Civil War Cavalry Units

National colors of the 10th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry. Text on flag reads: Text of AC 4a: 10th Ohio Cavalry.

During the American Civil War, the State of Ohio provided the United States government with three types of military units: artillery units, cavalry units, and infantry units. Ohio supplied the federal government with more than 260 regiments of men, not counting several companies that formed the basis of regiments in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Massachusetts. A total of 310,654 Ohioans served in the Union army for varying lengths of time. The federal government required each state to supply a set number of soldiers determined by the state's population. Ohio exceeded the government's call for men by 4,332 soldiers. This number does not reflect the 6,479 men who paid a monetary fine to the government to escape military duty. It also does not include the 5,092 African American soldiers who served in the United States Colored Troops or in units from other states, including the famous Fifty-Fourth and Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts Infantry Regiments. Ohio exceeded the federal government's requirements by more than fifteen thousand men.

Ohio men fought in every major battle of the war. Within forty-eight hours of President Abraham Lincoln's call for volunteers in April 1861, two Ohio infantry regiments already had departed for Washington, D.C. An Ohio brigade protected the Union army's retreat at the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861. Ohio regiments also helped secure Kentucky and West Virginia for the Union. They participated in the Battles of Fort Donelson, Gettysburg, Antietam, Fort Wagner, Shiloh, Chickamauga, and many others. Approximately 11,237 Ohio soldiers died from wounds received on the various battlefields, while another 13,354 men perished from diseases. Eighty-four of every one thousand Ohio men who served died in the war. Another forty-four for every one thousand deserted. This was one of the lowest desertion rates in the Union states.

Cavalry Units from Ohio:

Regiment	Term of Enlistment	Original Strength	Mustered Out Strength
1st Cavalry	three years	1,039	733
2nd Cavalry	three years	1,177	757
3rd Cavalry	three years	1,145	881
4th Cavalry	three years	823	746
5th Cavalry	three years	1,074	unknown
6th Cavalry	three years	778	852
7th Cavalry	three years	1,204	840
8th Cavalry	three years	1,096	886
9th Cavalry	three years	1,087	1,001
10th Cavalry	three years	1,084	881
11th Cavalry	three years	844	436
12th Cavalry	three years	1,248	729
13th Cavalry	three years	1,038	884

See Also

• Abraham Lincoln
• American Civil War
• State of Ohio
• Civil War Artillery Units
• Civil War Infantry Units
• African Americans
• Battle of Gettysburg
• Battle of Antietam
• Battle of Shiloh
• Battle of Chickamauga
• United States Colored Troops

References

1. Dee, Christine, ed. Ohio's War: The Civil War in Documents. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2007.  
2. Leeke, Richard. A Hundred Days to Richmond: Ohio's "Hundred Days" Men in the Civil War. Bloomington Indiana University Press, 1999.
3. Official Roster of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio in the War of Rebellion, 1861-1866. Akron, OH: The Werner Company, 1893.  
4. Reid, Whitelaw. Ohio in the War: Her Statesmen, Generals and Soldiers. Cincinnati, OH: Clarke, 1895.
5. Roseboom, Eugene H. The Civil War Era: 1850-1873. Columbus: Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, 1944.