23D OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY REGIMENT - The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History

The 23D OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY REGIMENT, 1861-65, included two future U.S. presidents, Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley. The unit was organized at Camp Chase in Columbus, OH, and mustered into federal service on 11 June 1861. A total of 341 Cleveland men served with the regiment. The 23d was assigned to the following units: Cox's Kanawha Brigade (July-Sept. 1861); Scammon's Brigade, Dist. of the Kanawha, WV (Sept.-Nov. 1861); 3d Brigade, Kanawha Div. (Nov. 1861-Mar. 1862); 1st Brigade, Kanawha Div., Dept. of the Mountains (Mar.-Sept. 1862); 1st Brigade, Kanawha Div., 9th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac (Sept.-Oct. 1862); 1st Brigade, Kanawha Div., Dist. of West Virginia, Dept. of the Ohio (Oct. 1862-Mar. 1863); 1st Brigade, 3d Div., 8th Army Corps, Middle Dept. (Mar.-June 1863); 1st Brigade, Scammon's Div., Dept. of West Virginia (June-Dec. 1863); 1st Brigade, 3d Div., Dept. of West Virginia (Dec. 1863-Apr. 1864); 1st Brigade, 2d Infantry, Div. of West Virginia (Apr. 1864-Jan. 1865); 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry, Div. of West Virginia (Jan.-April 1865); and 4th Provisional Div. of West Virginia (Apr.-July 1865). The 23d participated in the Battle of Antietam and in the pursuit of John Hunt Morgan's Raiders, the raid on the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad, and the Shenandoah Valley Campaign. The regiment was mustered out at Cumberland, MD, on 26 July 1865. Its members were discharged and paid off at Camp Cleveland (see CIVIL WAR CAMPS IN CLEVELAND) on 28 July 1865. The 23d lost 5 officers and 154 enlisted men to hostile causes and 1 officer and 130 enlisted men to disease. Five of the regiment's members, Hayes, James M. Comly, Russell Hastings, E. P. Scammon, and William S. Rosecrans, rose to the rank of general.

Adelaide Rudolph Papers, WRHS.

John S. Ellen Papers, WRHS.

Williams, T. Harry. Hayes of the Twenty-third (1965).

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