THE
SEVENTH REGIMENT:
A RECORD.
BY
MAJOR GEORGE L. WOOD.
NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED BY JAMES MILLER,
(SUCCESSOR TO C. S. FRANCIS & CO.,)
522 BROADWAY.1865.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865,
By JAMES MILLER,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, forthe Southern District of New York.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
The following pages were written for the purpose of making a permanentrecord of the facts within the author's knowledge relating to theSeventh Ohio Regiment. The work was undertaken with the belief that thedoings and sufferings of the regiment were of sufficient magnitude andimportance to entitle it to a separate record. It has been extremelydifficult to obtain facts, on account of so large a portion of themembers still being in the service. The book is, therefore, writtenprincipally from memory. If it serves to perpetuate in the minds of thepublic the hardships, as well as long and faithful service, of thisgallant regiment, then the object of the author is accomplished.
Warren, May, 1865.
PREFACE.
This preface to the history of the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry iswritten at the request of the accomplished author of the book; butwithout having read it, seen it, or heard its contents. I have,however, such confidence in the ability, honesty, candor, goodjudgment, and good taste of my old friend and "companion in arms,"that, for myself, I take his work on trust, and in cheerful faithcommend it to others.
But was there a demand for another book on the war? Or were the doingsand sufferings of one regiment, among the thousands engaged in the war,of such interest as to demand a separate history? These are questionsthe author doubtless weighed carefully before he began to write; andhis answer to them is his book. I agree with him. This nation has adeep, and will have a lasting, interest in the war. We have been makinghistory of unrivalled, perhaps of unequalled, importance to the worldduring the past four years. We ourselves cannot comprehend themagnitude of the work we have been doing, or, rather, that God has beendoing through us. The successful revolts of the Netherlanders againstthe tyranny of Philip II.—of the Puritans against the tyranny ofCharles I.—of the republicans against the tyranny of George III.,dwindle to insignificance (important as they were) in comparison withthe successful revolt of the loyal, Union-loving, freedom-lovingcitizens of this Republic against the tyranny of treason and slavery.It was a great fight for a great cause, and God has given us a greatvictory. There was not a nation on earth that was not interested in theconflict. Ay, it concerned our common humanity. All this will be seenmore clearly and felt more deeply twenty, fifty, a hundred years hencethan now. But to transmit and perpetuate the fruits of this victory wemust have records of the war—many records, made from many differentpoints of view, and of many kinds, great and small. The history of thiswar is not yet written, perhaps cannot be successfully written for manyyears yet. And that it may one day be written as it should be, everyregiment that has a story to tell should tell it. These regimentalhistories will be invaluable to the