page_title: 21st Ohio Infantry Regiment
section_title: Tennessee and the Andrews' Raid
hierarchical_section_title: 21st Ohio Infantry Regiment / Three-years regiment / Campaigns / Tennessee and the Andrews' Raid
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of the Battle of Stones River of the American Civil War. Drawn in Adobe Illustrator CS6 by Hal Jespersen. Graphic source file is available at http://www.cwmaps.com/ Dansk: Slaget ved Stones River den 31. december 1862 kl. 11
context_page_description: The 21st Ohio Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Mostly an all-volunteer unit, with the exception of a few draftees, the 21st Ohio served for both ninety-day and three-year enlistments and fought exclusively in the Western Theater. It saw action in some of the war's bloodiest battles including Stones River, Chickamauga, the Atlanta Campaign, and Sherman's March to the Sea.
context_section_description: Campaigning into Tennessee in early 1862 as part of the Army of the Ohio, the regiment was one of a number of Union regiments instrumental in capturing the capital of Nashville in February. From there, the regiment moved toward Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and then to Confederate-held Huntsville, Alabama, in early April.
  Concurrent with the move toward Huntsville in April 1862, nine men of the regiment volunteered to participate in a secret mission known as Andrews' Raid. The men, along with two civilians and thirteen soldiers from two other Ohio regiments, dressed in civilian clothes and slipped behind enemy lines. They hijacked the Confederate locomotive The General. The mission was a failure, and all of the raiders were captured. Eight men, including Private John M. Scott of Co. F, 21st Ohio Infantry, were hanged. Another eight, including privates Wilson W. Brown, William J. Knight, John R. Porter, Mark Wood, and John A. Wilson, escaped from captivity. The remaining raiders, among them Private William Bensinger, Private Robert Buffum, and Sergeant Elihu H. Mason of the regiment, were released in a prisoner exchange the next year. In recognition of their actions, Congress awarded most of the raiders, including all nine from the 21st Ohio Infantry the newly created Medal of Honor. Bensinger, Buffum, and Mason were three of the first six men ever to receive the medal.
  Near La Vergne on October 7, the regiment captured a part of the 3rd Alabama Rifle Regiment, along with its colors and fifty-four horses. The regiment participated in the Siege of Nashville from September 12 to November 7.
  By December, the regiment was in the vicinity of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and on December 30 – January 2, 1863, participated in the Battle of Stones River.
  For the battle, the 21st Ohio was with the 74th Ohio, the 37th Indiana, and the 78th Indiana in Colonel John F. Miller's brigade of James S. Negley's division. By 10:00 on December 31, the regiment held the brigade left by a rail fence at the eastern edge of the cedar forest. The left of the regiment was attacked by James R. Chalmers' Mississippi brigade, which retreated in disorder in the face of volleys from the regiment and canister shot from the supporting Battery B, 1st Kentucky Light Artillery. Lieutenant Colonel James Neibling ordered a charge, exhorting the regiment to "Give 'em hell by the acre," hastening the flight of Chalmers' brigade. However, his flank exposed by the collapse of Philip Sheridan's division on the right, Negley soon ordered his division to withdraw, despite Miller's attempt to hold the brigade's positions. With the brigade, the 21st Ohio retreated into the cedar forest.
  On January 2, the regiment was ordered to charge across the frigid water of Stones River, where it captured a Confederate artillery battery of four guns. The regiment suffered 159 casualties, and Private Wilson Vance of Company B was awarded the Medal of Honor for saving a fellow soldier from capture.
caption: Actions at Stones River at 11:00 on December 31
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