Ohio and the Civil War

Although most of the American Civil War was fought outside of Ohio's borders, the Buckeye State played a huge role in determining the outcome. Hundreds of thousands of Ohioans fought for the Union and many of the North's leading generals were from Ohio. Few would dispute that Ohio's contributions were vital in determining the Union victory.

The American Civil War did not officially begin until 1861, but tensions between the North and the South were reaching a crescendo by 1860, prompting several Southern states either to leave or to debate leaving the United States of America.

The division between North and South finally erupted into military conflict when Confederate troops opened fire on the Federal garrison at Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, on April 12, 1861.

Just as the nation was divided, Ohioans were split over this conflict. Most Ohioans supported the nation's reunification, but some, known as Peace Democrats and others who called themselves Copperheads, vehemently opposed the war. There were several reasons why these people did not support the Northern war effort.

• A sizable number of white Ohioans, especially those living along the Ohio River, had migrated to the state from slaveholding states. While opponents of the war could not legally own slaves in Ohio, many of them had family members residing in the South who did own African-American slaves.
• Some political opponents also feared that President Lincoln intended to free the slaves. Many of those who objected to slavery's end feared that African Americans would flood the North looking for jobs if they were given their freedom.
• Some war opponents felt that that secession was not worth bloodshed. These people accepted the Southern argument that states, which voluntarily joined the Union, should be free to leave the Union if they chose to do so.
• Others came to oppose the war when the federal government enacted a conscription act, forcing men to fight for the North.
• Finally, some Ohioans simply did not want to leave their families without support while they or their sons were fighting in the war.

Although much of southern Ohio's economy depended upon trade with the South (due in part to the Ohio River, which bordered the slave states of Virginia and Kentucky) most of the state was solidly against secession and in favor of a strong central government.

At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 Ohio raised 23 volunteer infantry regiments for three months' service, 10 more regiments than the state's quota.

The First Ohio Volunteer Infantry, including volunteers from Portsmouth, arrived in Washington, D.C. by train within four days of President Lincoln’s call to arms to protect the union against the insurgents.  

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.

Nearly 320,000 Ohioans served in the Union army, more than any other northern state except New York and Pennsylvania.

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 mustered 230 regiments of infantry and cavalry, as well as 26 light artillery batteries and 5 independent companies of sharpshooters.

Total casualties among these units numbered 35,475 men, more than 10% of all the Buckeyes in uniform during the war. There were 6,835 men killed in action, including 402 officers.

Ohio men fought in every major battle of the war. Ohioans contributed greatly to the Northern victory. A number of prominent generals, including Irvin McDowell, Don Carlos Buell, Philip Sheridan, George McClellan, William T. Sherman, and Ulysses S. Grant, all came from Ohio.

Training Camps

Dozens of small camps were established across the state to train and drill the new regiments. One of these camps is said to have been established in the Bear Creek area.

Two large military posts were created: Camp Chase in Columbus and Camp Dennison near Cincinnati for training purposes during the war.

Portsmouth Answers the Call

Some of the very first to answer Presidents Lincoln’s call on April 15, 1861 for 75,000 volunteers to defend the Union against the rebel threat were a well drilled and equipped company of young men called the Portsmouth Guards.

The young men from Portsmouth joined other young men from Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dayton, Lancaster, Mansfield and Zanesville to form the 1^st Ohio Volunteer Infantry (OVI).

On April 17, 1861 the young volunteers, now known as Company G of the 1^st OVI, boarded a train at Portsmouth and headed to Columbus to join the rest of the 1st OVI and then on to Washington, D.C. to defend the city against rebel forces.

The Soldiers' Aid Society and the Beginnings of Memorial Day

Many communities at the start of the war established private organizations called Soldiers’ Aid Societies that provided soldiers of the North with needed supplies, such as clothes and blankets, to carry on the war effort.

The first such organization is said to have been established in Cleveland on April 20, 1861.

Around the same time in Portsmouth Mrs. Amanda Pursell, a prominent and influential wholesale dry goods merchant, realizing the hardships that lay a head for the young men who had just departed from Portsmouth for the war called together their mothers and told them: "Your sons have gone to war and will soon need many things which the government is not prepared to furnish them. We must go to work and see what we can do."  

With these inspirational words Mrs. Pursell and the mothers formed the Soldiers’ Aid Society in Portsmouth, with Mrs. Pursell as their President.

Within just a few months of the founding of the organization the first casualties of the war returned to Portsmouth.

The Soldiers' Aid Society saw to it that the dead were honored with a funeral as the town had never witnessed.

On the 30^th of May 1862 the ladies of the Soldiers’ Aid Society led by Mrs. Pursell, bible in hand, and 30 mothers bearing flowers and other tokens of affection gathered at Greenlawn Cemetery in Portsmouth and conducted memorial services over the graves of the fallen love ones.

There after each May 30^th the group gathered to honor those who had given their lives in defense of the Union.

All during the war the ladies of the Soldiers’ Aid Society continued their work to send supplies to the troops and to assist with the sufferings and wants of the families of the absent soldiers and to honor the ever increasing number of war dead.

Following the war the Soldiers’ Aid Society changed its name to the Union Soldiers’ Relief Circle.

The group continued to work to aid the families and orphaned children of fallen soldiers and to help indigent veterans all the while continuing to hold their annual memorial services at the Soldiers’ Circle at Greenlawn Cemetery each May 30^th.

Soon other neighboring communities adopted the practice started by the Portsmouth mothers until the practice of honoring the war dead on the 30^th of May became a common practice.

On May 5, 1868 General John Logan, the National Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R), a fraternal organization founded after the war by veterans of the Union Army, in his General Order No. 11 proclaimed the first Memorial Day.

The order designated the day "for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion".

Later as a Senator from Illinois Logan lead the call to make Memorial Day a National Holiday.

Soldiers’ Monument at Tracy Park

In the years following the war the Union Soldiers’ Relief Circle raised funds to erect a monument to honor those who served and gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country in the Civil War.

On May 30, 1878 a dedication took place in Tracy Park with Ohio Governor Maynes, the ladies of the Soldiers’ Relief Circle and hundreds of Portsmouth’s most prominent citizens in attendance.

John Barnes

Barnes was born near Waverly, Ohio on May 17, 1830 and his father, William, had served as an adjutant in the War of 1812 and his grandfather, John, had served as a Lieutenant with the 7^th Virginia in the Revolutionary War.

Barnes had come to Portsmouth in 1858 and had worked as a clerk at a dry goods store on Front Street owned by William Elden.

When war broke out Barnes enlisted on Company G of the 1^st OVI on April 16, 1861.

He was killed at the battle of Vienna, Virginia on June 17, 1861 along with five of his comrades from Portsmouth including Eugene G. Burke, Thomas C. Finton, Joseph C. Smith, Philip Stroad and Daniel Sullivan.

He was described in writtings from the times as a noble-hearted young man of honorable ancestry and pure morals who led a sound and upright life.

The Battle of Vienna Blunder

Either by oversight or blunder by the commanding officers a train was blindly sent forward of the Union lines on the Orange & Alexandria Railroad without having the benefit of having the countryside scouted in advance as to the whereabouts of the enemy.

Near Vienna the train of flat cars loaded with soldiers of the 1^st OVI rounded a curve and was ambushed by rebel cannons and infantry.

Barnes was mortally wounded having his left elbow shot away and receiving internal injuries.

He was sent back on a flat car and died in one half hour after reaching camp becoming the first man from Scioto County to die in service to his country during the Civil War.

His life was needlessly sacrificed, as were those of the others killed due to the incompetency of their commanding officers that was typical of the Union Army early in the conflict.