A Fixed Shooting Contest: Tales of the 23rd Ohio

Shortly after mustering into service in June 1861, the men of the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry received their allotment of firearms. It was a mixed bag: Companies A and B, being the flank companies, received the highly prized Enfield rifles; two more companies received Springfield rifles; the balance received old flintlock muskets dating from the Revolutionary War that had been converted to percussion. The men of Company E flat out refused to accept them.

          Despite pleadings from their company officers and threats from the colonel branding the company as mutineers and threatening to have them shot, the stalwart men of Co. E refused to take up these antique arms. Lieutenant Colonel Stanley Matthews and Major Rutherford B. Hayes, old college buddies from Kenyon, cooked up a shooting contest between the crack shots of Co. E armed with the antique muskets and six crack shots from Co. A armed with Enfields.

"Of course, the muskets came out ahead,” remembered Private William Osborne of Co. E in 1879. “But I have my suspicion that Matthews and Hayes (for they were not, like Caesar’s wife, above suspicion) had tampered with the crack shots from Co. A and the Enfield rifles did not do their best that afternoon. Be that as it may, the men were enthusiastic over the success of their guns and our friends were spared the grief and disgrace of having us shot down in camp as mutineers.”

Osborne’s reminiscences of the early days of the service of the 23rd Ohio were presented at the regimental reunion on September 17, 1879, at Youngstown, Ohio and first saw publication in the September 18, 1879, edition of the Cleveland Morning Leader.

 

Lieutenant Colonel Stanley Matthews (left) and Major Rutherford B. Hayes (right) attended Kenyon College together and held field grade commissions in the newly organized 23rd Ohio in June 1861. When one of the companies refused to accept the antiquated firearms provided by the Federal government, the two men staged a shooting contest between the disgruntled men and another company. Its entirely possible that their fingers rested on the scales of justice to make the men of Co. E come out the victor. 

          The 23rd Ohio was composed of companies principally from the Western Reserve- Co. E going from this county [Mahoning] with quite a number of students from Poland Seminary being in it. You remember it as it came up your main street on that beautiful May morning, commanded by Captain [William H.] Zimmerman and marching with a proud and manly step to the wild grand music of the drum and fife. They came from the hills and valleys to bid goodbye to the brave boys that were going away to the war for three years and some of them never to return.

          A short time was spent parting at the depot- some of them taking the last embrace of those they loved best on earth. The train moved off amid the shouts of assembled crowds and the sobs of mothers, wives, sisters, and sweethearts. Great interest was taken in this regiment from the fact that it was the first original three years’ regiment that enlisted in this state. We were mustered into service on the 11th day of June 1861 and then you were soldiers indeed, and began to feel how hard it was to lead a soldier’s life.

          I wish to recall your minds to an incident that happened at Camp Chase that demonstrated the mettle the volunteers were made of. You remember that in the distribution of arms, the flank companies of A and B were given Enfield rifles, the next two companies on each flank were given Springfield rifles, while the four companies in the center were given muskets, the worst specimen of firearms ever seen. They were old Revolutionary War flintlock muskets changed to percussion cap and had been freshly painted so that whenever a hand touched one it left its mark. The young volunteer did not stop to consider that the government was doing everything it could to make good guns for its soldiers.


          Companies H, E, and K refused to take these arms. Co. E was the most obstinate. After expostulations, persuasions, and threats from the officers of the company, there came an order from the colonel to call the company into line and ask each soldier if he would take a gun. This was done and every man refused. From that time onward Co. E was treated as mutineers. Colonel [Eliakim] Scammon, a West Point graduated and officer in the Mexican War, would not brook such setting at defiance of his orders.

          News came to the men that they were to be shot; that Companies A and B had been ordered to load guns, march up, and fire upon them. But this had no effect. An order came to call them into line again and Lieutenant Colonel [Stanley] Matthews addressed them in a most convincing and persuasive manner, telling them they had secured the best arms they could and that many a battle was won without firing a gun. He told how his grandfather in the Revolutionary War was one of the men who joined with Ethan Allen and took Ticonderoga without the firing of a gun whereas if one had been fired, all would have been lost.

          But still the men stood firm, expecting every moment to be called into line to be shot at by Companies A and B. A few hours of gloomy waiting when a message came from Lieutenant Colonel Matthews and Major [Rutherford B.] Hayes to select six of our best shots and take six muskets to go out and shoot at a target with six crack shots from Co. A armed with Enfield rifles. Then if we were not satisfied, we need not take them. Of course, the muskets came out ahead but I have my suspicion that Matthews and Hayes (for they were not, like Caesar’s wife, above suspicion) had tampered with the crack shots from Co. A and the Enfield rifles did not do their best that afternoon. Be that as it may, the men were enthusiastic over the success of their guns and our friends were spared the grief and disgrace of having us shot down in camp as mutineers.

Source:

“The Oration of the Day at Youngstown,” 23rd Ohio Infantry Reunion, speech by Private William Osborne, Co. E, Cleveland Morning Leader (Ohio), September 18, 1879, pg. 9

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