Redemption: The 71st Ohio Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War

Martin Stewart’s presentation centered on the experiences of the 71st Ohio from its inception in February, 1862 in Camp Tod at the “original Miami County Fairgrounds” to its final service in San Antonio, Texas in November, 1865. The talk was based off the speaker’s book, Redemption: the 71st Ohio Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War and also included a slide show. The history of the 71st Ohio mirrored many wartime units in that they experienced a substantial amount of mundane duty punctuated by a limited amount of sheer terror combat.

Martin Stewart The regiment (about 800 men led by Colonel Rodney Mason and Lt. Col. Barton Kyle) was composed of recruits from Miami, Mercer, Auglaize, Montgomery, Hamilton and Clark Counties. According to Mr. Stewart, a native of Miami Co. and descendant of four Union soldiers, the 71st Ohio embarked for Cincinnati by train three days after their flag presentation at Camp Tod on February 15. From Cincinnati, the regiment embarked to Paducah, Kentucky in two steamboats in three days. “Some didn’t get weapons until they arrived at Paducah,” he said. The unit eventually arrived at Shiloh (Pittsburg Landing) Tennessee and camped near Hamburg-Purdy Road near Lick Creek, having become part of General David Stuart’s Second Brigade, Gen. William T. Sherman’s Fifth Division of the Army of the Tennessee.

The 71st would quickly be initiated into the “sheer terror” aspect of what would be called the Battle of Shiloh (April 6-7, 1862). Situated on the Union left flank, it and the rest of the Second Brigade, along with many other units along the entire front line, was hit hard by Gen. Albert S. Johnston’s Confederate Army’s early morning surprise attack. The Buckeyes were forced back three times, with Col. Mason unaccounted for in the confusion in rough, wooded country and Lt. Col. Kyle killed at the third position. Mr. Stewart described “men in clusters of 10 to 15 were falling back” in the woods. By the end of that day, General U. S. Grant’s army backed up towards Pittsburg Landing, the 71st would lose two men to battle deaths, along with 15 men missing.

Where the “Redemption” part of the book’s title comes to play here at Shiloh, is that the 71st Ohio, according to the speaker, was accused of fleeing “from the fight” based on “second or third-hand reports” by “northern newspapers. They could not shake off this stigma until they somehow redeem themselves in battle. The “boredom” part for the 71st would involve subsequent guard duty at Ft. Donelson and Clarksville, Tennessee for several months in 1862 until the fateful day of August 18.

Stationed at Clarksville,” an important area of transport,” the 71st, as part of a 2500-man garrison, was attacked by Confederate Gen. Adam, “Stovepipe” Johnson’s cavalry, a much smaller force. Col. Mason and 300 of the 71st surrendered and were sent to Camp Chase to be exchanged. Mr. Stewart said Col. Mason was cashiered out of the service and that the Camp Chase contingent “returned to Tennessee from Camp Chase, not with welcome arms.” Uneventful expeditions and garrison duty would mark the 71st Ohio’s Civil War journey until ordered to report to Sherman’s Army of the Tennessee’s Fourth Corps in August, 1864, marching “to Lovejoy Station,” seeing action there.

The 71st would be part of the race to Nashville in Gen. John Schofield’s army, “guarding wagons on the other side of the Harpeth River” at the Battle of Franklin, Tenn. It was at Nashville where the 71st would finally find redemption in Dec. 15-16, 1864. The “Hard Luck Regiment,” as part of Union Gen. George Thomas’s assault on Confederate Gen. John B. Hood’s lines Dec. 15, charged up Montgomery Hill where it lost 49 in killed and wounded and would permanently lose 19 more the next day in the attack on Overton Hill and “numerous wounded,” Mr. Stewart added. As part of the successful breakthrough of Hood’s line, the 71st would experience its “best day for the redemption of the regiment,” he said.

After their two days of glory at Nashville, they would go back to uneventful duty after “winter quarters at Huntsville, Alabama”, protecting railroads in east Tennessee until the end of the war in April, 1865. As part of the Fourth Corps, they would venture forth to Indianola, Texas under Union Gen. Phil Sheridan, finally by Nov. 30, 1865 being “mustered out.” The 71st, having experienced moments of “sheer terror” and much “boredom” in their four years together, would go home redeemed, wiping off the stains of Shiloh and Clarksville.

Mr. Stewart is a direct descendant of four Union soldiers. He is the author of the recently published book Redemption: The 71st Ohio Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War (2010), the first printing of which has nearly sold out. Martin’s presentation provided more information from his research on the history of the 71st OVI and the events that brought this regiment from a demeanor of shame to one of prestige.

More information is available on the book here.

Return to Top