Two separate units of the Union Army in the American Civil War
Military unit
The
Army of the Ohio
was the name of two
Union
armies in the
American Civil War
. The first army became the
Army of the Cumberland
and the second army was created in 1863.
History
[
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]
1st Army of the Ohio
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]
General Orders No. 97 appointed
Maj. Gen.
Don Carlos Buell
to command the
Department of the Ohio
. All the forces of the department were then organized into the
Army of the Ohio
, with Buell in command. Early in 1862, the army
fought its first battle at Mill Springs
, although only the 1st Division, commanded by
Brig. Gen.
George H. Thomas
, was engaged. The whole army marched to reinforce
Grant
's
Army of the Tennessee
at the
Battle of Shiloh
.
Buell was replaced as commander of the Department of the Ohio by Brig. Gen.
Horatio G. Wright
in August 1862, but because of Wright's junior rank, Maj. Gen.
Henry W. Halleck
ordered Thomas to replace Wright in command. However, Thomas foresaw a major battle and felt it unwise to change an army commander on the eve of battle. Thus Buell remained in command of the Army and Thomas was made his second-in-command.
The battle Thomas foresaw occurred on October 8, 1862, west of
Perryville
, Kentucky. Confederate General Braxton Bragg had marched into Kentucky to recruit soldiers and take the state from the Union. The full force of Buell's command was gathering when Bragg attacked. Known as the
Battle of Perryville
, or the Battle of Chaplin Hills, casualties were very high on both sides.
Union casualties totaled 4,276 (894 killed, 2,911 wounded, 471 captured or missing). Confederate casualties were 3,401 (532 killed, 2,641 wounded, 228 captured or missing). [1] Although Union losses were higher, Bragg withdrew from Kentucky when the fighting was over, and therefore Perryville is considered a strategic victory for the Union.
Buell was subsequently relieved of all field command. Maj. Gen.
William S. Rosecrans
was appointed to command the Army of Ohio. He was also appointed to the command of the Department of the Cumberland and subsequently renamed his forces the
Army of the Cumberland
.
2nd Army of the Ohio
[
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]
On 25 March 1863, Maj. Gen.
Ambrose Burnside
assumed command of the Department of the Ohio headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. On March 19, 1863, two divisions of the IX Corps under Maj. Gen. John G. Parke had been ordered from Virginia to Burnside's department. On April 27, 1863, the War Department ordered all troops in Kentucky not belonging to IX Corps to be organized into the
XXIII Corps
under the commanded of Maj. Gen.
George L. Hartsuff
. By May 1863 Burnside had consolidated the forces of Kentucky into the IX Corps and XXIII Corps which he styled the
Army of the Ohio
.
[1]
Thus, Burnside became one of the few officers to directly command two completely different armies (he had earlier commanded the
Army of the Potomac
). The IX Corps was soon transferred to Mississippi in June to participate in the
siege of Vicksburg
but was returned to the Army of the Ohio in August.
Meanwhile, the new Army of the Ohio' XXIII Corps repelled
Morgan's Ohio raid
, although the entire army rarely functioned as one complete unit during this campaign. Reunited with the IX Corps and the addition of a cavalry division, Burnside moved to
Knoxville, Tennessee
. There he defeated the Confederates at the
Battle of Fort Sanders
in the
Knoxville Campaign
. After the battle, he asked to be relieved of command due to illness. Maj. Gen.
John G. Foster
replaced Burnside as commander of the Army and Department of the Ohio on December 9.
Foster's time in command of the Army was short. On February 9, 1864, Maj. Gen.
John M. Schofield
assumed command of the Department of the Ohio, and then the Army of the Ohio and the XXIII Corps in April. During this time the XXIII Corps and the Army of the Ohio were synonymous. Schofield led the Army during the
Atlanta Campaign
and pursued
Confederate
Lt. Gen.
John Bell Hood
into
Tennessee
after the
fall of Atlanta
. At the
Battle of Franklin
, Schofield inflicted a severe defeat on Hood's army before joining with Maj. Gen.
George H. Thomas
and the Army of the Cumberland for the
Battle of Nashville
. On February 9, 1865, Schofield was transferred to command the Department of North Carolina. When Schofield departed to assume departmental command, Maj. Gen.
Jacob D. Cox
temporarily assumed command of the Army.
The XXIII Corps was ordered to North Carolina and only Cox's division was present for the
Battle of Wilmington
. It was not until March 1865 that the rest of the XXIII Corps landed at
New Bern, North Carolina
. Upon the arrival of the XXIII Corps in its entirety, Schofield joined that corps with the
X Corps
under Maj. Gen.
Alfred H. Terry
to form the Army of the Ohio. The Army was designated the Center Wing of Maj. Gen.
William T. Sherman
's army and participated in the final stages of the
Carolinas Campaign
. With the close of the war, the troops were mustered out of military service. A number of post-war reunions were held by various elements of the old Army of the Ohio.
Commanders
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- Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell (November 15, 1861 ? October 24, 1862)
also department commander until March 11
- Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans (October 24?30, 1862)
became the Army of the Cumberland
- Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside (March 25 ? December 9, 1863)
also department commander
- Maj. Gen.
John G. Foster
(December 9, 1863 ? February 9, 1864)
also department commander
- Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield (February 9 ? September 14, 1864)
also department commander
- Maj. Gen. Jacob D. Cox (September 14 ? October 22, 1864)
- Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield (October 22, 1864 ? February 2, 1865)
- Maj. Gen. Jacob D. Cox (February 2?9, 1865)
- Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield (February 9 ? March 31, 1865)
also commander of the Department of North Carolina
Major battles and campaigns
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Orders of Battle
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Notes
1. Livermore, Thomas L.,
Numbers and Losses in the American Civil War 1861?1865
, New York, 1901, p. 95, cited in McDonough, James Lee,
War in Kentucky
, University of Tennessee Press, 1994, pp 289?290.
ISBN
0-87049-847-9
. Noe, Kenneth W.
Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle.
Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2001.
ISBN
978-0-8131-2209-0
.
References
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External links
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