Arming the Buckeyes Pt. 2: Longarms of Ohio’s Infantry Regiments



In part one of this series, we explored how Ohio’s first 126 infantry regiments were armed at the outset of the Civil War. This post will explore how Ohio’s regiments that entered service from 1863-1865 were armed. It is worth noting that Ohio’s regiments went out in eight distinct phases during the course of the war:

1)     90 days’ men (April-May 1861) 1st- 22nd

2)     Three years’ men (June 1861-March 1862) 1st-83rd

3)     The Three Months’ Men (June-July 1862) 84th-88th

4)     The 300,000-more (August 1862-January 1863) 89th-126th

5)     The Morgan Response (June-August 1863) 86th, 127th-129th

6)     Hundred Days’ Men (May 1864) 130th-172nd

7)     Eleven More in 64 (September-November 1864) 173rd-183rd

8)     The Lucky 13 (February-April 1865) 184th-197th

          Phases 1-4 were covered in part 1 of this article; phase 5-8 will be covered in this article.

         To help set the stage, Buckeyes carried a fairly wide variety of weapons into the field in 1861-1862. The early days of the war found the state of Ohio practically bereft of longarms; as an example, when the 1st and 2nd Ohio Volunteer Militia left the state in late April 1861, they left unarmed, being armed at Lancaster, Pennsylvania on their way to Washington by the Federal government. At the conclusion of their three-month term of service, those weapons were returned to the Federal government for reissue to the three years’ regiments.  

          The men went to war with what could be secured, and much of what was issued through the end of 1861 were older U.S. Model altered flintlocks, muskets, and rifle muskets along with a smattering of imported arms, primarily the much-desired English Enfield rifle. That situation changed as the Federal government secured sufficient supplies of domestically produced Springfield rifle muskets in the latter half of 1862 and into 1863. By the spring of 1863, the state of Ohio embarked on a program whereby its regiments in the field exchanged their second- and third-class firearms for modern Enfield and Springfield rifle muskets. That said, the story of arming Ohio’s later war regiments is largely a matter of figuring out which ones got Enfields or Springfields.  

As the Civil War progressed, improvements in the supply of domestically produced late model Springfield rifle muskets allowed federal and state governments to rearm their regiments in the field with class 1 firearms and also ensured that new regiments went to the field suitably equipped for combat. That said, nearly all of Ohio's regiments that left the state from 1863-1865 were armed with either Springfield or Enfield rifle muskets with just a few exceptions. 


The Morgan Response

          The invasion of Ohio by General John H. Morgan’s cavalry in the summer of 1863 spurred the enlistment of the 86th and 129th regiments for short term service and both saw action in eastern Tennessee. The 127th Ohio, the state’s only regiment of black soldiers, was enlisted from August-November 1863 and became the 5th U.S. Colored Troops. The 128th Ohio was an outgrowth of the Hoffman Battalion tasked with guarding prisoners of war at the Johnson’s Island camp on Lake Erie. The series of Union victories in the fall of 1863 led to the need for the Battalion to be increased in size and it became the 128th Ohio.

 

86th Ohio (Second Organization- 9 months)

Q3 1863: 433 .58 caliber Austrian Lorenz rifles, 90 .54 caliber Austrian Lorenz rifles (Co. A), (Cos. A, D, and I missing)

Q4 1863: 60 .58 caliber M1861 Springfield rifle muskets (Co. H only), 193 .58 caliber Austrian Lorenz rifle muskets (Cos. C, E, and G only), balance of regiment not reported

127th Ohio/5th U.S. Colored Troops

Q4 1863: 663 .58 caliber M1861 Springfield rifle muskets (Co. K report missing)

Hoffman Battalion (Johnson’s Island guards)

Q3 1863: 394 .69 caliber M1842 smoothbore muskets

Q4 1863: 394 .69 caliber M1842 smoothbore muskets

128th Ohio (expansion of Hoffman Battalion to regiment)

Q1 1864: 864 .58 caliber M1861 Springfield rifle muskets, 294 .69 caliber M1842 rifled muskets (Cos. A, B, and D only)

Q3 1864: 957 .58 caliber M1861 Springfield rifle muskets

129th Ohio (6 months’ service- August 1863-March 1864)

Q3 1863: 500 .54 caliber Austrian Lorenz rifle muskets (Cos.) F, G, H, and K reports missing)

Q4 1863: 479 .54 caliber Austrian Lorenz rifle muskets, 4 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets (Co. B only), (Cos. E, G, H, and K reports missing)

 

The vast majority of Ohio's Federalized National Guardsmen went to war in May 1864 carrying some version of the popular English-made .577 caliber Enfield rifle musket. It is worth noting that prior to entering Federal service, many of these troops were armed with class 3 firearms. One example would be the 144th Ohio which was formed from the 19th Battalion, O.N.G. of Wyandot County and the 64th Battalion, O.N.G. from Wood County. The 19th Battalion was armed with both .72 caliber Model 1809 Prussian smoothbores and .71 caliber French Model 1842s; the 64th Battalion had a stock of .69 caliber U.S. Model 1822 smoothbores. After mustering into Federal service, both battalions received Enfields for field service but upon their return in August 1864, retrieved their old firearms from the state arsenal and returned to their respective county seats. 

Arming Ohio’s Hundred Days’ Men

          In the spring of 1864, Ohio sent forth 42 regiments of Federalized National Guardsmen for 100 days’ service. The second quarter 1864 ordnance returns provide the details of how most of these federalized Ohio National Guardsmen were armed. These regiments primarily served in the rear areas of the eastern theater although a few of them served in Kentucky. Many of these regiments saw active service around Petersburg, Washington, or the Shenandoah Valley and two of them (the 168th and 171st) were captured nearly entire in their lone engagement at Keller’s Bridge, Kentucky in June 1864.  All 42 regiments mustered out in August-September 1864 and as shown below, these troops were almost universally armed with .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets with few exceptions.

130th Ohio

756 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets

131st Ohio

873 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets

132nd Ohio

566 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets (Co. I report missing)

133rd Ohio

587 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets (Co. K report missing)

134th Ohio

745 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets

135th Ohio

81 .58 caliber M1861 Springfield rifle muskets (Co. B)

598 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets (Cos. A, C, D, E, G, H, I, K)

(Co. F report missing

136th Ohio

22 .58 caliber M1861 Springfield rifle muskets (general stores)

730 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets (Co. K report missing)

137th Ohio

13 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets (Co. I only)

Balance of arms not reported

138th Ohio

187 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets (Cos. D, E, F, H, and I)

Balance of arms not reported

139th Ohio

638 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets (Co. D report missing)

140th Ohio

778 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets

141st Ohio

797 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets

142nd Ohio

137 .58 caliber M1861 Springfield rifle muskets (general stores)

547 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets (Cos. C, F, H, and I reports missing)

143rd Ohio

715 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets

144th Ohio

656 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets (Co. G report missing)

145th Ohio

76 .58 caliber Springfield rifle muskets (Co. I only)

629 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets (Co. G report missing)

146th Ohio

799 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets

147th Ohio

750 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets

148th Ohio

679 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets

149th Ohio

788 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets

150th Ohio

876 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets

151st Ohio

766 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets

152nd Ohio

737 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets

153rd Ohio

655 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets (Co. E report missing)

154th Ohio

723 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets

155th Ohio

655 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets

156th Ohio

799 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets

157th Ohio

756 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets

158th Ohio (organization began but not completed)

159th Ohio

619 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets (Co. F report missing)

160th Ohio

794 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets

161st Ohio

768 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets

162nd Ohio

28 .54 caliber Austrian Lorenz rifles (Co. K only)

156 .69 caliber M1842 smoothbores (Cos. B and D)

Balance of regiment not reported

163rd Ohio

694 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets

164th Ohio

601 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets (Cos. C and K reports missing)

165th Ohio

520 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets (Cos. C, I and K reports missing)

166th Ohio

849 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets

167th Ohio

708 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets

168th Ohio

No report (regiment had been captured a few weeks prior at Cynthiana)

169th Ohio

861 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets

170th Ohio

680 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets (Co. G report missing)

171st Ohio

No report (regiment had been captured a few weeks prior at Cynthiana)

172nd Ohio

No report (regiment had .69 caliber cartridges but no reported weapons)

 

Over 1,000,000 Model 1861 Springfields were produced during the war such that it became the standard arm of the Union army the last two years of the war. Production centered at the government's Springfield Arsenal in Springfield, Massachusetts, but 20 other makers produced the Model 1861 under Federal contract including such companies as Colt Firearms in Hartford, Connecticut, Whitney Firearms Co. in Whitneyville, Connecticut and as depicted above, the Savage Revolving Firearms Co. of Middletown, Connecticut.
(Image courtesy of Mike Santarelli)

11 More in 64

          In the fall of 1864, Ohio sent forth another 11 regiments of one-year service troops, the regiments numbering from 173 to 183. All of these regiments were sent to either Alabama or Tennessee, the intention being to have them serve as a rear area garrison as General Sherman’s forces pushed south from Atlanta. Hood’s invasion of Tennessee led to several of these regiments seeing significant action in the Battles of Franklin and Nashville. With Hood’s defeat, most of the 23rd Army Corps was sent to North Carolina, among them several Ohio regiments of this group who took part in the capture of Wilmington and action at the Battle of Wise’s Forks. With the exception of the 173rd Ohio, they all were armed with .58 caliber M1861 Springfield rifle muskets.

173rd Ohio

Q3 1864: 908 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets

Q4 1864: 848 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets

174th Ohio

Q3 1864: 844 .58 caliber M1861 Springfield rifle muskets

Q4 1864: 638 .58 caliber M1861 Springfield rifle muskets

175th Ohio

Q4 1864: 370 .58 caliber M1861 Springfield rifle muskets, 11 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets

176th Ohio

Q3 1864: 871 .58 caliber M1861 Springfield rifle muskets

Q4 1864: 877 .58 caliber M1861 Springfield rifle muskets

177th Ohio

Q3 1864: 822 .58 caliber M1861 Springfield rifle muskets

Q4 1864: 770 .58 caliber M1861 Springfield rifle muskets

178th Ohio

Q3 1864: 80 .58 caliber M1861 Springfield rifle muskets

Q4 1864: 669 .58 caliber M1861 Springfield rifle muskets

179th Ohio

Q4 1864: 818 .58 caliber M1861 Springfield rifle muskets

180th Ohio

Q4 1864: 746 .58 caliber M1861 Springfield rifle muskets

181st Ohio

Q4 1864: 630 .58 caliber M1861 Springfield rifle muskets (Co. B report missing)

182nd Ohio

Q4 1864: 835 .58 caliber M1861 Springfield rifle muskets

183rd Ohio

Q4 1864: 482 .58 caliber M1861 Springfield rifle muskets, 5 .577 caliber Enfield rifle muskets (Co. C only)

The Lucky 13: Ohio’s 1865 Regiments

          In the winter and early spring of 1865, Ohio sent forth another 13 regiments of infantry, all of them led by veteran commanders and containing many veterans who had served in earlier three years’ regiments. Two more infantry regiments were started but did not complete organization including the 190th and 198th Ohio regiments. These regiments went into service primarily in Tennessee and Virginia but few saw any serious action outside of small-scale skirmishing with Confederate cavalry or battling bushwhackers. They’ve been called the “Lucky 13” as they had the luck to come into service in the war’s closing days. Unfortunately, ordnance records do not indicate how these troops were armed but if the arming practices for Ohio’s previous 11 regiments are any indicator, the 184th-197th regiments were most likely armed with .58 caliber M1861 Springfield rifle muskets.

184th-197th Ohio

No reports on file


Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular Posts

Arming the Buckeyes: Longarms of the Ohio Infantry Regiments

Image
     A common question that comes up in conversation about Civil War Buckeye regiments is "What were they armed with?" We are fortunate in that the state of Ohio kept good records of how the regiments were armed when they went into service, this being especially true for those regiments which went into service in 1861 and 1862. The state adjutant general's reports for 1861 and 1862 have been heavily drawn upon to construct this article, as well as consultation with Phil Spaugy who has done extensive research on how Ohio's troops were armed during the war.      Buckeyes carried a fairly wide variety of weapons into the field, and the below article breaks this down into weapons of both domestic manufacture and imported arms. The early days of the war found the state of Ohio practically bereft of longarms; as an example, when the 1st and 2nd Ohio Volunteer Militia left the state in late April 1861, they left unarmed, being armed at Lancaster, Pennsylvania on t...
Read more

Bullets for the Union: Manufacturing Small Arms Ammunition During the Civil War

Image
       Civil War bullets are perhaps the most common item collected from the era; the two armies expended bullets by the millions during the four years’ conflict and spent or deformed bullets of all shapes and sizes have made fascinating and affordable collectibles since the guns went silent in 1865.       I recently acquired a display piece featuring 35 different types of small arms ammunition used during the Civil War, including everything from a small .28 caliber ball up to a .69 caliber three-ring Minie and it triggered some questions: how did the Federal army obtain its small arms ammunition during the war? Where did the lead come from to make the bullets, and where and how was the ammunition manufactured? This post seeks to answer those questions. A typical .58 caliber 3-ring Minie bullet   “Whenever the blasts of war blow in the ears of men who trade in the implements of destruction, they are apt to experience more joy than the true ...
Read more

Dressing the Rebels: How to Dye Butternut Jeans Cloth

Image
     In the early days of the Civil War,  the Southern states found themselves with an abundance of cotton but a shortage of cloth with which to make army uniforms. The trade in cloth prior to the war had largely been to send raw cotton or wool north to New England (or Great Britain) where it was converted into usable cloth; but now that trade was broken and the Southern states were thrown upon their own resources in their efforts to properly clothe the Confederate army.  This collection of Confederate enlisted men's frock coats and shell jackets gives some indication of the variety of shades of butternut worn during the war. All of them are shades of yellow brown, some heavier on the yellow and some heavier on the brown. The blue used around the collar or as rank insignia indicates that the soldier was in the infantry. Surviving Confederate uniforms are considered rather rare and command quite a healthy price in the collecting market. For an in-depth study of h...
Read more

The Wizard of Oz and the Civil War

Image
T he 1939 film The Wizard of Oz has delighted viewers for 85 years and ranks as a personal favorite, especially during the Halloween season. While watching it with the family the other night, I wondered if there were any connections between the film and the Civil War. Not surprisingly, the answer is yes and those connections touch both the blue and the gray.           Interestingly both “witches” in the film not only had Civil War ancestors but had connections with Civil War soldiers from Ohio. Margaret Hamilton, the “Wicked Witch of the West,” was born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 9, 1902, to attorney Walter Jones Hamilton and his wife Mary Jane Adams; Margaret’s grandfather was Judge Edwin Timothy Hamilton. Judge Hamilton had served as a private in Co. D of the 84 th Ohio Infantry during the summer of 1862. The 84 th Ohio, a three months’ regiment, served nearly the whole of its service attached to the Railroad District in western Ma...
Read more

The Vaunted Enfield Rifle Musket

Image
     The English-made Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield Rifle Musket was widely regarded as the best infantry arm in the world at the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861. Favorable international press describing its efficiency in the Crimean War and in suppressing the Indian rebellion led to the widespread desire of American infantrymen (both Federal and Confederate) to be armed with these accurate and well-made arms. The lock plate of this well-worn P1853 Enfield rifle musket produced in 1862 shows the typical markings of a British-made weapon that made it through the Federal blockade.  ( Army of Tennessee Relics ) Enfield-pattern weapons were imported into the states by the tens and hundreds of thousands during the war years; one estimate stated that the Federal government purchased 500,000 while the Confederates purchased another 400,000. The Confederate government dispatched Captain Caleb Huse to Europe in April 1861 to purchase weapons and Huse focused on se...
Read more

In front of Atlanta with the 68th Ohio

Image
  The arrow corps badge of the 17th Army Corps was worn by many members of the 68th Ohio in the latter days of the war.       Private Edward A. Bigelow of Co. F of the 68th Ohio Volunteer Infantry wrote this brief account of the Battle of Atlanta just two days afterwards to his father back home in Henry County, Ohio. The regiment formed a part of Colonel Robert K. Scott's three regiment all-Ohio brigade consisting of the 20th, 68th, and 78th regiments, being designated the Second Brigade of the Third Division of Frank Blair's 17th Army Corps. Bigelow's letter originally appeared in the Napoleon Press newspaper and was copied in the Toledo Daily Commercial which was providential as no known copies exist today of the wartime Napoleon Press.  
Read more

Charging Battery Robinett: An Alabama Soldier Recalls the Vicious Fighting at Corinth

Image
W riting 30 years after the Battle of Corinth, James A. McKinstry of the 42 nd Alabama recalled his experiences storming Battery Robinett with Colonel William P. Rogers of the 2 nd Texas and expressed guilt that it was perhaps his action that brought about the colonel’s demise. “On seeing a line of Federals approaching, and before giving the situation a thought, I immediately raised my gun and fired full into the breast of a Federal sergeant, who was in front of the column, and only a short distance from us.  'Twas then that Captain George Foster shouted, "Cease firing, men! cease firing!" and waved his handkerchief, then I realized the true situation. 'Twas too late! That fatal volley had been turned on our little band from the muzzles of 1,500 muskets. I was still standing just as I was when I fired my last shot, and within a few feet of Colonel Rogers, when a Minie ball went crashing through my left hip and turned me half round; another went tearing through my ...
Read more

Cook & Brother of New Orleans

Image
    The lockplate of a New Orleans-made Cook & Brother Enfield rifle produced in 1862 shows the fine craftsmanship that became the hallmark of the maker throughout the Civil War. Note the stars and bars flag at left, an emblem used on C&B's production throughout the war and the Cook & Brother, N.O. 1862 markings. Earlier production weapons at New Orleans had the flag located just above the maker's name while later weapons produced in Athens, Georgia would have a modified flag and Athens on the plate followed by the serial number.        In the spring of 1861, two English-born businessmen, Ferdinand and Francis Cook of New Orleans, perceived the need for the South to have its own domestic production of firearms and  set out to prove "that rifles could made here as well as in Yankee land or in Europe." The brothers  elected to produce copies of the British Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield rifle as this was considered the benchmark longarm...
Read more

I Want to See a Battle: A Hoosier at Shiloh

Image
W riting in his diary, Private Manius Buchanan of the 29 th Indiana recalled the eagerness with which his regiment marched towards Savannah, Tennessee with the sounds of the battle of Shiloh ringing in their ears.           “The forced march was kept up until 2 p.m. when we were halted until 4 p.m,” he noted. “The rest was really needed, but the continual question is ‘Why are we stopped here?’ The sound of battle increased in volume and anxiety to be up and doing grows more intense. As I am weak from a late sickness, I am urged to fall to the rear; but no, in common with all, I want to see a battle and fear this will be my only chance.” The regiment would go into action the following afternoon, and of the four neighborhood boys who had enlisted together in Co. B, only Buchanan escaped unscathed. One afternoon's exposure to the horrors of battle was all it took to satisfy this Hoosier's desire to see the elephant. “I wanted to see a battl...
Read more

An Interview with Forrest in May 1864

Image
  “The noise of battle is the only music that ravishes the senses of Forrest.” I t was May 1864. Back east, the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac were locked in the deadly dance of the Overland Campaign while in Georgia, General William Tecumseh Sherman's army squared off against General Joseph E. Johnston and the Army of the Tennessee in the campaign for Atlanta.       Based in relatively quiet northern Mississippi, General Nathan Bedford Forrest bided his time waiting for a Federal advance from Memphis. Earlier in the month, General Samuel Sturgis led a brief campaign into Mississippi but Forrest was sure Sturgis would venture out again. In the meantime, he tried to keep his reorganized command intact despite persistent demands from his superiors that he return the absentees and deserters who inflated his ranks (nearly 1,000 in number) to their original commands.      Around this same time,  an old acquaintance from Me...
Read more