Monday morning, after a few hours' rest at the Goodale or
Capitol House, we went over to the governor's office and learned that the
governor had made up a regiment composed of companies chiefly from the extreme
northern and northeastern part of the East [State], the field officers being
all from Cincinnati, to be the Twenty-third Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry,
for the service of the United States during the war. This regiment was to be
organized under General Order No. 15, issued by the adjutant-general of the
United States, May 4, 1861, and was the first regiment in Ohio in which the
regiment did not elect its own field officers. We feared there would be some
difficulty in reconciling the men and officers to officers — strangers — not of
their own selection. . . .
Several of these companies had been in camp in Camp Taylor,
near Cleveland, together, and wished to remain and act together. All the
captains came into the governor's office, soon after we entered, in a state of
some excitement, or at least some feeling, at finding themselves placed under
strangers from a distant part of the State. We were introduced to them. Colonel
Rosecrans unfortunately was not present, having not yet arrived from some
military service at Washington. The governor explained to Matthews and myself
that the field officers of the Twenty-third were fixed, that we were the
Twenty-third Regiment, and that those captains could go into it or not as they
saw fit. A little acquaintance satisfied us that our captains were not disposed
to be unreasonable, that their feeling was a natural one under the
circumstances, and that all ill feeling would disappear if we showed the
disposition and ability to perform our duties. Captain Beatty, however, would
not be content. He had been a senator in the Legislature, was fifty-five or
sixty years old and not disposed to go under young men.
We took a hack out to Camp Jackson,* four miles west of
Columbus on the National Road. Several companies were mustered into service by
Captains Simpson and Robinson the same day. Colonel E. A. King, of Dayton, was,
under state authority, in command of all the soldiers, some twenty-five hundred
in number, not mustered into service. As rapidly as they were mustered in, they
passed under Colonel Matthews, as the ranking field officer in United States
service. Luckily, Captain Beatty was not ready for the mustering officer and we
succeeded in getting Captain Zimmerman's fine company in his place. Ditto
Captain Howard in place of Captain Weller.
Our mustering was completed June 11 and 12. We were guests
of Colonel King (for rations) at the log headquarters and slept at Platt's.
Both good arrangements. Wednesday evening, 12th, we got up a large marquee,
fine but not tight, and that night I had my first sleep under canvas — cool but
refreshing.
__________________
* Name changed a few days later to Camp Chase.
SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and
Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 26-7
No comments:
Post a Comment