EXPLANATORY.

"Issue three days rations" was an order so familiar to me during my service as Commissary Sergeant of the gallant 96th, that I involuntarily called for a Consolidated Morning Report and with "Requisition" was off to obey.

When at Camp Chase, on the 28th of July, 1865, the day previous to our discharge from service, I issued "Hard Tack and Coffee" for the last time to the command, I thought my duties ended. At the Ninth Annual Reunion, held at Cardington, Ohio, January 13th, 1874, a resolution was passed requesting me to complete what I had partially undertaken, viz: The publication of a History of the 96th O. V. I.

This was a call for supplies not mentioned in "Army Regulations," and yet something that the events of 1862 to 1865 seemed to demand. I had been out foraging and obtained of Sergt. I. B. ARNOLD notes and Company Records collected during service, and had secured the assistance of one whose experience in the army was large and varied, and whose keen appreciation of, and happy tact in writing up military incidents, rendered success certain in this, my last effort to obey orders." Out of friendship to myself, and hoping only to receive a "soldier's thank you" and kindly recollection of his efforts, he has labored for weeks, both day and night, to prepare for publication such facts and general history of the Regiment as I might furnish, and I take pleasure in introducing as the writer of this work my friend, Surgeon J. T. WOODS.

Except in few instances, special mention of officers or privates for gallant conduct has been omitted, because of all who partici

VI.

pated in the bloody scenes of Arkansas Post, Vicksburg, Grand Coteau, Sabine Cross Roads and other hard-fought battles, there were few whose conduct was not heroic. The name of each officer and private, with brief mention of service, is given in regular order.

Few regiments suffered as ours from exposure and disease, while our losses incident to battle were large. We may point with pride to the services of our Regiment and the high estimation in which it was held by Brigade and Division Commanders, as indicated by complimentary orders, some of which are published in this work.

To those who mourn the loss of husbands, fathers or brothers, this record of the events in which they participated, it is hoped, will be a source of gratification, while to the gallant warworn little band, whose services, by reason of the surrender of rebel forces in the Department of the Gulf and elsewhere, were no longer required, and who were discharged July 29th, 1865, this work presents a record of which each may justly be proud.

Trusting that our three years' service, to more fully establish Free Government, may not have been in vain, let us meet together from time to time and bring to our midst the old tattered flag-our flag-around which cluster memories of the "dark days which tried men's souls, and at the last "roll call over the river," may all happily answer-here.

Respectfully, &c.,

H. S. BUNKER,

PREFACE.

The object in preparing this unpretentious volume is to place a sketch of the History of the 96th Ohio Volunteers in permanent form, chiefly for the benefit of the survivors of that command and the friends of those who gave their lives to their country while serving under its banner.

As the events of the great War of the RebELLION become dimmed in the shadows of receding years, increased interest will attach to them and the pages in which they are recorded become valuable, with all their omissions and imperfections; for our posterity cannot fail to refer with just pride to those who offered their lives for the preservation of REPUBLICAN LIBERTY, as we do to those who, in the dark days of SEVENTY-SIX, won its blessings for the world, bequeathing all to our care and keeping.

The task of preparation was, on my part, reluctantly undertaken at the urgent solicitation of my friend, Mr. H. S. Bunker, who, as Commissary Sergeant, served in this command, and to whose zeal and energy his comrades are indebted for whatever they may find either pleasing, interesting or valuable in its pages, as he has not only spent much time and labor, in various ways, in relation to it, but assumed the responsibilities attendant upon its pub

lication.

The basis on which this history is written is a series of notes of events kept by Sergeant I. B. ARNOLD, of Co. G. Being a record made day by day of incidents as they transpired, they not only afford data that is accurate and reliable, but the view taken of occurrences by an observing private in the ranks. Many valuable details have been added from the notes and recollections

of Mr. BUNKER and Lieut.-Col. A. H. BROWN, both of whom served with the Regiment from the beginning to the close of its career. The sources of his information are such that the writer feels warranted in affirming his belief, that in all particulars that which is presented is fact deserving in justice to find a place in History.

The diary, notes and recollections referred to would, almost of necessity, give this sketch the narrative form, and suggest, as its plan, an effort to present in the order of their occurrence, such an account of their pleasures, privations and perils, that, as a whole, would make it a fair picture of their actual duties in the field, from the first bugle call to "fall in," to the last "taps" before returning home.

66

Its incompleteness is both acknowledged and regretted, and results entirely from the fact that it has not been possible to obtain accurate knowledge of a multitude of important events and incidents-but an earnest effort has been made to avoid, so far as possible, errors of omission as well as sins of commission." Following these data, it will be found, that in some particulars, the account herein given varies from that by others, and that certain descriptions and details of incidents have been entered into that have not heretofore been furnished to the public.

As to the manner of the recital, the writer has only to observe, that he has suffered not a little trepidation, being conscious that there must be in it a multiplicity of imperfections. He has, however, endeavored to be as painstaking as was the California parson, who observed solemnly that, "whether he prayed or played, he tried to do his level best."

J. T. W.

UNIV. OF

FIRST YEAR.

CHAPTER I.

FROM CAMP DELAWARE TO LEAVING COVINGTON, KY.

Eighteen hundred and sixty-two! How many yet live who remember well its thrilling incidents and scenes. The North as a people had just come to feel that all they held dear was endangered by the persistent wickedness of their "misguided Southern brethren," and to comprehend the duty devolving upon them. All along the lines from the Atlantic to the "far West," the few soldiers in the field sent up the cry for help-overpowered we perish-and grandly was the response made by prompt enlistment, and hurried movement to the front. News of disasters only hastened the work. Thrilled with the accounts of unexpected perils, it only required, at most, a recital of the startling facts and men vied with each other in their haste to be enrolled. There was quick sundering of other ties, and cleaving to the one great impulse of patriotism.

Those were times that equally tried the souls of those who went and those left behind. Hearts beat high with hope, inspired by duty and the pomp of war. The cheeks of others were flushed with just pride of their fathers, sons and brothers; but their hearts beat sadly, as through tears they saw them go-alas! to many never to return. All the wide country was dotted with camps of rendezvou, and everywhere the sublime, sad drama was the same. It is gratifying to call to mind how large was found to be the proportion of those who instantly sunk all political differences out of sight, and in common pledged for their country's safety, their honor, their strength and their lives, and of those who did not go how few there were who sought at home to aid the cause of treason, that their friends and neighbors were periling their all to crush.