From the Seventh to the Fifth
The veterans and the recruits go separate ways - a truly bittersweet day!
The following was taken from Lawrence Wilson's Itinerary of The Seventh Regiment,
Ohio Volunteer Infantry. From June 11th to October 31st, 1864, the recruits
and veterans from the Seventh existed as a detachment of the Fifth O. V.
I. On October 31st the men were merged into Companies B & G of the Fifth Regiment (see table below for details).
"The recruits who enlisted in August, 1862, with the understanding that they
were to be assigned to the Seventh to serve for the unexpired term of the
regiment, and assured that they would be permitted to return home when the
original members did, expected to be allowed to do so. Imagine their great
disappointment, however, when informed that they were, under the terms of
their muster, to be held another year, and that the original members were
going home without them. Sergeant Major Hubbard states that the order to
relieve the Seventh reached Colonel McClelland about 9 A. M., June 11th,
1864, with instructions that all recruits and veterans were to report to
the Fifth Ohio. The Colonel, with tears in his eyes, told the Sergeant Major
that he must rely on him to go down the line and make the announcement. This
was almost if not quite as difficult a task for Sergeant Hubbard as for the
Colonel, but he obeyed orders. At first there was a great shout, and caps
went high in the air until the information concerning the recruits became
known, when sadness and sorrow reigned supreme. However, the entire regiment fell in two lines facing each other, one consisting of the original members,
the other of the recruits and veterans."
"The Colonel commanded, "Attention! Present arms! Shoulder arms! Original
members, right face; forward, march!" and away they went, amid sobs and tears,
the like of which is seldom heard or witnessed. Sergeant Hubbard says if
tears ever fell from mortal eyes they did then."
"These Seventh Ohio recruits and veterans formed a detachment which was attached
to the Fifth Ohio Infantry, and after passing through the rest of the Atlanta
Campaign, fighting in the great battles at Pine Knob, Kennesaw Mountain,
and Peach Tree Creek, as well as in many minor engagements where some of
them were killed and wounded, those remaining were, on the 31st of October,
1864, regularly merged into that regiment, and after marching with Sherman
from Atlanta to the sea, and up through the Carolinas to Washington, D. C.,
they there participated in May, 1865, in that Grand Review of the Armies
of Grant and Sherman, the finest military pageant ever seen in this country.
Here, at last, seemed to be some compensation for all the disappointment
that had the year before, been theirs, and when the original members of the
regiment really envied them because all this additional service and honor
had so worthily come to them. Some effort has been made to obtain data concerning
the deaths, wounds and promotions among these men, after June 11th, 1864,
but with only partial success however, as indicated in our roster."
On October 31st, the men detached to the 5th Ohio were merged into Companies
B and G as follows:
Companies of the 7th Regiment, and Number of Men
Transferred From Each:
|
A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
F |
G |
H |
I |
K |
Total |
5th Ohio |
23 |
8 |
21 |
29 |
5 |
33 |
15 |
22 |
5 |
16 |
177 |
This Page Last Revised: 06/07/99
Created and Maintained by Larry Hardman, © 1999, All Rights
Reserved;
For Inquiries or Information Contact:
lhardman@onecom.com |
