History of the 14th OVI

The 14th Ohio Voluntary Infantry Regiment was organized at Toledo, Ohio from 8/14 - 9/5/1861. The 14th OVI was Northwest Ohio's first volunteer regiment formed. Dyer's Compendium Of The War Of The Rebellion lists the regiments losses during service as 5 Officers and 141 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 1 Officer and 185 Enlisted men by disease.

Lt Col Henry Dennison Kingsbury, pictured at right


Fourteenth Infantry. - (Three Years' Service.)

Cols., James B. Steedman, George P. Este; Lieut.-Cols., Paul Edwards, Henry D. Kingsbury, Albert Moore; Maj., John W. Wilson.

This regiment was organized at Toledo, from Aug. 14 to Sept. 5,

1861, to serve for three years. It first saw service in

Kentucky and in October went into quarters at Camp Dick

Robinson. About this time rumors were rife that the Federal

forces stationed at or near Wild Cat were surrounded by the

Confederates. The 14th, with Barnet's 1st Ohio artillery,

started at once for that place, making forced marches through

the deep mud and driving rain, and reached there on the morning

of Oct. 21. On nearing the battlefield the crash of musketry

and artillery was heard. This spurred the excited troops, who

were going into their first engagement, and they double-quicked

to the point of attack. The enemy shortly abandoned the field

and retreated. In the charge which carried the works at Mill

Springs the 14th was the first regiment to enter, and pushing

on after the flying enemy it reached the bank of the river in

time to fire into the rear of the retreating column as it was

boarding the steamer. The regiment was with the army that

shared in the slow advance upon Corinth. It was in the march

from Nashville to Louisville, but on Oct. 9 the brigade with

which it was acting was detailed to guard headquarters and the

ammunition train, and hence did not participate in the battle

of Perryville. The following winter was spent at Gallatin and

other points in middle Tennessee, and in June, 1863, the regi-

ment formed a portion of Rosecrans, advance on Tullahoma and

Chattanooga. At Hoover's gap a brisk engagement ensued, in

which the 14th participated with its brigade. On Sept. 19 it

marched upon the field at Chickamauga and was immediately de-

ployed in line of battle. The men were not in the best trim to

engage in a fatiguing day's work, having marched incessantly

all the previous day and night, but they were ready and willing

to perform their whole duty and they did it nobly. The regi-

ment was engaged in hot and close contest with the enemy from 9 a. m. to 4 p. m. Being then relieved, it replenished its ammu-

nition boxes and again entered the fight, continuing until

sunset. The regiment went into the battle with 449 men, and

out of that number it lost 233, killed, wounded and missing.

In the brilliant assault on Missionary ridge the 14th bore a

gallant part, charging and capturing a Confederate battery of 3

guns, which Gen. Hardee in person was superintending, losing 16

killed, 91 wounded and 3 missing. Of those that were eligible,

all but 30 men of the entire regiment re-enlisted for another

term of three years and after a 30-days' furlough home it re-

joined the army at Ringgold, Ga., and commenced that long, fa-

tiguing campaign for the possession of Atlanta, the "gate

city," of the South. In all the marches and the almost

incessant skirmishes and flanking movements of that campaign it

bore an honorable part, losing heavily in men and officers.

While lying in front of Atlanta the regiment lost 20 men,

killed and wounded. In that heroic charge at Jonesboro the 14th

took nearly as many prisoners as the regiment numbered men, a

battery of 4 guns, several stands of colors, and two lines of

trenches full of Confederates. All this was not accomplished

without sad cost. One hundred members of the regiment whose

time had expired went willingly into this fight, some of whom

were killed and many wounded. It next followed Hood into Ten-

nessee and then returned and participated in the "march to the

sea." It was mustered out of the service at Louisville, Ky.,

July 11, 1865.

source: Union Army, Vol 2