Under the call for three hundred thousand men, the regiment was reorganized for the three year's service, recruited to the maximum, and muster in June 18, 1861, by Captain Walker, United States Army, with an aggregate of one thousand and sixteen.

Immediately after the muster-in and equipment, the regiment was ordered to Western Virginia. Leaving Camp Dennison on the 30th of June, 1861, it traveled by rail to Grafton, West Virginia, where it arrived on the 2d of July, and reported for duty to Brigadier-General Morris, then in command of that district. On July 4th it marched to Philippi, and thence, on July 6th, to Laurel Hill, then fortified and held by the Rebels under General Garnet.

The regiment took part in the operations before that place, went into camp there, and remained till August, when it was ordered to Elkwater, and went into camp at the foot of Cheat Mountain. Colonel Bailey was left in command of the post at Beverly, and Lieutenant-Colonel Anderson took command of the regiment.

Here it remained, making several reconnoissances to the front, among the defiles of the mountains, holding the fortifications with the rest of the division then under the command of Brigadier-General J. J. Reynolds, against the advance of General Lee, an advance picket post from the Sixth, consisting of Captain Bense, Lieutenants Scheiffer and Gilman, with forty men from company I, were cut off from the main army and taken prisoners. They were exchanged in the fall of 1862, and joined the regiment near Nashville, Tennessee.

Upon the 19th of November, 1861, the camp at Elkwater was broken up; and leaving the Second Virginia Infantry in the works, the regiment marched through Beverly, Buckhannon, and Clarksburg, to Parkersburg, and thence moved by steamer to Louisville, where it joined the Army of the Ohio, then concentrating at that point under General Buell.

In the organization of the Army of the Ohio, the Sixth was placed in the Fifteenth Brigade, Colonel M. S. Hascall, Seventeenth Indiana Volunteers, commanding, and in the Fourth Division, Brigadier-General William Nelson commanding.

The division marched to Camp Wickliffe, some sixty miles south of Louisville, and went into a camp of instruction for the winter, where it remained, drilling daily, until February 14, 1862, when the camp was broken up, and the division marched to West Point and there embarked on steamers, and sailed down the Ohio River, with the intention of re-enforcing General Grant, who was at that time besieging Fort Donelson. When the fleet reached Evansville the news of (pg 51) the surrender of Fort Donelson was received; and, after cruising up and down the Ohio for several days, the fleet proceeded to Smithland, and then up the Cumberland River to Nashville.

On the 25th of February, 1862, first of all the Army of the Ohio, the Fourth Division reached Nashville; the remainder of the army, marching across the country from Louisville, arrived later. The Sixth Ohio was the first of the division to march through the town; and their regimental flag was the first National flag hoisted over the State house in that city. The Fourth Division went into camp on the Murfreesboro' pike; and while here, the Sixth was assigned to the Tenth Brigade, Colonel Ammen, Twenty-Fourth Ohio Volunteers, commanding. On the 17th of March the Army of the Ohio moved southward from Nashville, the Fourth Division taking the advance. Crossing Duck River at Columbia, Tennessee, and going into camp at Savannah, Tennessee, April 5, 1862. The next morning the battle of Pittsburg Landing opened, and the division marched across the country Sunday afternoon to the field. The Tenth Brigade, composed of the Ninety-Fourth Ohio, Thirty-Sixth Indiana, and Sixth Ohio, was the advance; and these were the first troops of Buell's army that crossed the river at Pittsburg Landing. The crossing was effected under fire, and the two regiments first mentioned, with the right wing of the Sixth, were thrown into line just in time to repel the last charge the Rebels made upon the National left that day. The next morning the division advanced at daylight, and was soon actively engaged with the enemy. The Sixth Was held in reserve, supporting Captain Terrill's Battery of the Fifth United States Artillery, and, except the companies on the skirmish line, was not actively engaged with the enemy, although under an heavy artillery fire during the entire engagement. The army camped upon the field of battle till Mary 24th, when the advance against Corinth commenced. Colonel Bosley joined the regiment from sick-leave while in camp on the battle-ground, but shortly returned to Cincinnati on renewed sick-leave.

The Sixth bore its part in all the operations before Corinth, and in the subsequent pursuit of the Rebels for sixty miles south of that place, when the Fourth Division returned, marching through Iuka, Mississippi; Tuscumbia, and Florence, Alabama, to Athens, Alabama, where they went into camp till July 17, 1862, when the entire division was ordered to Murfreesboro', Tennessee. Remaining at this point but a week, they were ordered to McMinnville, Tennessee, where they went into camp. While at McMinnville the Sixth was detailed as provost guards, and was quartered in the town. While at McMinnville the Sixth was detailed as provost guards, and quartered in the town. General Nelson being relieved from command of the division, General Ammen succeeded him, and Colonel Grose, of the Thirty-Sixth Indiana, took command of the brigade.

Upon the 17th of August the movement of the Army of the Ohio, from its advanced position in Tennessee to Louisville commenced, and the Sixth marched with its division, via Nashville, Gallatin, Bowling Green, and West Point, to Louisville. The army reached the latter place on the 26th of September, 1862; and in the reorganization of the Army of the Ohio the Sixth was placed in the Third Brigade, Colonel Grose commanding; Second Division, Brigadier-General W. S. Smith commanding; of the Fourteenth Army Corps, Major T. S. Crittenden commanding. The Sixth, in its place in the brigade and division, marched across the State of Kentucky, in pursuit of Bragg, to within thirty-five miles of Cumberland Gap. It went into camp near Nashville, November 23d, and while here, General Smith was relieved from command, and Brigadier-General J. W. Palmer succeeded him.

The regiment marched with its brigade in the advance upon Murfreesboro', which commenced December 26, 1862, taking its share of all skirmish and picket duty. On Wednesday, December 31st the division was heavily engaged; the regiment losing, out of three hundred and eighty-three officers and men, one hundred and fifty-two killed, wounded, and prisoners. Only six of these were prisoners, taken when the brigade was driven back from its first line. On Friday the regiment was again actively engaged, losing, however but seven killed and wounded. The regiment went into camp in front of Murfreesboro', and afterward moved out on the McMinnville road to Cripple Creek, eight miles from town. While in camp at these places, several reconnoissances were made to the front, as far as to Woodbury and Shelbyville. In the move- (pg 52) ment against Tullahoma, which commenced June 24, 1863, the regiment had hard marching, but no fighting; and after the evacuation of that point and the retreat of the Rebels to Chattanooga, it went into camp at Manchester on July 7th, and remained till August 16th, when the campaign against Chattanooga commenced.

The Sixth was assigned, temporarily, during this advance, to the Second Brigade, under Brigadier-General Hazen, and with this brigade crossed the two ranges of the Cumberland Mountains into East Tennessee; then was ordered back, and joined the Third Brigade again at the crossing of the Tennessee, below Chattanooga. The brigade marched up the south bank of the river, over Lookout Mountains, past the town of Chattanooga, and out to Rossville and Gordon's Mills. In the battle of Chickamauga, on the 19th and 20th of September, the regiment was actively engaged, losing, out of three hundred and eighty-four officers and men, one hundred and twenty-five killed, wounded, and missing. Colonel Anderson was wounded on the 19th, and the regiment was under the command of Major Erwin until October, when Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher joined the regiment from recruiting service, and remained in command till January 18, 1864.

After the army fell back to Chattanooga, the Twentieth and Twenty-First Corps were consolidated into the Fourth Corps, under Major-General Gordon Granger, and the regiment became a part of the Second Brigade, Brigadier-General Hazen's; Third Division, Brigadier-General T. J. Wood's, of that Corps. The shutting up of the army in Chattanooga, after the battle of Chickamauga, and the scarcity of rations, consequent upon the partial severance of the lines of communication, was a severe test of the endurance of both officers and men. The affair of October 25th, known as the battle of Brown's Ferry, was fought by picked men from the brigades of Generals Hazen and Turchin, of whom the Sixth furnished its due proportion. This battle relieved the pressure as to supplies, and enabled the army to hold Chattanooga. When active operations commenced in front of Chattanooga, the Fourth Army Corps occupied the center, and this regiment was in the advance on Orchard's Knob, November 23d, and in the charge up Mission Ridge, on November 25th. Although actively engaged in skirmishing on the morning of the 25th, when Major Erwin was killed, and in the first line of battle in the charge on the afternoon of the same day, the regiment lost, out of two hundred and sixty-five officers and men, only thirty-three killed, wounded, and missing.

On the 28th the regiment, with its division, marched to the relief of Knoxville, Tennessee, then threatened by Longstreet, and reached that town and went into camp near it on the 7th of December. On the 16th of December the regiment marched north to Blair's Cross Roads, and then to Morristown, Dundridge, Rutledge, and other points, seldom camping more than one week in a place the entire winter, till February 14th, when the division marched south of Knoxville and went into camp at Lenoir; afterward, northward to Morristown, Rutledge, and New Market again, until April 6th, when the division was ordered to Cleveland to join the main army. The campaign of East Tennessee was the most severe service the regiment ever saw. From November 28th till February 14th the troops were without their baggage, both officers and men living in shelter tents, and subsisting, for the most part, off the country already twice passed over.

The regiment went into camp near Cleveland on the 12th of April, and when the campaign against Atlanta opened it was left, with another regiment, to do garrison duty in the town, they having the shortest time to serve of any regiments in the division. Upon the 17th of may it was ordered to join the main army, and accordingly marched to Kingston, Georgia, and reported to General Thomas, who ordered it back to Resaca, to guard the railroad bridge over the Oostenaula at that point, where it remained till June 6th, when it was released from duty and ordered home to be mustered out of the service.

The regiment arrived at Cincinnati on June 15th, and after the public reception given by the citizens, went into quarters at Camp Dennison, where it was mustered out of the service June 23, 1864, with an aggregate of thirty officers and four hundred and ninety-five enlisted men. Several of the non-commissioned officers held commissions, but could not be mustered in, as the companies in which the vacancies occurred were below the minimum.

(pg 53)The Sixth carried to the close of its service a beautiful stand of colors, which had been presented by the ladies of Cincinnati in December, 1862, and a regimental banner received at the same time from the City Council. The pledges which Colonel Anderson made for the regiment on the occasion of these presentations were, within three weeks, fully redeemed by the part borne by the Sixth in that deadly conflict in the cedars of Stone River, where its percentage of killed and wounded is claimed to have been heavier than that of any other regiment engaged, with the exception of the 21st Illinois.

Colonel Anderson was three times wounded - slightly, by a spent ball at Pittsburg Landing; painfully, by a flesh wound through the thigh on the first day of Stone River, which, without leaving the field, he had bound up, remaining on active duty till the battle was over; and severely, in the left eye, at Chickamauga. Many of the Sixth, after their muster-out, re-enlisted in Hancock's Corps.

During the term of service the regiment marched, in round numbers, three thousand two hundred and fifty miles; traveled by steamboat and railroad, two thousand six hundred and fifty miles, making a total of five thousand nine hundred miles. The regiment was in four pitched battles, losing a total of three hundred and twenty five killed, wounded, and missing. And in addition it shared in some half dozen skirmishes and lesser engagements. A large number of enlisted men, at least seventy-five, received commissions in other regiments, and eleven of these were in the regular army. It was in the front from the time it was first ordered to the field till May 2, 1864; and a remarkable feature of the regiment was its uniformly healthy condition, the reports showing by sixteen deaths by disease during the entire three years; and, including officers and enlisted men, there were at least two hundred who never lost a day's duty. As there were a large number of men possessing a business education in the ranks, the details for duty in the Quartermaster's and Adjutant-General's departments of the army were unusually large; at one time over two hundred men being on duty in these departments; so that, notwithstanding the excellent health, there were never, after the first year's service, more than five hundred officers and enlisted men present for duty at any one time; and the regiment went into action, usually, with from three hundred and fifty to four hundred men. It was in a good state of discipline from first to last; and in the personal neatness of the men, cleanliness of its camp, and condition of arms and accouterments, it was fully equal to the majority of volunteer regiments. The men were always cheerful, willing, and obedient, and were at all times ready for duty.

The record does not show much hard fighting, but it does show that which, in the judgment of experienced minds, test the true qualities of a soldier - marching and duty of the most sever kind. Deeds of heroism and endurance belong to all the regiments of the Army of the Republic; and comparisons are, generally, as unjust as they are unnecessary. It is sufficient to say, that both officers and men enjoyed the fullest confidence of their brigade, division, and corps commanders, and earned a reputation in the Army of the Ohio, and in the Army of the Cumberland, with which their native city may be well satisfied.

Whitelaw Reid, Ohio in the Civil War: Her Statesmen, Generals and Soldiers, (reprint of the 1895 edition, Robert Clarke Company, Cincinnati) Volume 2, pages 50-53.