Ohio's Bully Seventh : the pride of the Western Reserve

Abstract

Modern scholars have written a great many unit histories describing the formation, daily existence and military accomplishments of Civil War regiments. Enough that some might question the need for another. But that need will continue to exist, independent of the merits of the specific regiment under consideration for two important reasons. Regimental histories humanize the Civil War. They reduce the panorama and spectacle of this watershed event in American History to a focus that is more comfortable for the reader. The War is viewed from the perspective of its least common denominator, the individual foot soldier. The emphasis is on the performance of troops rather than the strategies of commanding generals. Epic battles are shown to be the combined result of multiple smaller contests.Smaller engagements, often overlooked in more comprehensive studies of the war, take on a greater significance as the reader realizes that they required the same courage and fighting mettle as their more famous counterparts. The examination of the daily demands that a soldier's life placed on the volunteers and how they coped with them allows a greater appreciation of the fortitude, persistence and resiliency of the men who fought this war. A second important reason to examine an individual Civil War regiment is that it expands the local history of the area from which the regiment was formed. Unit histories not only offer an assessment of the contribution made by the volunteers from a given area but also provide a glimpse at the civilian population of that area during the course of the war. This expansion of local history also provides an additional avenue that can be used to begin a more comprehensive study of the Civil War. The benefits of examining a Civil War regiment are increased if that particular unit made a greater contribution than most. Allowing this, the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry deserves the consideration of this study. Answering Lincoln's initial call for troops, the volunteers from the Western Reserve earned a reputation as one of the better regiments in the Union Army. Ordered into the field in western Virginia in June 1861, the Seventh endured the daily hardships of soldiering long before most eastern regiments were required to do so. In August, at Cross Lanes, the regiment suffered an initial batttlefield setback before its officers and men successfully made the transition from citizen to soldier. During the next two and one-half years, in both theaters of the War, the Seventh fought in over a dozen major battles. Involved in engagements against the armies of stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee when both were at the high point of their success, the men of the Seventh consistently proved themselves to be the fighting equals of the best troops from the Confederacy. In November 1863, the Seventh was terribly cut up in a battle at the ridge line in northern Georgia. Included among its casualties were the two officers who had been the dominant personalities in the regiment from the day it was formed. The severe loss marked a turning point in the attitudes of most surviving members of the Seventh. They would continue to fulfill their responsibilities as soldiers but they also began to look forward to the end of their term of service. The majority of the regiment declined to veteranize and on July 6, 1864, the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry was mustered out of the Union Army. It left behind a records that placed it among the elite of both Civil War Armies and a reputation that lingered in the hearts and minds of the people of the Western Reserve.