42nd Ohio

huskerblitz

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Joined
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Location
Nebraska
42nd_Ohio_Volunteer_Infantry_at_Plaquemine_LA.jpg

Service

The 42nd Ohio Infantry was organized at Camp Chase in Columbus, Ohio September through November 1861 and mustered in for three years service on December 7, 1861 under the command of Colonel James Abram Garfield.

The regiment was attached to 18th Brigade, Army of the Ohio, to March 1862. 26th Brigade, 7th Division, Army of the Ohio, to October 1862. 4th Brigade, Cumberland Division, District of West Virginia, Department of the Ohio, to November 1862. 3rd Brigade, 9th Division, Right Wing, XIII Corps, Department of the Tennessee, to December 1862. 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division, Sherman's Yazoo Expedition, to January 1863. 3rd Brigade, 9th Division, XIII Corps, Army of the Tennessee, to February 1863. 2nd Brigade, 9th Division, XIII Corps, to July 1863. 4th Brigade, 1st Division, XIII Corps, Department of the Tennessee, to August 1863, and Department of the Gulf to September 1863. 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, XIII Corps, Department of the Gulf, to November 1863. Plaquemine, District of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Department of the Gulf, to March 1864. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, XIII Corps, Department of the Gulf, to June 1864. 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, XIX Corps, to December 1864.

Companies A, B, C, and D mustered out September 30, 1864; companies E and F mustered out November 25, 1864; companies G, H, I, and K mustered out December 2, 1864 (all at Camp Chase). Veterans and recruits were transferred to the 96th Ohio Infantry.

Detailed service

Moved to Catlettsburg, Ky., December 14, 1861; then to Louisa, Ky. Garfield's Campaign against Humphrey Marshall December 23, 1861 to January 30, 1862. Advance on Paintsville, Ky., December 31, 1861 to January 7, 1862. Jennies Creek January 7. Occupation of Paintsville January 8. Middle Creek, near Prestonburg, January 10. Occupation of Prestonburg January 11. Expedition to Pound Gap, Cumberland Mountains, March 14–17, Pound Gap March 16. Cumberland Gap Campaign March 28-June 18. Cumberland Mountain April 28. Occupation of Cumberland Gap June 18 to September 16. Tazewell July 26. Operations about Cumberland Gap August 2–6. Big Springs August 3. Tazewell August 6. Evacuation of Cumberland Gap and retreat to the Ohio River September 17-October 3. Expedition to Charleston October 21-November 10. Ordered to Memphis, Tenn., November 10, and duty there until December 20. Sherman's Yazoo Expedition December 20, 1862 to January 3, 1863. Chickasaw Bayou December 26–28. Chickasaw Bluff December 29. Expedition to Arkansas Post, Ark., January 3–10, 1863. Assault and capture of Fort Hindman, Arkansas Post, January 10–11. Moved to Young's Point, La., January 17. Duty there and at Milliken's Bend, La., until April 25. Operations from Milliken's Bend to New Carthage March 31-April 17. Movement on Bruinsburg, Mississippi and turning Grand Gulf April 25–30. Battle of Port Gibson May 1. Skirmish near Edwards Station May 15. Battle of Champion Hill May 16. Big Black River May 17. Siege of Vicksburg, Miss., May 18-July 4. Assaults on Vicksburg May 19 and 22. Advance on Jackson, Miss., July 5–10. Near Clinton July 8. Siege of Jackson July 10–17, Moved to New Orleans, La., August 13. Duty at Carrollton, Berwick, and Brashear City until October. Western Louisiana Campaign October 3-November 20. Duty at Plaquemine November 21, 1863 to March 24, 1864. Provost duty at Baton Rouge until May 1. Expedition to Clinton May 1–3. Comite River May 1. Moved to Simsport May 18, thence to Morganza and duty there until September 6. Expeditions up White River July 15 and September 6–15. Moved to Duvall's Bluff, Ark., September 15, and duty there until November.

Casualties

The regiment lost a total of 240 men during service; 1 officer and 58 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 3 officers and 178 enlisted men died of disease.

This thread is intended to serve as the location for general regimental history, photographs, stories, articles and any other relevant information about the542 Ohio in the Regimental Histories Forum. Please do not start new threads - just add your content about the brigade and its regiments under this existing thread so others can easily find it. Thank you so much for contributing information for this regiment.
 
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garfield.jpg

(Library of Congress)​
James A. Garfield, 20th President of the United States, was born in Orange Township, Cuyahoga County, Ohio on November 19, 1831 to Eliza (Ballou) and Abram Garfield. Abram died of lung congestion following a forest fire when James was 2 years old. He attended the Geauga Seminary for one year, taught some classes there, then advanced to the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (now Hiram College), working as a janitor to pay his tuition. He also taught classes at the Institute. He finished at the Eclectic in 1854 and went on to Williams College in Massachusetts receiving a Bachelor's degree two years later. He returned to Hiram as a full instructor, became Head of the faculty and later Principal. In November 1858, Garfield married Lucretia Rudolph, daughter of Zeb and Arabella Rudolph. The wedding was in Hiram Village at the Rudolph home.

He studied law in 1859 and, while still Principal at Hiram, was admitted to the Cleveland Bar. The voters of Summit and Portage Counties elected him to the Ohio State Senate shortly thereafter. He helped to recruit the 42nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment and was its colonel during the Civil War. He was later made Brigadier General for heroic service in Kentucky and West Virginia, and was ultimately transferred to a post as Chief of Staff for the Army of the Cumberland. In 1863 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio, where he served for 17 years. At this time, he formally left his position as Principal of the Eclectic Institute, but he remained a member of the board of trustees until his death.

Garfield was drafted as the Republican nominee for President of the United States at the Republican National Convention of 1880 and elected President that same year. He had served as President for only four months when a disgruntled office-seeker named Charles Guiteau shot him in the back in Washington, D.C. on July 2, 1881. The ultimate cause of his death was a combination of aneurysm and a form of blood poisoning caused by the presence in his body of the bullet, which doctors were unable to remove. Garfield lingered between life and death for two and a half months, finally dying on September 19, 1881, at the age of 49 years.
http://www.clevelandmemory.org/garfield/
 
http://www.ohiocivilwar.com/cw42.html

42nd Ohio Infantry
compiled by Larry Stevens
References for this Unit
  • see also Bibliography of State-Wide References
  • Ohio In The War-Volume II. Whitelaw Reid. Moore, Wilstach & Baldwin. Cincinnati 1868
  • Memories of Company F, 42nd O.V.I. by Joseph Bowker. 70 pgs. Hard and softcover versions. Glenn & Heide Publishers. Columbus. Ohio. 1864. Call# E525.5 42d M Vault. Western Reserve Historical Society Archives Library. Cleveland. Ohio
  • Company A, 42nd Ohio Volunteers Morning Report Book. Recorded by Charles E. Henry. Henry Family Papers. Hiram College Archives. Hiram. Ohio
  • The Forty-Second Ohio Infantry: A History of the Organization and Services of that Regiment in the War of the Rebellion; with Biographical Sketches of its Field Officers and a Full Roster of the Regiment. Compiled and Written for the Veterans' Association of the Forty-Second Ohio, By Private of Company "A", F.H. Mason. Frank H. Mason. 306 pgs. Cobb, Andrews and Co. Publishers. Cleveland. 1876
  • The Life and Public Services of James A. Garfield, Twentieth President of the United States, a Biographical Sketch. by Captain F.H. Mason. Late of the Forty-second Ohio Regiment USA. With a preface by Bret Harte. Chapter "General Garfield as a Soldier" pgs 46-72. Trubner & Co. London. v1. 1881. Library of Congress. Washington DC
  • National Tribune. A Soldier's Paper Edited by the Boys Themselves. John W. Fry. May 29, 1884
  • National Tribune. Chickasaw Bluffs. John W. Fry and Frank H. Mason. August 7, 1884
  • National Tribune. Vicksburg Campaign . Frank H. Mason. Edited and Revised by John W. Fry. September 4, 1884, September 25, October 2, October 9, 1884
  • National Tribune. On the Teche. Soldiering Amid the Bayous of Louisiana. John W. Fry and Frank H. Mason. January 8, 1885
  • National Tribune. Try to the Front. He Replies Pleasantly to His Comrades Who have Criticized Him. John W. Fry. March 26, 1885. Chickasaw Bayou
  • National Tribune. Capture of Mobile. John W. Fry. October 29, 1885
  • My Campaign in East Kentucky. James Abraham Garfield. pgs. 525-535. North American Review. CXLIII. 1886
  • National Tribune. Cumberland Gap. John W. Fry 42nd O.V.I. December 23, 1886, January 6, 1887, January 13, 1887
  • Capture of Fort Hindman, Arkansas Post. A Desperate Artillery Duel. A Brilliant Success for the Federal Army. January 11, 1863. John W. Fry. Company H, 42d Ohio. pgs. 150-152. In: Camp and Field. Sketches of Army Life. Written by those who followed the Flag. '61-'65. Compiled by W.F. Hinman, Author of "Corporal Si Klegg and His Pard," etc. 704 pgs. The N.G. Hamilton Publishing Co. Cleveland, O. 1892. Thanks to L.M. Strayer for this reference
  • National Tribune. Battle in the Bayous. DeCourcy's Brigade at the Great Chickasaw Bluffs Conflict. William H. Monroe. October 5, 1899, October 12, October 19, October 26, 1899
  • National Tribune. Besieging a Stronghold. Capture of New Carthage and Battle at Thompson's Hill. W.E. Jones. February 8, February 15, February 22, 1900
  • National Tribune. Garfield as a Soldier. Charles E. Henry. August 8, 1901
  • National Tribune. The Red River Expedition. Miscarriage of a Gigantic Raid to Furnish English Manufacturers with Cotton. John W. Fry. August 6, 1903
  • National Tribune. Twas Another Drover of Cattle. John A. McGregor. May 12, 1904
  • National Tribune. Chickasaw Bayou. John A. McGregor. July 21, 1904
  • National Tribune. Through Hunger and Hard Times. Recollections of the Retreat from Cumberland Gap to the Ohio River Under Gen. Morgan. Alexander C. Ray. August 3, 1905
  • Report of the Reunion of the 42nd Regiment O.V.I. Held at Epworth Park, Bethesda, Ohio, August 28-29, 1906. Compliments of E.T. Petty. Barnesville. Ohio. 54 pgs. NP. 1907
  • A Collection of Original Poems Embracing Sacred, Pathetic, Sentimental, Patriotic, Miscellaneous and Humorous Poems. William Henry Clay Dodson. 206 pgs. Gem Print Co. 74 East Main Street. Springfield. Ohio. 1908. Call# MAIN Stacks PS3507.O445 A17 1908. Ohio State University. Columbus. Ohio
  • National Tribune. The Fight at Paducah J.M. Beckley 42nd O.V.I. February 24, 1910
  • Campaigns 42nd O.V.I. Historical Sketches of the Campaigns of the 42nd Regiment O.V.I. From Vicksburg to the Close of the War. 55 pgs. Vol. II. NP. 1912. Contents: From Chickasaw Bluffs to Perkins' Plantation by Joel Seymour - From Perkins' Plantation to Champion Hill by H.P. Fossett - The Battle of Champion's Hill by J.S. Ross - Battle of Black River Bridge by J.S. Ross - From the Battle of Black River Bridge to the Charge of May 22nd by J.S. Ross - From the "Charge" May 22nd, to End of July Campaign Against Johnston, at Jackson, Miss. by O.D. Cotton - From July 26th, 1863, to October 1864. by G.W. Foote. Call# PA Box 726 35. Ohio Historical Society. Columbus. Ohio
  • The Cumberland Gap Campaign. Edward T. Petty. National Tribune Scrapbook I. pp. 119-21. 2 photocopied pages. E655N27nol. USAMHI. Carlisle Barracks. PA.
  • National Tribune. Col. Garfield's Expedition to Pound Gap. John T. Gathright. October 30, 1924
  • Early Life and Civil War Reminiscences of Captain Joseph Rudolph. Joseph Rudolph. 36 pgs. Hiram Historical Society. Hiram College. Hiram. Ohio. 1941. IHi
  • Captain Henry of Geauga, a Family Chronicle. by Frederick A. Henry. Concerns Charles Eugene Henry, 1835-1906. A member of the 42nd OVI. 735 pgs. The Gates Press. Cleveland. Ohio. 1942. Call# B H397h. Ohio Historical Society. Columbus. Ohio
  • Garfield-Hinsdale Letters. Correspondence between James Abram Garfield and Burke Aaron Hinsdale. Edited by Mary L. Hinsdale. 556 pgs. University of Michigan Press. Ann Arbor. 1949. Call# B G18. Ohio Historical Society. Columbus. Ohio
  • Under the Flag of the Nation, Diaries and Letters of a Yankee Volunteer. Owen Johnston Hopkins. Edited by Otto F. Bond. 308 pgs. Ohio State University Press. Columbus. Ohio. For the Ohio Historical Society. Columbus. Ohio. 1961
  • Graphic Works by Owen Johnston Hopkins, 1864-1886. Owen Johnston Hopkins. 42nd OVI. 5 Photographs of sketches and paintings by Hopkins. Includes "The Corporal's Guard" and "Long May She Flutter." Call# SC 506. Ohio Historical Society. Columbus. Ohio
  • Garfield's Kentucky Campaign of 1861-1863. by Allan Peskin. pgs 3-24. Ohio History. Vol. 72. No. 1. January. 1963
  • Garfield's Kentucky Campaign of 1861-1863. Part II. by Allan Peskin. pgs 129-139. Ohio History. Vol. 72. No. 2. April. 1963
  • The Wild Life of the Army: Civil War Letters of James A. Garfield. Edited by Frederick D. Williams. Michigan State University Press. 1964. President Garfield was the first Colonel of the 42nd Ohio.
  • Down the Rivers: Civil War Diary of Thomas Benton White. 42nd O.V.I.Thomas B. White. Co. H. 42nd OVI. Edited by Charles G. Williams. The Register. LXVII. pgs. 134-174. Kentucky Historical Society. Frankfort. 1969
  • A Letter from Vicksburg June 1863: Sergeant Thomas Benton White of the Forty-Second Ohio Infantry Union Army. Thomas Benton White. Edited by Charles G. Williams. Journal of Mississippi History 38. pp. 221-223. May 1976
  • My Dear Carrie: The Civil War Letters of George K. Pardee and Family. George K. Pardee 42nd O.V.I. Edited by Robert H. Jones with Caroline Pardee. Summit County Historical Society. Akron, Ohio 1994. Located at University of Akron
  • Crete and James: Personal Letters of Lucretia and James Garfield. Edited by John Shaw. 397 pgs. Michigan State University Press. 1994. Call# 973.84 G18c, 1994. Ohio Historical Society. Columbus. Ohio
  • Autobiography of Service in Co. A., 42nd Regiment in the War of the Rebellion. William H. Monroe. Co A. 42nd OVI. W.H.H. Monroe Papers. Hiram College Archives. Hiram. Ohio
  • William F. Jones Papers. William F. Jones. 1823-?? Papers 1819-1928. War time letters and post war accounts of battles from a member of the 42nd O.V.I. Call # C831. 10 Folders. Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia. University of Missouri / State Historical Society of Missouri. 23 Ellis Library. University of Missouri. Columbia. Missouri. 65201.
  • Unit Bibliography. U.S. Army Military History Institute. Carlisle Barracks. PA. 1995
  • 42nd OVI Monument. Vicksburg National Military Park. 3201 Clay Street. Vicksburg. MS. 39180. 1998
  • Poems by William H.C. Dodson. William Henry Clay Dodson. Fifer Co. I. 42nd OVI. Placed on the web by Dave Hodge. 1998
 
A regimental history was written on the 42nd Ohio by one of its members, Frank H. Mason. Mason also wrote a number of articles for the National Tribune about the service of the 42nd.

The Forty-second Ohio infantry: a history of the organization and services of that regiment in the war of the rebellion; with biographical sketches of its field officers and a full roster of the regiment

 
It appears that most of their combat was in the Vicksburg campaign. They spent a good bit of time in Louisiana but missed the major engagements there.
 
It appears that most of their combat was in the Vicksburg campaign. They spent a good bit of time in Louisiana but missed the major engagements there.
They were. They were part of DeCourcy's brigade under Morgan during the Cumberland Gap and Vicksburg campaigns. I find a lot of references to the 22nd Kentucky from men of the 42nd OVI.
 
Information Sheet

R Mead, Cyrus A., -1862.

166 Letter, 1861.

One folder, photocopies.

This collection is available at The State Historical Society of Missouri. If you would like more information, please contact us at [email protected].

This is a Civil War letter from Cyrus A. Mead, 42nd Ohio Infantry, Camp Chase, Ohio, to his
sister in Eaton, Ohio. Mead noted sickness in the regiment and remarked on the regimental officers, including Col. James A. Garfield, who later was President of the United States.

Cyrus A. Mead enlisted in Co. A, 42nd Ohio Infantry, in late summer of 1861, probably in his
hometown of Freedom, Ohio. Mead had been a student at the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute at Hiram, Ohio, before the war, and he joined many other graduates of the school in that regiment. Its popularity undoubtedly had to do with its commander, Col. James A. Garfield, former Principal of the Eclectic and Ohio state senator. Along with the rest of the 42nd and thousands of other soldiers from Ohio, Mead was trained at the large camp of instruction at Camp Chase, near Columbus, Ohio.

Mead’s letter to his sister was written after his return to camp following a furlough and visit
home. He remarked that, upon his return, his army comrades seemed “more reckless, less moral and refined” than they had been previously. He also noted the deplorable health of the regiment, which counted almost ten percent of its number on the sick list. Measles had already killed two members of Co. A, almost two months before the 42nd sustained a casualty due to enemy action.

Col. Garfield was also alarmed at the increasing spread of disease in his regiment. Garfield’s
Civil War letters, published as The Wild Life of the Army, contained repeated references to sickness in camp, and, on 10 March 1862, he wrote his wife that Cyrus Mead and Elam Chapman, another former student at the Eclectic, had visited him. Both were ill, and they tearfully pleaded for sick leaves to return home. Garfield told both of them of his own bouts with sickness, “talked to them till they felt brave,” and sent them to be treated by the medical officer. His moral support was only a temporary palliative, for Garfield wrote on 30 March 1862 that Mead and Chapman had both died, probably of typhoid fever.

r163 24 February 1983 James E. Price Loaned for photocopying

Index Cards
Camp Chase (Ohio)
Garfield, James A. (James Abram), 1831-1881
Mead, Cyrus A., -1862
Military bases—Ohio—Camp Chase
Ohio—History—Civil War, 1861-1862
United States. Army. Ohio Infantry Regiment, 42nd (1861-1864)
 
February 25, 1862
Jacob Heaton, Captain and Commissary of Subsistence, U.S. Army, Pikeville, Camp Brownlow, Kentucky. To Governor David Tod. Letter stating that his object in writing was to apprise Tod of a clerical blunder made in the Adjutant General's office which, although a small matter, in fact might work serious injury to the harmony and efficiency of the 42nd Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and that this blunder involved the order of rank of Captains; noting what the proper order of classification of the 42nd Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry should be based on the dates of the union of the companies with the regiment and the election of the Captains; stating that if the manifestly just order of classification was not instituted, it would greatly embarrass Colonel J[ames] A. Garfield and materially damage the efficiency of his regiment; requesting that Tod see to it in person that the Adjutant General write an explanatory note disclaiming his intention to break up the harmony of not only the 42nd Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, but of the 18th Brigade now commanded by Garfield; and stating that he had confidence the Adjutant General would do so because the charges made were neither according to law or the facts, that they had a terrific flood in the area which swept away everything before it, that the water rose 60 feet in 20 hours, that a large number of commissary stores were damaged and swept away, and that he was relying on Tod's timely attention to the order of classification of the 42nd Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which would avert what might become a serious calamity.
3 pp. [Series 147-27: 152]

February 26, 1862
T[ully] C. Bushnell, Camp Brownlow. To Adjutant General C.P. Buckingham. Letter stating that a question of seniority had arisen in the 42nd Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry which was likely to create dissatisfaction and impair the usefulness of the regiment unless satisfactorily settled by Buckingham, that it was claimed by some that the time when a full company was mustered into service fixed the seniority of the commandant of that company, that others claimed the date of the order to raise a company fixed the date of commission provided the company was finally raised and chose the person who received the order to raise the company as Captain, that others claimed it was the date when the company held their election for officers, that it appeared from the rank roll as published and by examination of dates of commissions that his commission was the oldest, that it was claimed by Captain F[rederick] A. Williams, who stood Number 6 on the rank roll, that he was senior Captain inasmuch as his company was mustered into service first and took the right of the regiment, that five other Captains who received orders to raise companies before Williams did and whose commissions were of older date than his claimed that the fact of his company being brought into camp first gave him no right to claim seniority, that Colonel [James A.] Garfield had acted upon the supposition that the fact of Williams bringing his company into camp first made him senior Captain and doubtless supposed his commission was the oldest until recently, that whether Buckingham dated his commission from the date of his order to raise a company or whether Buckingham dated it from the time of the organization of his company, he outranked Williams, that his company was organized on September 15, 1861, that Williams' company was organized on September 20, 1861, but was brought to Camp Chase three days before his, that he drew pay as Captain several days longer than Williams did, that in his opinion, this fact was conclusive so far as the question of the seniority of Williams and himself was concerned, that an early statement from Buckingham on the principles governing dating commissions would doubtless restore harmony, that it was claimed an error had been committed somewhere in dating these commissions, and that when the rule was understood and impartially applied, all would be harmony again.
2 pp. [Series 147-27: 237]
http://ohsweb.ohiohistory.org/onlinedoc/civilwar/sa0147/new/27_06.php
 
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