ohio also participated in the battles of Spring Hill, Franklin, and Nashville. Please describe their services in those campaigns.

A: One of the great what ifs of the war is what happened at the battle of Spring Hill in Hoods Tennessee Campaign. Hood had made a flanking march to get to the rear of Schofield’s army of the 4^th and 23^rd Corps. The story goes that had Hood just blocked the road, Schofield would have been forced to surrender, but I don't think so. The 23^rd Corps had become famous with the rest of Sherman's armies as flankers. Eleven times in the Atlanta Campaign they either developed or went around the flank of Johnston’s army. Had Hood got one of his divisions across the pike, it would have had its western flank in the air. Pounding up the pike was the 23^rd Corps to their right they could see Rebel campfires to their left darkness Where do you think these flankers would go?

At Franklin, most maps show the Union center right as a straight line from the Carter Hill to Carter's Creek Pike. I think this is wrong. Mr. Cartwright, historian at the Lotz House and formerly of the Carter House, made a map that coincides more with the regimental reports. The 118th occupied a traverse that jutted southwest from a line that was already convex. From this position the fire of the 118^th Ohio would have enfiladed eight Confederate brigades, but this is not mentioned by any historians. It is mentioned by the Confederates that were subjected to it and the colonel of the 118th in the O.R.'s. At Nashville, the Second Division charged without orders and crumbled the lines to their front.

Colonel Thomas L. Young, 118th Ohio Volunteer Infantry

Q: The 23^rd Army Corps became known as “Sherman’s flanking machine,” but you make the argument in the book that the 23^rd Army Corps is given insufficient credit for its services during the war. Why do you think that is?

A: The army that the 118th Ohio served in from 1863-65 (the second Army of the Ohio) never had its history written. There were four armies in the Atlanta campaign: the Union armies of the Cumberland, Tennessee, and the Ohio and the Army of Tennessee for the Rebels. Three of those armies have histories, but not the Army of the Ohio. Some of the 23rd Army Corps' achievements are claimed by the two other Federal armies, sometime because the Army of the Ohio is ignored or, worse, listed as second-rate. 

Q: How did your background in the medical field influence your approach to writing about the 118^th Ohio?

A: My background in the medical field made me realize that even the healthy members were sick on their feet. I gave me a real appreciation for how tough they were.

Q: Where can the History of the 118^th Ohio be purchased?

A: The hardcover book can be purchased at Amazon and Barnes and Noble now for $37.95. (Mike will also have a table set up to sell copies at the Mansfield Civil War Ohio from April 30-May, 2022.) 

Q: Now that you have the History of the 118^th Ohio completed, what are you looking at for future projects?

A: I have written a second book this one on the Army of the Ohio 1863-65. It is called Sherman's Other Army and it is currently being evaluated for printing by Kent State University Press.

118th Ohio national colors