The National tribune., 1905-10-19
THE 18TH OHIO CAV.
COnfemp0Fane0ua Account Of the RetuF
u THIS Gallant Re41noat - the Stat

Contemperaneous Account Of the Return
u This Gallant Resa.e.t - the state.
Editor National Tribune: Herewith
l fnclose an article clipped from the
Cleveland co. Leader, Nov. IS, 1865,
the day our regiment was discharged.
Survivors of the regiment would be glad
to find 1t in The National Tribune, and
we hope that you can find space for its
eproduction.-B. c. Carpenter. C.. s.
Sergeant. Co. E. 18th Ohio Cav.
The 18th Ohio Cav.
with the discharge of this regiment.
which takes place today. the last con-
trfbutiOn OF Ohio to the cavalry arm
of the service will cease to exist.
Like every other regiment 1t has a
history, separate and distinct-a story
earned with it's own sabers and written
in its own blood. To those who have
shared its perils and triumphs, as well
as to those who have had friends in it's
ranks, more extended sketch Of its
organization and history than has here
tofore been published will be interest
ing.
1.-The 18th Cavalry was organized in
the Autumn of 1863, and was a direct
result Of the raid of John Morgan dur
ing the previous Summer. That dar-
ing foray awakened the people of Ohio
to sense of their defenseless condi-
liar calamities in future the 18th was
ordered to be raised.
Few, however, among its members
believed or wished that it's field Of op-
Grafton would he confined to mere
State defence. In fact, the regiment
had not been armed before petitions
were in circulation among the officers
and men, praying that 1t might be
transferred to field of active duty. AS
may be easily conceived, such a spirit
was not long in being gratified.
EARLY in the Spring Of "a. the reg
i,nent having passed the Winter on
duty at Camp Chase and Johnsons Is
land. was consolidated at Camp Dem
nfson. whence it was ordered, about
the last Of March, to report to Gen.
Sherman at Nashville. It's condition at
this time was magnificent. Twelve hun
dred men, many of them veterans Of
two or three years service, fully armed
equipped, drilled, and mounted, and in
state Of discipline almost perfect
Passing through Louisville, the fine ap-
pearance Of the regiment attracted the
attention OF Gen. Burbridge, who COM
manded, at that time. the Department
of Kentucky, who Immediately be-
mission to retain the 18th in his COM
mand. This being granted, the regi-
ment was sent to Lexington and en-
tered at once upon an active part of the
most difficult task of protecting the
State from guerrillas. 1t may be men,
toned here that SO perfect was the dis
cipline Of the regiment that the march
from Louisville to Lexington was ac-
complished without the sacrifice of
chicken or rail, which to those famil-
lar with cavalry tactics must be praise
beyond comparison.
'The story Of that Summers cam
paign, the rout and dispersion of John
m liyvyC OF
and Cynthiana, are too well remem-
bered to require repetition.
Upon a dull. rainy morning, the 9Th
of June, having marched 100 miles in
AZ hours without rest, and almost with
out food, the 18th Cav. dashed, at the
of Morgan to fight it's first battle
Fiercely and stubbornly, man to man.
saber against bayonet, carbine against
musket, they struggled; and with no
generalship but the obstinate bravery
of its men and officers: no strategy but
the relistless logic of hard knocks and
steady valor the day was won for Free
dom and Right. The part taken by
the 18th Ohio Cav. in this action and
that at Cynthiana which Immediately
followed, may be known by it's losses,
which amounted in killed, wounded and
missing, to 1876; more than half that
of the entire division.
nails Of the regiment attracts especial
notice. until September. when it was
ordered to Mount Sterling to partici-
pate in the disastrous Saltyille raid.
"The failure Of that expedition was
inevitable from it's inception. The
troops marched, fought, and suffered
patiently, and failed only because sue
cess was impossible.
Again the task was attempted, how
ever, in the dead Of Winter, but this
time upon a more feasible plan and
under different leadership. The
troops Of Gen. Burbridge. having
crossed the mountains into Tennessee,
and having joined those of Gen. Stone
man, made a combined descent upon
the rich valleys of West Virginia Few
successes during the war have been
more splendid and complete. The De
partment Of Gen. Breckenridge was at
one blow swept away.
Returning from this raid through
the mountains of Virginia and Ken
lucky without food. on foot, shoeless
and half naked, the troops of Gen. Bur-
bridge suffered all that humanity could
endure and live. In those dreary noun
tains in the last dark days of Deem
army gave to history another Valley
Forge and to the record OF human
endurance graphic page. Transferred
at length in February, 1865, to the De-
partment Of East Tennessee, the regi-
ment girded its loins for the last great
strenuous raid-one of the crushing 81
multaneous blows beneath which the
Confederacy yielded up its life.
Through North Carolina into Vir-
ginia, tearing up leagues of the Ten
nessee Railroad just as Gen. Lee was
turning his eye toward ii as a path Of
escape for his army, thence down again
into the Carolinas, capturing Salisbury
with its prison and garrison, destroying
the last railroads by which escape from
Virginia was possible; then sweeping
In pursuit of the rebel President
through South Carolina and Georgia,
and finally returning after IS days of
marching, fighting and foraging, they
find the war over, the dark nightmare
OF rebellion past, and their part in the
great work nobly and honorably done
There is no feature of our recent trou-
BILE more gratifying to us as a people
than the happy eagerness with which
our veterans return to the quiet ways
of peace-the readiness with which the
soldier is merged again into the citizen
Nothing should make us prouder of
ourselves than the fact that we are not
a military people, but one which, if a
war is forced upon us. can leave our
fields and desks and bear ourselves in
the fight as becomes freemen, and this