2nd Ohio Infantry The 2nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry ( or 2nd OVI ) was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War . Three - months regiment . With the outbreak of the Civil War in the spring of 1861 , President Abraham Lincoln called for volunteers from each Northern state . In April , recruiters quickly filled the quota for a number of regiments in the state of Ohio , with two regiments enlisting for 3 - months , including the 1st Ohio Infantry and the 2nd Ohio . Mustering in at Columbus , Ohio on April 18 , 1861 , the 1 , 000 - man regiment was under the command of Colonel Lewis Wilson . It soon embarked on trains for Washington , D . C . , where it served in the fortifications surrounding the capital until July . It was then attached to Schenck ' s Brigade , Tyler ' s Division , McDowell ' s Army of Northeastern Virginia . On July 16 , the regiment marched to Manassas , Virginia , then the next day occupied Fairfax Courthouse . It participated in the fighting at the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21 . It retreated to Washington following General McDowell ' s stunning defeat . When the 3 - month term of enlistment expired , the regiment mustered out July 31 , 1861 . Three - years regiment . After the term of service was over in August , a number of the men re - enlisted for 3 - years in the reconstituted 2nd OVI , under the command of Colonel Leonard A . Harris in the brigade of William " Bull " Nelson . The new 2nd Ohio was organized at Camp Dennison in Columbus from July 17 to September 20 , 1861 . The regiment left Ohio for service in Kentucky on September 4 , operating near Olympian Springs , Kentucky , until November . It first " saw the elephant " ( initial combat experience ) in a skirmish at West Liberty , Kentucky , on October 23 . The 2nd OVI was attached to 9th Brigade , Army of the Ohio from October until December . It served in a number of posts in Kentucky , including Louisville , through February 1862 , when it was part of the army ' s advance on Confederate - held Bowling Green and Nashville . After briefly occupying Nashville , the regiment advanced to Murfreesboro , Tennessee , in March under Ormsby Mitchel . Eight men from the regiment participated in the Great Locomotive Chase , with three being executed as spies . The 2nd OVI played a role in assaulting Confederates near Huntsville and Bridgeport in Alabama in April . After guarding the Memphis and Charleston Railroad much of the summer , the 2nd Ohio marched back to Louisville in August and September in pursuit of the Confederate army of Braxton Bragg , eventually fighting at the Battle of Perryville on October 8 before returning to Nashville for most of the rest of the year . The 2nd OVI , reassigned to the 1st Brigade , 1st Division , XIV Corps , Army of the Cumberland , saw more hard action at the Battle of Stones River in late December and early January . There , the regiment captured the flag of the 30th Arkansas Infantry , but lost Colonel John Kell and nine other men . Anson G . McCook ( of the famed " Fighting McCooks " ) replaced Kell and led the regiment for the remainder of the war . The regiment remained in Murfreesboro until June when it participated in the Tullahoma Campaign , fighting at the Battle of Hoover ' s Gap . In the early autumn , it participated in the Chickamauga Campaign and the subsequent Battle of Chattanooga . Chickamauga in particular was hard on the regiment , with 183 soldiers killed , wounded , or captured , and 36 men who were taken as prisoners of war later died in the infamous Andersonville prison camp . As Ulysses S . Grant ' s army pursued the retiring Confederates into Georgia in late November through May 1864 , the 2nd OVI saw action at a number of small battles , including Ringgold , Dalton , Tunnel Hill , Buzzard ' s Roost Gap and Rocky Faced Ridge . It served in the successful Atlanta Campaign in May , including more hard fighting at the Battle of Resaca and the fighting at Pickett ' s Mills , Kennesaw Mountain , and Peachtree Creek . It remained in the siege lines around Atlanta until August 1 , when the much depleted regiment was ordered to the rear at Chattanooga as the term of enlistment neared expiration . The 2nd Ohio mustered out of the Union army in Columbus on October 10 , 1864 . Only 350 men were still on the active roster , although less than 150 were actually in the ranks when the regiment left Georgia . A number of the healthy men re - enlisted and were transferred to 18th Ohio Infantry . Colonel McCook stayed in the army as a brigade commander , ending the war with the rank of brigadier general . Casualties . The regiment lost a total of 243 men during service ; 9 officers and 96 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded , 138 enlisted men died of disease . Notable members . Four men from the 2nd OVI received the Medal of Honor for their actions during the Civil War :