Editor's note: This article was
originally published in The Charger in the Winter of 2002.
Cleveland and Cuyahoga County
contributed a large percentage of its man power to the American
Civil War. The federal census of 1860 showed Cleveland’s population
to be 43,838. The total Cuyahoga County population was approximately
50,000. The records on the walls of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’
Monument in Public Square, the official record of the county,
contain the names of 10,000 residents of Cleveland and Cuyahoga
County who fought in the Civil War.
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The Cleveland
Grays Armory, Cleveland, Ohio
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The Cleveland Grays, which has a
history back to 1838, provided some of first troops to answer the
call of the governor. The Gray's were on there way within sixty
hours of the governor's call. They became Company E of the First
Ohio Infantry.
It has already been stated that a
Cleveland battery fired the first shot for the Union. That shot was
fired by the First Ohio Light Artillery which went to the front on
only two days’ notice. It was commanded by Colonel, later General,
James Barnett. It was at Philippi, West Virginia, that the historic
first Union cannon was fired in battle. There was the 9th
Independent Battery, of which Edwin Cowles, the founder of the
Leader (old Cleveland newspaper), was sergeant and afterwards a
second lieutenant. The firing was done by the 19th Battery,
familiarly known as Shield’s Battery, and the 20th. Both of these
batteries owed most of their members to Cleveland.
Early in the Civil War area men
were mustered into the famous 7th Ohio Regiment. Cleveland and
Cuyahoga County furnished the 7th Ohio with eleven field and staff
officers and three complete companies. In three years 1800 men
served in the 7th. However, only 300 men remained following 3 year
enlistment expiration, to bring home the colors.
It is of the 7th regiment that a
war historian wrote, "All in all, considering the number of its
battles, its marches, its losses, its conduct in action, it may be
safely said that not a single regiment in the United States gained
more lasting honor or deserved better of its country than the
Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry.”
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7th Ohio
Monument, Woodland Cemetery,
Cleveland, Ohio
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The 8th Ohio kept up Cleveland's
reputation by showing exceptional courage at Gettysburg. The gallant
23rd Ohio, containing two future U. S. Presidents and 250 men from
the Cleveland area, helped defeat the rebels at the battle of Cedar
Creek after Sheridan famous ride from Winchester.
Fifteen black men also enlisted
from Cleveland. They were members of the 5th United States Colored
Infantry, which had the terrible loss of 302 killed and wounded out
of a total force of 559.
Even after the disaster of the
first battle of Bull Run, Cleveland raised a new regiment, the Ohio
41st. The command was given Captain Will Hazen. This regiment was
followed by the Ohio 24th, the 37th 58th, 103rd, 107th, and the 42nd
which included future President Garfield as a colonel. The 124th was
also from the Western Reserve many Clevelanders were with it as
officers and privates. Its work at Lookout Mountain as especially
noteworthy. The 128th regiment, which guarded confederate prisoners
at Johnson’s Island.
The 115th and the 169th regiments
which garrisoned Washington in 1864, were also made largely of
Cleveland men including the 177st. Cleveland also contributed
largely to the independent companies of sharpshooters which Governor
Tod recruited. The 2nd Cavalry, which was made up almost exclusively
from Cleveland and the Western Reserve, and was noted for the social
prominence of its members, had a most picturesque career. It fought
Choctaws in Indian Territory, Quantrell’s guerillas in Missouri, and
was a large factor in the chase and capture of John Hunt Morgan, the
raider. It followed him for twelve hundred miles through three
states, marching twenty-four hours a day.
In fact so pervasive was a strong
Civil War spirit in Cleveland that there was not a regiment mustered
in the state which did not contain men from the banks of the
Cuyahoga. |
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