31st Ohio Infantry

Organized at Camp Chase, Columbus, Ohio, August 4, 1861. Left State for Louisville, Ky., September 27, thence moved to Camp Dick Robinson, Ky., October 2, and duty there till December 12. Attached to Thomas' Command, Camp Dick Robinson, Ky., to November, 1861. 12th Brigade, Army of the Ohio, to December, 1861. 12th Brigade, 1st Division, Army of the Ohio, to January, 1862. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, Army of the Ohio, to September, 1862. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 3rd Corps, Army of the Ohio, to November, 1862. 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, Centre 14th Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to January, 1863. 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 14th Army Corps, to July, 1865.

SERVICE. – March to Somerset, Ky., December 12, 1861, and to relief of Gen. Thomas at Mill Springs, Ky., January 19-21, 1862. Moved to Louisville, Ky., February 10-16, thence to Nashville, Tenn., February 18-March 2. March to Savannah, Tenn., March 20-April 8. Advance on and siege of Corinth, Miss., April 29-May 30. Pursuit to Booneville May 31-June 6. March to Iuka, Miss., with skirmishing June 22, thence to Tuscumbia, Ala., June 26-28, and to Huntsville, Ala., July 18-22. Action at Trinity, Ala., July 24 (Co. "E"). Courtland Bridge July 25. Moved to Dechard, Tenn., July 27. March to Louisville, Ky., in pursuit of Bragg August 21-September 26. Pursuit of Bragg into Kentucky October 1-15. Battle of Perryville, Ky., October 8. March to Nashville, Tenn., October 22-November 6, and duty there till December 26. Advance on Murfreesboro December 26-30. Battle of Stone's River December 30-31. 1862, and January 1-3, 1863. Duty at Murfreesboro till March 13, and at Triune till June. Middle Tennessee or Tullahoma Campaign June 23-July 7. Hoover's Gap June 24-26. Occupation of Middle Tennessee till August 16. Passage of Cumberland Mountains and Tennessee River, and Chickamauga (Ga.) Campaign August 16-September 22. Battle of Chickamauga September 19-21. Siege of Chattanooga, Tenn., September 24-November 23. Sequatchie Valley October 5. Reopening Tennessee River October 26-29. Brown's Ferry October 27. Chattanooga-Ringgold Campaign November 23-27. Orchard Knob November 23. Mission Ridge November 24-25. Duty at Chattanooga till February, 1864, and at Graysville till May. Atlanta (Ga.) Campaign May 1-September 8. Demonstrations on Rocky Faced Ridge May 8-11. Battle of Resaca May 14-15. Advance on Dallas May 18-25. Operations on line of Pumpkin Vine Creek and battles about Dallas, New Hope Church and Allatoona Hills May 25-June 5. Operations about Marietta and against Kenesaw Mountain June 10-July 2. Pine Mountain June 11-14. Lost Mountain June 15-17. Assault on Kenesaw June 27. Ruff's Station, Smyrna Camp Ground, July 4. Chattahoochie River July 5-17. Peach Tree Creek July 19-20. Siege of Atlanta July 22-August 25. Utoy Creek August 5-7. Flank movement on Jonesboro August 25-30. Battle of Jonesboro August 31-September 1. Operations against Hood in North Georgia and North Alabama September 29-November 3. March to the sea November 15-December 10. Near Milledgeville November 23. Siege of Savannah December 10-21. Campaign of the Carolinas January to April, 1865. Fayetteville, N. C., March 11. Battle of Bentonville March 19-21. Occupation of Goldsboro March 24. Advance on Raleigh April 10-14. Occupation of Raleigh April 14. Bennett's House April 26. Surrender of Johnston and his army. March to Washington, D.C., via Richmond, Va., April 29-May 20. Grand Review May 24. Moved to Louisville, Ky., June 5, and duty there till July. Mustered out July 20, 1865.

Regiment lost during service 2 Officers and 77 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 1 Officer and 153 Enlisted men by disease. Total 233.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1511

A Scene After the Battle

(Extract from A letter of L. F. Drake, Chaplain of the 31st Ohio regiment, to the Western Christian Advocate.)

I went to the camp of the 10th Indiana regiment, where the dead and many of the wounded were, and at the request of Captain Hoagland, I visited some of the houses and tents where the wounded of both armies were, and aided all I could to alleviate their sufferings.  About ten o’clock I lay down in a tent and tried to sleep, but the shrieks and groaning of the wounded and dying reached my ears, and pierced my heart, and I could not sleep.  In a short time Dr. Linnett and Mr. Olds, from Lancaster, Ohio, came in to sleep in the tent I was occupying.  One of them remarked that there was a wounded soldier in an old blacksmith shop, who was desirous of seeing a chaplain.  I arose from my couch, and after wending my way through the mud and wet, I found the shop filled with the wounded, and one was lying upon a forge.  Some were mortally wounded, and a few were not.  After conversing and praying with one of them a short time, he obtained peace and pardon.  I then asked him what regiment he belonged to.  Said he, “I am your enemy, but we will be friends in heaven.”  He then requested me to write to his grandfather in Paris, Tennessee who is a Cumberland Presbyterian minister, and inform him of his condition, and his being prepared to die in the full triumph of faith.  I conversed with several others, and tried to point them to the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world.  There are times when the soldiers care but little about being conversed with upon the subject of religion, but when in the condition of these men they would prefer seeing a faithful minister of the Gospel than any of their wicked commanders or associates.  I was also permitted to see General F. K. Zollicoffer, who was laid out on a board in a tent in the cold embrace of death.  I saw the place where he was shot and laid my hand upon his broad forehead.  He was about six feet tall, and completely and well built, one among the finest heads that I ever saw.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, February 1, 1862, p. 2

Isaac H. Whitmore

Private, Co. G, 31st Ohio Infantry

Died April 15, 1864, Shelbyville, Tennessee

Stones River National Cemetery

Murfreesboro, Tennessee

David A. Griffith, Sergeant, 31st Ohio Infantry: Pension Index Card

SOURCE: Civil War And Later Veterans Pension Index at Fold3.com

David A. Griffith, Sergeant, Co.'s D & H, 11th Ohio Infantry: Pension Index Card

SOURCE: Civil War And Later Veterans Pension Index at Fold3.com

Philip A. DeLong, Co. G, 31st Ohio Infantry: Pension Index Card

SOURCE: Civil War And Later Veterans Pension Index at Footnote.com

31st Ohio Infantry Monument: Chickamauga National Battlefield

31ST

OHIO INFANTRY

1ST BRIGADE,

3RD DIVISION,

14TH ARMY CORPS.

31^ST REGIMENT OHIO INFANTRY

Sept. 19^th, 1863, about 10: A.M. This regiment, Lt. Col. Frederick W. Lister Commanding, was sent to re-enforce Croxton’s Brigade, then engaged near Jay’s Mill, and went into action on the left of that brigade.  It afterward about 11:00 A.M. took part in the recapture of the 4^th Indiana Battery, and Continued in Action Till about 2:00 P.M.

Sept. 20^th, occupied this position till about 12:00 P.M., when the enemy penetrated our lines to the right of this position, and the regiment was broken and forced to retire.  Detachments of the regiment under Captains J. A Cahill and J. H. McCune, and Lieutenants Eli Wilkins, A. S. Scott and J. J. Miller were rallied and fought on Snodgrass hill until the close of the battle.

Loss, Killed 13: Wounded 134: Captured or Missing 22.