Walking down Woodland Avenue in the spring of 1861, you would have come across a row of bayonet armed soldiers guarding Camp Taylor, a Civil War training facility for Union soldiers. It would have been hard to imagine judging from their stern faces and disciplined demeanors that these men had only been in training for a few weeks. Before they had answered Abraham Lincoln's call for volunteer soldiers, the men who occupied Camp Taylor had had occupations such as dry good clerks or blacksmiths.
Ohio Governor William Dennison ordered Camp Taylor to be formed in order to expedite soldier training and infantry organization. General J. W. Fitch took charge and Cleveland's old fairgrounds served as its location. There is some discrepancy as to the exact whereabouts of the camp. Secondary sources place Camp Taylor at Woodland Avenue and East 30th Street, whereas primary sources place it at Woodland and Forest Street. Forest Street no longer exists but can be located on nineteenth century maps. Cleveland Historical chooses to use the latter location.
On April 22, 1861, the new recruits began to arrive at the makeshift military camp. The new soldiers, ranging in age from 17 to 40, were from Sandusky, Toledo, Medina, Tiffin, and other northern Ohio regions. By May 2, sixty companies had marched to Cleveland, making the total number of soldiers who learned to perform company and squad drills on the Camp Taylor grounds about 5,000.
Despite the speed at which Camp Taylor was formed, it was so well organized and run with such a strict discipline that observers overlooked that many soldiers were without uniforms. The soldiers would practice drills for six hours a day, perform their duties with "dignity and respect by silence and soldierly bearing," and report to Headquarters for divine service at five each evening. Tents and two of the halls on the old fair grounds were used for soldiers' barracks. The other two halls were used for dining. The dining halls were equipped with a total of nine large stoves. One was a full thirteen feet long. One hundred seventy-five cooks and waiters and sixteen dishwashers worked in the dining halls to feed the thousands of soldiers. To make three meals a day, the cooks went through 6,000 pounds of bread, 3,500 pounds of fresh beef, 14 barrels of corned beef, 10 barrels of pork, 3,700 pounds of potatoes, and 4 barrels of coffee.
As quickly as Camp Taylor filled with new soldiers, it was emptied of trained infantrymen. On May 2, the 8th Ohio Infantry, which was formed at Camp Taylor and consisting of 10 companies and 837 men, left Cleveland for further training at Camp Dennison. Many of the three-month recruits that made up the 8th regiment re-enlisted for three years. In this manner, men who had trained at Camp Taylor fought at Gettysburg as a part of General George B. McClellan's army.
On May 5, the 7th Ohio Infantry followed their campmates toward Camp Dennison. Also like the 8th regiment, most of the 7th re-enlisted as three-year recruits. This regiment fought at such famous battles as Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Chattanooga. The 13th, 14th, 19th, 21st, and 107th regiments were also formed at Camp Taylor, but by May 31 they had left and the camp only had 27 men including staff. On June 2, six weeks after it was formed, orders were given to discontinue Camp Taylor because it had efficiently served its purpose. The camp was revived in the late summer however, after it became apparent that the war was not going to be as short as expected. The camp was finally and permanently shut down in October, 1861.
]]>The Soldiers' Aid Society of Northern Ohio grew out of Cleveland's Ladies' Aid Society's efforts to assist soldiers serving in the Civil War. The parent organization of the Soldiers' Aid Society was the U.S. Sanitary Commission, which was established by the federal government in June 1861 to provide aid and medical care for Union soldiers throughout the North. Before this occurred, however, the Ladies' Aid Society (1861-1865) was organized by Rebecca Rouse, only five days after President Lincoln's first call for troops to fight in the Civil War in April 1861. This small group of Cleveland women from various churches met on April 20 and organized a "blanket raid" by collecting blankets and quilts for soldiers being mustered at Camp Taylor in Cleveland. The officers of the organization were Rebecca Rouse, who served as the president, Mrs. John Shelley and Mrs. William Melhinch, who served as vice-presidents, Mary Clark Brayton, secretary, and Ellen F. Terry, treasurer. The Ladies Aid Society merged with several other of Cleveland's charitable groups in October 1861 to form the Soldiers' Aid Society of Northern Ohio.
The Cleveland Branch of the Soldiers' Aid Society was located at 95 Bank (West 6th) Street and served as a model for the creation of smaller aid societies in other towns and villages. It was the first permanently organized branch of the U.S. commission and the first to enter the field. The organization, financed mainly by private donations, cared for the sick and wounded, provided ambulance and hospital service, asked for clothing and medical supplies, and sent food to soldiers in the field throughout the Civil War. Rebecca herself frequently visited military hospitals at the front. She also helped organize a "sanitary fair" in 1864 to raise funds to help soldiers. The Northern Ohio Sanitary Fair was widely advertised and held in a temporary building in Public Square. Single admission to the fair was $.25 and over $100,000 was raised. For a few years after the end of the Civil War, the organization helped returning soldiers find employment and file benefits claims. The Soldiers' Aid Society of Northern Ohio finally closed in 1868.
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]]>While no actual Civil War battles took place in Northeast Ohio, the role that its men played in the war was still a significant one. The 7th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which is better know as the 7th OVI, was a heroic group of men from all over Northeast Ohio who served proudly in the American Civil War. The 7th OVI was initially composed of 1800 men in 10 companies and was in fact only one of a number of infantry units composed of men from the state of Ohio. Indeed, when President Lincoln called on troops to join the war effort in April of 1862, there were enough volunteers from across Ohio to fill the entire quota of 75,000!
Most men from the 7th OVI were true Cleveland boys with a strong spirit to fight for the Union. These were men of culture and good social status, including clergymen, students, teachers, bankers, farmers, and mechanics. When the 7th Ohio was called into service on April 30, 1861 Colonel E.B. Tyler was chosen to lead the infantry. The 7th Ohio mustered at Camp Taylor in Cleveland, located near what is now East 30th and Woodland Avenue. The troops then were moved to Camp Dennison near Cincinnati to receive further training, weapons, and uniforms. It was here that most of the 7th signed up for three years of service to defend the Union. After their service began, they headed out to West Virginia on June 26, 1861.
When Colonel E. B. Tyler was promoted to General, William R. Creighton, with whom the history of the Seventh is identified, took over as Colonel of the 7th OVI. Creighton was part of the old Cleveland Light Guard militia unit which formed the nucleus of what became the 7th OVI. He led the 7th through many famous battles such as Cedar Mountain, Antietam, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg before he lost his life in the Battle of Ringgold, Atlanta on November 27, 1863. On that same day, Creighton's Lieutentant Colonel, Orrin J. Crane, also lost his life. Both Creighton and Crane always led their men into battle showing great courage and valor.
After Creighton and Crane lost their lives, the 7th headed south to aid in the Atlanta campaign. Before the campaign began, however, the 7th Ohio was pulled from action at the front because their enlistment time had expired. Those who wanted to continue to fight for the Union joined the 5th Ohio. The rest of the regiment was mustered out, with its men paid and discharged at Camp Cleveland on July 8, 1864.
A war historian wrote of the 7th regiment that "[a]ll in all, considering the number of its battles, its marches, its losses, its conduct in action, it may be safely said that not a single regiment in the United States gained more lasting honor or deserved better of its country than the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry." The unit lost 10 officers and 174 men to hostile action and 2 officers and 87 men to disease. The memory of the 7th OVI, however, will live forever in marbled monuments around the country. One such monument can be found in Woodland Cemetery in Cleveland, where both Creighton and Crane are buried.
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