Wilhelm: Area men served in various Civil War regiments
It’s widely known Ralph Buckland organized the 72nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry (OVI) regiment for the Civil War with a call to Sandusky County men in 1861.
The regiment served with honor through the war.
But area men served in a number of regiments during the war and other men played key roles in their organization.
Company F or the 49th OVI was raised in Sandusky County and Joseph R. Bartlett was its captain. Bartlett, who was a lawyer before and after the war, climbed the ranks to Colonial during the war, moving to the division staff.
Bartlett and Timothy Wilcox raised the men for the company.
The regiment was involved in numerous battles on the western front.
John Beery service as 111th OVI Captain
Sandusky County also furnished the men for Company A of the 111th OVI with John V. Beery as its captain.
Like Bartlett, whose promotions took him to other places, Beery didn’t serve with his company for very long.
While Beery was serving as officer of the day for the regiment at camp in Bowling Green, Kentucky, he was thrown from his horse while making the rounds to the pickets. He incurred severe enough injuries that he could no longer serve in the military and he was honorably discharged. He was in service for only about nine months.
The company, however, was actively involved in numerous battles including the campaign to Atlanta.
The injury didn’t stop Beery from leading an active life.
He served as a clerk for the Roberts and Sheldon hardware store and then went to work for the D. June and Company at the end of Garrison Street in Fremont. He had worked for the firm prior to the Civil War. David June, the owner, was an accomplished steam engine builder and repairman, who often traveler the Great Lakes in the employ of steam ship companies.
Meek shared Berry returned to Lindsey
Beery, however, had his sights set on other opportunities. Meek’s “History of Sandusky County" points out Beery, who had grown up on a farm near Hessville before traveling west and then returning to the area, moved to Lindsey and started a general store in that community.
Beery expanded his interests to the lumbering company of Overmyer and Davis and finding that business more profitable than his general store, he purchased the interests of Overmyer and sold his store.
The lumber firm built a mill and hoop factory north of Lindsey and another in Lindsey and an additional mill in Henry County. Eventually, according to Meek, the firm moved to Fremont and bought a drop forge works where they manufactured “forgings and specialties.”
Sandusky County also contributed Company K to the 100th OVI.
Nathaniel Haynes was the company’s captain.
Haynes, who had been promoted to colonel, was later the top officer for the 169th OVI, which served May-Sept. 4, 1864, just 125 days, at Fort Ethan Allen in Virginia.
Those servicemen became known as the “one hundred day men.”
Roy Wilhelm started a 40-year career at The News-Messenger in 1965 as a reporter. Now retired, he writes a column for both The News-Messenger and News Herald.
This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Wilhelm: Area men served in various Civil War regiments
