Introduction

The history of present-day Ohio spans thousands of years, from the earliest human settlement to the advent of U.S. statehood in 1803. Ohio is a state in the Midwestern United States. The name "Ohio" originated from Iroquois word ohi-yo’, meaning "great river". The state, originally partitioned from the Northwest Territory, was admitted to the Union as the 17th state (and the first under the Northwest Ordinance) on March 1, 1803.

Prior to European influence, Native Americans inhabited present-day Ohio. For thousands of years, sophisticated successive cultures of indigenous peoples, such as the Adena, Hopewell and Mississippian, built monumental earthworks as part of their religious and political expression: mounds and walled enclosures, some of which have survived to the present. The indigenous nations to inhabit Ohio in the historical period included the Miamis (a large confederation); Wyandots (composed of refugees, especially from the fractured Huron confederacy); Delawares (forced west from their historic homeland in New Jersey); Shawnees (also pushed west, although they may have been descended from the Fort Ancient people of Ohio); Ottawas (more commonly associated with the upper Great Lakes region); Mingos (like the Wyandot, a group recently formed of refugees from Iroquois); and Eries (gradually absorbed into the new, multi-ethnic "republics," namely the Wyandot).

During the 18th century, the French established a system of trading posts to control the fur trade in the region. In 1754, France and Great Britain fought a war that was known in North America as the French and Indian War and in Europe as the Seven Years War. As a result of the Treaty of Paris, the French ceded control of Ohio and the remainder of the Old Northwest to Great Britain. Pontiac's Rebellion in the 1760s, however, posed a challenge to British military control. This concluded with the colonists' victory in the American Revolution. In the Treaty of Paris in 1783, Britain ceded all claims to Ohio country to the United States.

While by the mid-18th century, Europeans engaged historic Native American tribes in present-day Ohio in the fur trade, European-American settlement in the Ohio territory (aka Ohio country) did not expand until after the American Revolutionary War. The United States Congress also prohibited slavery in the Ohio territory. Ohio's population increased rapidly, chiefly by migrants from the Northern Tier of New England and New York. Southerners settled along the southern part of the territory, as they traveled mostly by the Ohio River. After Ohio became a state, citizens still prohibited slavery and some supported the Underground Railroad.

The United States created the Northwest Territory (1787-1803) under the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. Although slavery was not permitted in the new territory, settlement began with the founding of Marietta by the Ohio Company of Associates, which had been formed by a group of American Revolutionary War veterans. Following the Ohio Company, the Miami Company (also referred to as the "Symmes Purchase") claimed the southwestern section, and the Connecticut Land Company surveyed and settled the Connecticut Western Reserve in present-day Northeast Ohio.

The Northwest Territory originally included areas previously known as Ohio country and Illinois country. The territory included all the land of the United States west of Pennsylvania and northwest of the Ohio River, and it covered all of the present-day states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, as well as the northeastern part of Minnesota.

As Ohio prepared for statehood, the Indiana Territory was created, reducing the Northwest Territory to approximately the size of present-day Ohio plus the eastern half of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan and the eastern tip of the Upper Peninsula. American settlement of the Northwest Territory was resisted by Native Americans in the Northwest Indian War. The natives were eventually conquered by the newly formed United States in 1794.

Under the Northwest Ordinance, areas of the territory could be defined and admitted as states once their population reached 60,000. Although Ohio's population numbered only 45,000 in December 1801, Congress determined that the population was growing rapidly and Ohio could begin the path to statehood. The assumption was that it would exceed 60,000 residents by the time it was admitted as a state. Furthermore, in regards to the Leni Lenape Native Americans living in the region, Congress decided that 10,000 acres on the Muskingum River in the present state of Ohio would "be set apart and the property thereof be vested in the Moravian Brethren . . . or a society of the said Brethren for civilizing the Indians and promoting Christianity."

The US Congress, furthermore, prohibited slavery in the territory. (Once the population grew and the territory achieved statehood, the citizens could have legalized slavery, but chose not to do so.) The states of the Midwest would be known as Free States, in contrast to those states south of the Ohio River. Migrants to the latter came chiefly from Virginia and other slaveholding states, and brought their culture and slaves with them.

As Northeastern states abolished slavery in the coming two generations, the Free States would be known as Northern states. The Northwest Territory originally included areas previously called Ohio Country and Illinois Country. As Ohio prepared for statehood, Indiana Territory was carved out, reducing the Northwest Territory to approximately the size of present-day Ohio plus the eastern half of Michigan's lower peninsula.

Slavery

Ohio's roots as an anti-slavery and abolitionist state go back to its territorial days in the Northwest Territory, which forbade the practice. When it became a state, the constitution expressly outlawed slavery. Many Ohioans were members of anti-slavery organizations, including the American Anti-Slavery Society and American Colonization Society. Ohioan Charles Osborn published the first abolitionist newspaper in the country, "The Philanthropist," and in 1821, the father of abolition Benjamin Lundy began publishing his newspaper the Genius of Universal Emancipation.
 
Ohio was a key stop on the Underground Railroad where prominent abolitionists played a role, including John Rankin. Ohio resident Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote the famous book "Uncle Tom's Cabin," which was largely influential in shaping the opinion of the North against slavery.

Sentiment

Much of southern Ohio's economy depended upon trade with the South across the Ohio River, which had served for years as passage and a link with the slave states of Virginia and Kentucky. The culture of southern Ohio was closer to those states than it was to northern parts of the state, owing to many settlers coming from the South and being formerly territory of the state of Virginia as part of the Virginia Military District. Most of the state's population was solidly against secession and in favor of a strong central government. During the 1860 Presidential Election, Ohio voted in favor of Abraham Lincoln (231,709 votes or 52.3% of the ballots cast) over Stephen Douglas (187,421; 42.3%), John C. Breckinridge (11,406; 2.6%), and John Bell (12,194; 2.8%).

After the South had bombarded Fort Sumter in April 1861, President Lincoln responded by issuing a proclamation, known as Lincoln's Call For Troops, for the states to collectively commit 75,000 troops to suppress the rebellion in the Southern states. There was no hesitation in the response to the call for troops in Ohio.

Therefore, Ohio Governor William Dennison (1860-1862) responded to his constituents with the following proclamation:

"To the People of Ohio: — You are called upon to meet the gravest responsibilities, and it may be sacrifices, to preserve your  free institutions and your national independence.

"The attempt of your government to supply a beleaguered garrison with provisions, has been met by open war, and the reduction of the garrison by force of arms. Your national flag has been insulted, and the constitutional authorities of the Union treasonably defied.

"At such an hour, rising above all party names and party bias, resolute to maintain the freedom so dearly purchased by our fathers, and to transmit it unimpaired to our posterity, let the people assert their power.

"Your voice will be heard, your actions, giving hope to the overawed and oppressed in the rebellious districts, will strengthen the hands and animate the hearts of the loyal thousands in the border states, and will bring back peace and order to the nation, with a new assurance of the perpetuity of its priceless blessings. The general assembly, by acts just passed, opens to you the method of testifying your devotion to our beloved state, to the Union as it is, and those free institutions which have been alike the foundation and pledge of our national and individual prosperity.

"The general orders issued through the proper department assert that method, and invite your response. Let us all be thankful to Almighty God for past mercies, imploring His pardon for our many shortcomings, and trusting with Him the destinies of our country, forget all but the pressing duty to cast aside the distinctions that have been the basis of transient differences, and demonstrate to the world that we are worthy sons of great ancestors, fit to be intrusted with the liberties we inherit."

A number of men with Ohio ties would serve important roles in Lincoln's Cabinet and administration, including Steubenville's Edwin M. Stanton as Attorney General and then Secretary of War, and former Ohio U.S. Senator and Governor Salmon P. Chase as Secretary of the Treasury. Prominent Ohio politicians in Congress included Senators John Sherman and Benjamin F. Wade.

During the war, three men would serve as Governor of Ohio– William Dennison, David Tod and John Brough. Without requests by the War Department, Dennison sent Ohio troops into western Virginia, where they guarded the Wheeling Convention. The convention led to the admission of West Virginia as a free state. Tod became known as "the soldier's friend," for his determined efforts to help equip and sustain Ohio's troops. He was noted for his quick response in calling out the state militia to battle Confederate raiders. Brough strongly supported the Lincoln Administration's war efforts and was key to persuading other Midwestern governors to raise 100-day regiments, such as the 131st Ohio Infantry in early 1864, to release more seasoned troops for duty in Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's spring campaign.

In January 1863, public sentiment within the state was strained by Abraham Lincoln’s issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation. For some, this merely confirmed their fears that the war was truly about freedom for the slaves and not a war about restoring the Union. However, the greatest single strain on public sentiment arrived later in 1863 when Congress passed the conscription act, which authorized the Federal government to draft or force citizens into military service.

Small-scale riots commenced in ethnic German and Irish districts, and in areas along the Ohio River with many Copperheads. Holmes County, Ohio, was an isolated area dominated by Pennsylvania Dutch and some recent German immigrants. It was a Democratic stronghold and few men dared speak publicly in favor of conscription. Local politicians denounced Lincoln and Congress as despotic, seeing the draft law as a violation of their local autonomy. In June 1863, small scale disturbances commenced, but they ceased when U.S. army units arrived.

Through the middle of the war, the Copperhead movement had appeal in Ohio, driven in part by noted Congressman Clement Vallandigham, a leading Peace Democrat. After General Ambrose E. Burnside issued General Order Number 38 in early 1863, warning that the "habit of declaring sympathies for the enemy" would not be tolerated in the Military District of Ohio, Vallandigham gave a major speech charging the war was being fought not to save the Union, but to free blacks and enslave whites, and to grant Lincoln unconstitutional powers. Vallandigham further believed that Lincoln had previously exercised tyrannical powers in Maryland.

On May 5, 1863, Clement L. Vallandigham, former Congressman of Ohio, was arrested as a violator of Union General Order Number 38, which forbade expressing sympathy for the enemy. Vallandigham's charges included saying two words: "King Lincoln." Vallandigham was tried by a military court on May 6 and 7, and was charged by the Military Commission with "Publicly expressing, in violation of General Orders No. 38, from Head-quarters Department of the Ohio, sympathy for those in arms against the Government of the United States, and declaring disloyal sentiments and opinions, with the object and purpose of weakening the power of the Government in its efforts to suppress an unlawful rebellion."

Burnside ordered Vallandigham's arrest and took him to Cincinnati for trial. At the trial, Vallandigham was found guilty. The court sentenced him to prison for the duration of the war. President Lincoln attempted to quiet the situation by writing the Birchard Letter, which offered to release Vallandigham if several Ohio congressmen agreed to support certain policies of the Administration. To try to prevent political backlash and preserve authority of Gen. Burnside, Abraham Lincoln changed Vallandigham's sentence to banishment to the South. The threat was imprisonment if Vallandigham returned to Northern soil. The South allowed Vallandigham to migrate to Canada, from where he ran an unsuccessful campaign for governor against Brough in 1863. Lincoln's response to Vallandigham not only bitterly divided much of southern Ohio, but it stirred anti-Lincoln sentiment throughout the Northern states, particularly in New York during the Summer of 1863. From local citizens to the press to prominent politicians, the discussion of free speech, or freedom of speech, was now hotly debated from public meetings to political forums.

Newspapers, nevertheless, remained engaged in very lively discussion of war issues, from the Republican, War Democrat and Copperhead perspectives. Public sentiment, however,  shifted more in favor of the Lincoln Administration, particularly as Ohio generals rose in prominence, with military successes in the Atlanta Campaign, the Siege of Petersburg, and Sheridan's Valley Campaigns. In the 1864 Presidential Election, Ohio strongly supported Lincoln's reelection. The state gave the president 265,674 votes (56.4% of the total) versus 205,609 votes (43.6%) for General George McClellan.

En route to Washington, D.C. for his inauguration, President Lincoln passed through Ohio by train, with brief stops in numerous cities. His first formal speech given after his election was in Hudson, Ohio, a stop he made en route to Cleveland. Although Lincoln had visited the state several times before the war, he would not return during the Civil War. In 1865 his funeral train carried his body through the state, bound for Springfield, Illinois.

Civil War

According to the 1860 U.S. census, Ohio had a population of 2,339,511.

Nearly 320,000 Ohioans served in the Union army, more than any other Northern state except New York (nearly 450,000) and Pennsylvania (approximately 340,000). Of these, 5,092 were free blacks. Ohio had the highest percentage of population enlisted in the military of any state. Sixty percent of all the men between the ages of 18 and 45 were in the service.

Ohio soldiers were of the grand army under Grant, Sherman and McPherson — what a trio of Ohio generals! — which swung around to the south of Vicksburg, and fought and won the battles of Champion's Hill, Jackson and Big Black River, and joined in the siege and capture of Vicksburg. Under Sherman they participated in the forced marched through Atlanta, and, after capturing the latter place and leaving behind a considerable detachment, swept off eastward to Savannah and the Sea, thence northward through the Carolinas to the Old Dominion, tearing out the vitals of the Confederacy, striking terror to the enemy and carrying the flag to victory. See also Ohio Civil War Soldiers and Battles with Statistics.

More than 100 soldiers from Ohio units earned the Medal of Honor during the conflict. While several were awarded the medal for the ill-fated Great Locomotive Chase, Ohioan Maj. Gen. David Stanley was one of only three major generals during the Civil War to be awarded the Medal of Honor. In the fighting at the Battle of Franklin on November 30, 1864, Stanley, "at a critical moment, rode to the front of one of his brigades, reestablished its lines, and gallantly led it In a successful assault."

In response to the call to arms by President Lincoln to suppress the rebellion in 1861, Ohio raised 23 volunteer infantry regiments for three months' service, 10 more regiments than the state's quota. When it became evident that the war would not end quickly, Ohio began raising regiments for three-year terms of enlistment. At first the majority were stocked with eager volunteers and recruits. Before the war's end, they would be joined by 8,750 draftees. Ohio troops fought in nearly every major battle and campaign during the war, and President Lincoln had a habit on the eve of battle of asking how many Ohio men would participate. When someone inquired why, Lincoln remarked, "Because I know that if there are many Ohio soldiers to be engaged, it is probable we will win the battle, for they can be relied upon in such an emergency."

The number of troops organized for the war by the state of Ohio, to Dec. 31, 1861, was as follows: In camps in the state: thirty-five regiments infantry, 26,146; four regiments cavalry, 4,485; seventeen batteries artillery, 1,228; total, 31,679. Ohio troops in three years' service, infantry, 67.546: cavalry, 7,270; artillery, 3,028; total, 77,844. To which add twenty-two full regiments for three months, 22,000; two companies of cavalry, 180; two sections artillery, 80'; one battery, 120; grand total, 100,224.

Numerous notable Ohioans served in the Union Army, including five future U.S. presidents. In addition to Grant and Garfield, three other Ohio Civil War veterans would become President of the United States in the decades following the war: William McKinley of Canton, Rutherford B. Hayes of Fremont, and Benjamin Harrison of the greater Cincinnati area. And by the end of the war, the Union's top three generals–Ulysses S. Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman, and Philip Sheridan–were Ohioans. Buckeye John Clem, celebrated as "Johnny Shiloh" and "The Drummer Boy of Chickamauga," became the youngest person to become a noncommissioned officer in United States Army history.

Several leading generals and army commanders hailed from Ohio. The General-in-Chief of the Union armies, Ulysses S. Grant, was born in Clermont County in 1822. Among the major generals from Ohio were William T. Sherman, Philip H. Sheridan, Don Carlos Buell, Jacob D. Cox, George Crook, George Armstrong Custer, James A. Garfield, Irvin McDowell, James B. McPherson, William S. Rosecrans, David Stanley, and Alexander M. McCook (of the "Fighting McCook" family, which sent a number of generals into the service). The state contributed nearly 150 brigadier generals, with the majority being brevetted, and a total of more than 200 Ohioans were assigned one of the general ranks during the Civil War.

A handful of Confederate generals were Ohio-born, including Bushrod Johnson of Belmont County and Robert H. Hatton of Steubenville. Charles Clark of Cincinnati led a division in the Army of Mississippi during the Battle of Shiloh in 1862 and he became the Governor of Mississippi in 1863. Noted Confederate guerrilla Capt. William Quantrill was also born and raised in Ohio.

In 1861, dozens of small camps were established across the state to train and drill the new regiments. Two large military posts were created: Camp Chase in Columbus and Camp Dennison near Cincinnati. The 1st Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry (OVI) would eventually be joined on the muster rolls by more than 100 additional infantry regiments. Ohioans first engaged in military action at the Battle of Philippi Races in June 1861, where the 14th and 16th Ohio Infantry participated in the Union victory. While Ohioans comprised one-fifth of the Union army at the April 1862 Battle of Shiloh, 1,676 Buckeyes became casualties there. Ohio suffered its highest casualty count at the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863, with 3,591 killed or wounded and an additional 1,351 troops captured by the Confederates. Among the prisoners were 36 soldiers from the 2nd Ohio Infantry that later perished in the infamous Andersonville prison. By war's end, several hundred Ohio soldiers suffered and died at Andersonville.

(R) Fox (1889) states the high losses for the Union light artillery batteries. Of the numerous Northern states that committed hundreds of light artillery batteries, the 11th Ohio Battery sustained the second highest casualty rate of any light battery during the course of the Civil War. The light artillery was composed of batteries with a maximum strength of 150 men and 6 guns. Prior to the war concluding, many of them were reorganized as 4 gun batteries. In some cases there were regimental organizations comprising 12 batteries, but most of the troops in this arm of the service were independent commands; even where there was a regimental organization, each battery acted separately and independently of the others. Fox lists the leading batteries in the volunteer service, in point of loss in battle, and commends the 11th Ohio in his remarks. While the 11th Ohio lost 19 killed at Iuka, Mississippi, the unit also suffered 35 wounded in that battle, according to Fox. At Iuka, according to The Union Army (1908), the 11th, with "102 strong," had repulsed two frontal assaults by the Confederates, only to be overrun on the third attempt. The artillerists had stood firm during the assaults and many from the battery, while attempting to "spike their pieces," were killed by the enemy. Casualties for the battery at Iuka were greater than 50%. Dyer (1908) states that when the 11th disbanded, November 5, 1864, it had lost 20 killed and mortally wounded and 30 died of disease. Total deaths 50.  

Unlike its neighbors West Virginia, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania, Ohio was spared from serious military encounters. In September 1862, Confederate forces under Brig. Gen. Henry Heth marched through northern Kentucky and threatened Cincinnati. They turned away after encountering strong Union fortifications south of the Ohio River. (See also Ohio Civil War Soldiers and Battles by the Numbers.) Not long afterwards, Brig. Gen. Albert G. Jenkins briefly passed through the extreme southern tip of Ohio during a raid. It was not until the summer of 1863 that Confederates arrived in force, when John Hunt Morgan's cavalry division traversed southern and eastern Ohio during Morgan's Raid (June 11–July 26, 1863). Although Morgan's Raid lacked tactical or strategic military significance, it terrorized the local populace and it culminated in Morgan's capture in Columbiana County. The Battle of Buffington Island, the largest battle fought on Ohio soil during the conflict, was a resounding Union victory that occurred as a direct result of Morgan's Raid.

General Morgan and his 2,460 handpicked Confederate cavalrymen, with 4 artillery pieces, departed from Sparta, Tennessee, on June 11, 1863, intending to divert the attention of the Union Army of the Ohio from Southern forces in the state. For 46 days (June 11–July 26, 1863) as they rode more than 1,000 miles, Morgan's Confederates covered a region from Tennessee to northern Ohio. The raid coincided with the Vicksburg Campaign and the Gettysburg Campaign, although it was not directly related to either campaign. However, it served to draw the attention of tens of thousands of Federal troops away from their normal duties and strike fear in the civilian population of several Northern states. Morgan, according to some of the officers who served in his command, was determined to "take the war to the North." Repeatedly thwarted in his attempts to return to the South by hastily positioned Union forces and state militia, Morgan eventually surrendered what was left of his command in northeastern Ohio. He escaped through Ohio, and casually took a train to Cincinnati, where he crossed the Ohio River.

During his daring raid, Morgan and his men captured and paroled nearly 6,000 Union soldiers and militia, destroyed 34 bridges, disrupted the railroads at more than 60 places, and diverted tens of thousands of troops from other duties. He spread terror throughout the region, and seized thousands of dollars worth of supplies, food, and other items from local stores, houses, and farms. In Ohio alone, approximately 2,500 horses were stolen and nearly 4,375 homes and businesses were raided. Morgan's Raid cost Ohio taxpayers nearly $600,000 in damages and more than $200,000 in wages paid to the 49,357 Ohioans called up to man 587 companies of local militia.

To Morgan's men, the long raid had accomplished much, despite their militry defeat and high casualties. Col. Basil Duke later wrote, "The objects of the raid were accomplished. General Bragg's retreat was unmolested by any flanking forces of the enemy, and I think that military men, who will review all the facts, will pronounce that this expedition delayed for weeks the fall of East Tennessee, and prevented the timely reinforcement of Rosecrans by troops that would otherwise have participated in the Battle of Chickamauga."

There had appeared nothing threatening to Ohio in the early summer of 1862, but suddenly the air of peace was disturbed by the raid of Kentuckian Gen. John H. Morgan and his cavalry into central Kentucky. Cincinnati was reasonably alarmed by the news and the frantic appeals of the Kentucky general then on duty in that state. Public meetings were called in the city, George E. Pugh leading the effort for defense. Gov. David Tod (1862-1864) sent arms and convalescent soldiers, followed by other troops in the state, and these and the city police force were sent to Lexington, Ky., to meet the enemy, but Morgan retired after somewhat recruiting his brigade and destroying a great amount of military supplies.

While Ohio was filled with rejoicing over Gettysburg and Vicksburg victories on July 4, 1863, the word arrived on July 8 that the redoubtable raider, John Morgan, had reached the Ohio river and was about to enter Indiana. Gov. Tod was among the first to recognize the danger, and while there was still time to secure insertion in the newspapers of Monday morning, he telegraphed to the press a proclamation, as follows:

"Columbus, July 12, 1863.
"To the Press of Cincinnati:

"Whereas, This state is in imminent danger of invasion by an armed force, now, therefore, to prevent the same, I, David Tod, governor of the State of Ohio, and commander-in-chief of the militia force thereof, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the constitution and laws of said state, do hereby call into active service that portion of the militia force which has been organized into companies within the counties of Hamilton, Butler, Montgomery, Clermont, Brown, Clinton, Warren, Greene, Fayette, Ross, Monroe, Washington, Morgan, Noble, Athens, Meigs, Scioto, Jackson, Adams, Vinton, Hocking, Lawrence, Pickaway, Franklin, Madison, Fairfield, Clark, Preble, Pike, Gallia, Highland and Perry. I do hereby further order all such forces residing within the counties of Hamilton, Butler and Clermont to report forthwith to Maj.-Gen. A. E. Burnside at his headquarters in the city of Cincinnati, who is hereby authorized and required to cause said forces to be organized into battalions or regiments, and appoint all necessary officers therefor. And it is further ordered that all such forces residing in the counties of Montgomery, Warren, Clinton, Fayette, Ross, Highland and Boone, report forthwith to Col. Neff, the military commander at Camp Dennison, who is hereby authorized to organize said forces into battalions or regiments and appoint, temporarily, officers therefor; it is further ordered that all of such forces residing in the counties of Franklin, Madison, Clark, Greene, Pickaway and Fairfield, report forthwith at Camp Chase, to Brig.-Gen. John S. Mason, who is hereby authorized to organize said forces into battalions or regiments, and appoint temporarily, officers therefor; it is further ordered that all of such forces residing in the counties of Washington, Monroe, Noble, Meigs, Morgan, Perry, Hocking and Athens, report forthwith to Col. William R. Putnam at Camp Marietta, who is hereby authorized to organize said forces into battalions or regiments, and appoint, temporarily, officers therefor.

"David Tod, Governor."

On the following day Morgan and his cavalrymen were in Ohio near the suburbs of Cincinnati, tearing along at the rate of 50 miles a day, picking up fresh horses as they went, but not taking time to do serious mischief. Feinting toward Hamilton, Morgan boldly crossed the railroads racing out of Cincinnati and into the suburbs of the city, passing through Glendale and feeding his horses in sight of Camp Dennison. There was a slight skirmish there, and a Little Miami train was thrown from the track, but Morgan did not tarry and pushed on to find a crossing place into Kentucky, followed closely by Gen. Hobson, while Gens. J. D. Cox, Samuel Sturgis and Jacob Ammen and Cols. Granville Moody and Stanley Matthews organized the militia about Cininnati, and Gen. Judah's troops were sent up the river to cut off the Confederate retreat. Of course, the utmost consternation prevailed among the people of the country that Morgan traversed. There was little danger to life, but the raiders indulged in the most unrestrained plundering. They seemed to want calico more than anything else, and every village store they passed had to contribute this commodity. Every man who could get a bolt, says Gen. Basil Duke, the historian of Morgan's cavalry, tied it to his saddle belt, only to throw it away and get a fresh one at the first opportunity. One man carried a bird cage, with three canaries in it, for three days. Another slung seven skates around his neck, though it was intensely hot weather. They pillaged like boys robbing an orchard. Against these mirthful marauders 50,000 Ohio militia actually took the field, but not half of them ever got within 50 miles of Morgan.

On July 18, four days after leaving Camp Dennison, Morgan was at Pomeroy, where the militia annoyed him seriously, and when he reached Chester he gave his men a rest of an hour and a half that was just the margin between successful escape and disaster, so close was the pursuit. It was dark when he reached the ford at Buffington island (or Portland, Meigs County), where a little fort was held by 200 or 300 militia, who evacuated in the night while Morgan waited for light before attacking. On the morning of July 19, Hobson's cavalry, who had chased Morgan through three states, came down upon him pell-mell and Judali, with his gunboats, occupied the river. After a brisk fight, in which the Ohio men lost the gallant old patriot, Maj. Daniel McCook, father of two major-generals and three brigadier-generals, Morgan escaped with about 1,200 men, though more than 700 surrendered, and the chase continued. Twenty miles above the island  Morgan and approximately 300 more of his men across the Ohio river, when the gunboats compelled him to stop crossing his men and hasten on with the remainder. Striking for the Muskingum river, he was headed off by the militia under Col. Runkle, and he turned toward Blennerhassett's island. Then, finding an unguarded crossing on the Muskingum above McConnelsville, he pushed toward the Ohio above Wheeling, but was again attacked July 26, by some Michigan cavalry, at Salineville, Columbiana County, where he lost 300 of his men and on the evening of the same day he surrendered what remained of his party to a small body of Kentucky cavalry. The non-combatants whose property had been taken in this famous raid were clamorous to have Morgan treated as a horse thief, and the dashing Kentuckian and some of his officers were immured in cells of the Ohio penitentiary, which was not used otherwise as a military prison. Morgan took his revenge for this treatment by making a daring and successful escape in the following November. For the individual losses claims were made against the general government and a state commission in 1864 passed upon the claims of such losses and arrived at a total of a little over $575,000.

Although Morgan's Raid cost the state's citizens nearly $600,000 in losses, Morgan, on the other hand, was surprised by a Union cavalry attack and was shot in the back and killed on September 4, 1864, while attempting to escape during a raid on Greeneville, Tennessee.

The military force furnished by Ohio to the Union up to Dec. 31, 1863, was one hundred and twenty-nine regiments of infantry, two companies of guards, eight companies of sharpshooters, twelve regiments of cavalry, two battalions of six months' cavalry, one regiment and twenty-six batteries of light artillery, and two regiments of heavy artillery — a total of 200,452 men. In addition to these, about 8,000 white and colored soldiers had been recruited in Ohio for other states. During the year 1864 the Federal government called upon Ohio for troops to be furnished within that period as follows: Feb. 1, 1864, 51,465; March 14, 1864, 20,598; July 18, 1864, 50,797; total, 122,857. Eleven new regiments were also organized in 1864, increasing the total number of Ohio infantry regiments contributed to the Union to 183.

In the army that moved across the Rapidan commencing May, 4, 1864, under the command of Gen. Grant, there were a comparatively small number of Ohio regiments, the great mass of Ohio soldiers at the front being at that time in North Georgia, for the campaign to Atlanta. In all Ohio contributed eighty-six regiments and sixteen batteries to this magnificent army, that maneuvered and fought under Gen. Sherman for a hundred days from Dalton to Jonesboro and occupied Atlanta in the early days of September. Thousands of these Ohio soldiers were numbered among the killed and wounded in the battles of Resaca, New Hope, Kenesaw mountain, Peachtree creek, Atlanta and Jonesboro, and the innumerable skirmishes of the Atlanta campaign. When Sherman marched to the sea he took with him forty Ohio infantry regiments, three of cavalry and two of the Ohio batteries. Over thirty Ohio regiments were left behind in Georgia and Tennessee under Gen. George H. Thomas, when Sherman marched from Atlanta, and they shared in the bloody victory of Franklin and the rout of Hood's army before Nashville.

The year 1865 opened with Sherman marching northward from Savannah to crush the united remnants of the Confederate armies that had held Atlanta and Charleston, and with Grant and Sheridan waiting for passable roads to compel the surrender of Richmond. On April 9, the telegraphic news of the surrender of Lee was received with the wildest rejoicing in Ohio, but a little later — April 14 — the state was plunged in mourning by the horrifying news that President Lincoln had been assassinated. In the sad journey of the martyred president's body to Illinois, a stop was made at Cleveland, where the coffin was placed under an open temple and viewed by thousands. At Columbus the body lay for a day in the rotunda of the capitol, upon a mound of flowers, while the walls about were hung with the tattered battleflags of Ohio regiments. The streets were draped in mourning, minute guns sounded through the day, and the people crowded in tearful silence about the body of the great leader of the Union.

After the grand reviews at Washington — May 23 and June 8, 1865 — the Ohio troops with Grant and Sherman in large part were mustered out and returned to their homes in June and July, and the men with Thomas and other commanders in like manner came home, all being received with the highest manifestations of honor and approbation. But it was some time before all returned, for fifteen reorganized Ohio regiments assembled in Texas to expedite the departure of the French army from Mexico, and other Ohio troops were kept on garrison duty throughout the South. But before the close of the year all but eight of the Ohio regiments had ceased to be, and the soldiers were again quietly engaged in the peaceful pursuits of civil life. The last of Ohio's volunteer army, the 25th infantry, 11th cavalry and Battery B, 1st artillery, were mustered out in June and July, 1866.

It would be impossible to make an exact estimate of the number of men who entered the national army from Ohio during the war for the preservation of the Union. Those embraced in regimental and company organizations of the state can, of course,  be enumerated, and, with some degree of accuracy, followed to the time of their death, discharge, or final muster out. The summaries compiled by the adjutant-general of the state show that Ohio furnished troops under the various calls as follow: Call of April 15, 1861, for 75,000 — 12,357; July 22, 1861, for 500,000 — 84,116; July 2, 1862, for 300,000 — 58,325; June 15, 1863, for militia — 2,736; Oct. 17, 1863, for 500,000 — 32,837; March 14, 1864, for 200,000 — 29,931; April 22, 1864, for militia — 36,254; July 18, 1864, for 500,000 — 30,823; Dec. 19, 1864, for 300,000 — 23,275; grand total, 310,654.

This enormous total does not, of course, represent all the pecuniary sacrifice of the state or of her people. Notable among the other contributions were those made through the agency of the Sanitary commission. The Cincinnati branch, laboring efficiently all through the four years for the relief of Ohio soldiers, devoted large amounts of money to the cause and forwarded vast stores of clothing and supplies donated from all parts of the state. It established a soldiers' home in 1862, a soldiers' cemetery at Spring Grove, and under its auspices was held the Great Western Sanitary Fair at Cincinnati, that yielded the commission over $250,000. Outside of Cincinnati the principal association was the Soldiers' aid society of Cleveland, the first general organization in the United States for such a purpose, which disbursed in money and goods and food much more than $1,000,000 established a home, and also held a fair that brought in $78,000. The Columbus society, active in the same sort of work, established a soldiers' home in 1862. In every part of the state, these greater efforts were rivaled, according to the ability of smaller communities, and the work was without compensation or hope of reward. Everywhere the women gathered to scrape lint for bandages, and make up boxes of clothing and dainties for the brave men in camp or hospital. And it may be said further, that among these quiet workers there were very few who were not earnest supporters of the war to the bitter end. They labored to hold the people true to the cause of establishing and perpetuating a national America, with no more compromises for its betrayal. The angelic work of Misses Alary Clark Braton and Ellen F. Terry in organizing and conducting the Sanitary commission at Cleveland on a scale coequal with the war, rightfully classes each of them with Florence Nightingale of the Crimean war. See also Ohio in the Civil War (1861-1865).

Prisoner-of-War Camps

Camp Chase

Camp Chase, Columbus, Ohio, was a military staging, training and prison camp during the Civil War. Camp Chase, also known as Camp Chase Prison, was one of the five largest prisons in the North for Confederate prisoners-of-war. Camp Chase's prison population peaked at 9,423 on January 31, 1865. The Army ensured that the graves of those who died were marked with thin headboards and "only the number of the grave and name of its individual occupant;" thus the "graves of the Confederate soldiers were not marked as soldiers, and remained thus inadequately," until the 20th century when Congress approved efforts to recognize the sacrifice of CSA soldiers.

Camp Chase was officially dedicated June 20, 1861. It is named in honor of Salmon Portland Chase (1808-1873), former governor of Ohio, the Secretary of the Treasury under President Abraham Lincoln, and later Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Initially designated as a training camp for new recruits in the Union Army, Camp Chase was converted to a military prison as the first prisoners of war arrived from western Virginia. In the early months of the Civil War, Camp Chase primarily held political prisoners--judges, legislators and mayors from Kentucky and Virginia accused of loyalty to the Confederacy. In early 1862, Camp Chase served briefly as a prison for Confederate officers. But after a military prison for Confederate officers opened at Johnson's Island, Ohio, Camp Chase housed only non-commissioned officers, enlisted men, and political prisoners.

In February 1862, 800 prisoners of war (officers and enlisted men) arrived at Camp Chase. Included among the 800 Confederate soldiers were approximately 75 African Americans; about half of whom were slaves, the other half being servants to the confederate officers. Much to the horror and dismay of the citizens of Columbus, these men continued to serve their master's in the prison camp. An Ohio Legislative committee was formed and protests over the continued enslavement of these men were sent to Washington D.C. The African Americans were finally released in April and May of 1862; some then enlisted in the Union army.

According to an exchange agreement reached between North and South on July 22, 1862, Camp Chase was to operate as a way station for the immediate repatriation (return to country of birth or citizenship) of Confederate soldiers. After this agreement was mutually abandoned July 13, 1863, the facility swelled with new prisoners, and military inmates quickly outnumbered political prisoners. By the end of the war, Camp Chase held 26,000 of all 36,000 Confederate POWs retained in Ohio military prisons. Crowded and unhealthy living conditions at Camp Chase took a heavy toll among prisoners. Despite newly constructed barracks in 1864, which raised the prison capacity to 8,000 men, the facility was soon operating well over capacity. Rations for prisoners were reduced in retaliation against alleged mistreatment at Southern POW camps. Many prisoners suffered from malnutrition and died from smallpox, typhoid fever or pneumonia. Others, even those who received meager clothing provisions, suffered from severe exposure during the especially cold winter of 1865. In all, 2,229 soldiers died at Camp Chase by July 5, 1865, when it officially closed.

Johnson's Island

Morgan and 30 of his officers were thrown into the general prison population of felons in the penitentiary. They were also denied all visitors, and had to endure the humiliation of having their heads shaved and wearing convict clothes. These soldiers were occasionally punished by being put on a bread and water diet and placed in solitary confinement in “dank, pitch-black prison cells.” Said treatment of Morgan and fellow Confederates was contrary to the rules governing the confinement of prisoners-of-war. However, on the night of November 27, 1863, Morgan and six of his officers escaped. They had toiled for 20 days with two small knives to gouge out a tunnel to freedom. Morgan returned to his cavalry activities in Tennessee after his escape, but, at Greeneville, Tennessee, in 1864, he was killed by Union cavalry.

Aftermath

Ohio's farm values were second highest in the nation both before and after the Civil War. Ohio developed large industrial and mining industries supporting the railroad industry.

After the Civil War, Ohio became one of the major industrial states in the northern tier, connected to the Great Lakes area, from where it received raw commodities, and able to transport its products of manufacturing and farming to New York and the East Coast via railroads. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, its growing industries attracted thousands of new people for the expanding number of jobs, both blacks from the South, in the Great Migration, and immigrants from Europe. As a result, the cultures of its major cities and later suburbs became much more diverse with the traditions, cultures, foods and music of the new arrivals. Its industries were integral to US power during and after World War II. Economic restructuring in steel and other manufacturing cost the state many jobs in the later 20th century as heavy industry declined. New economic models have led to different kinds of development in the late 20th and 21st centuries.

Sources: National Park Service; Library of Congress; National Archives; Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies; US Census Bureau; The Union Army (1908); Fox, William F. Regimental Losses in the American Civil War (1889); Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion (1908); (R) Phisterer, Frederick. Statistical Record of the Armies of the United States (1883); Hardesty, Jesse. Killed and died of wounds in the Union army during the Civil War (1915): Wright-Eley Co.; Phisterer, Frederick. Statistical record of the armies of the United States (1883); Dee, Christine, ed. Ohio's war: the Civil War in documents (2006); Dornbusch, C. E., Regimental Publications & Personal Narratives of the Civil War., Vol 1 Northern States, Part V Indiana and Ohio. New York: The New York Public Library, 1962; Ohio Roster Commission. 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