1st Ohio Infantry The 1st Regiment , Ohio Volunteer Infantry ( or 1st OVI ) was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War . It served in the Western Theater in a number of campaigns and battles . Three - months regiment . With the outbreak of the Civil War in the spring of 1861 , President Abraham Lincoln called for 75 , 000 volunteers from nearly every state . In April , recruiters quickly filled the quota for a number of regiments in the state of Ohio , with several regiments enlisting for 3 - months , including a command designated as the 1st Ohio . Mustering in April 17 , 1861 , under Colonel Alexander M . McCook , it travelled by train to Washington , D . C . for garrison duty in the capital ' s fortifications and defenses until July . The regiment was placed in Schenck ' s Brigade , Tyler ' s Division , Irvin McDowell ' s Army of Northeastern Virginia . It first saw action at Vienna , Virginia , on June 17 and again on July 9 before occupying Fairfax Court House . It fought at the First Battle of Bull Run and helped cover the army ' s bitter retreat to Washington . The regiment soon returned to Ohio and mustered out August 2 . 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 1st OVI , under the command of Col . Benjamin F . Smith . The regiment was organized at Camp Corwin in Dayton between August 5 and October 30 , receiving musket s , uniforms , and accoutrements . On the last day of August , the regiment entrained for Cincinnati for additional training and guard duty . The 1st OVI left Ohio in November 1861 for Louisville , Kentucky . From there , they were posted in a number of Kentucky towns through February 1862 , striving to keep the border state in the Union . In late winter 1862 , the regiment was attached to the 4th Brigade , 2nd Division , Army of the Ohio , serving in Tennessee under Don Carlos Buell at Shiloh . There on April 7 , the regiment became engaged about 10 a . m . , losing 2 men killed , 2 officers and 45 men wounded , and 1 man missing . Following Shiloh , the regiment served in Mississippi during the Siege of Corinth before moving to a variety of places in Alabama . In August , the regiment returned to Kentucky as the army pursued Confederates under Braxton Bragg , fighting at the Battle of Perryville . The well - travelled regiment then marched to Nashville , Tennessee , in October and November . With the restructuring of the western army in November and the replacement of General Buell with William Rosecrans , the 1st OVI was assigned to the 3rd Brigade , 2nd Division , Right Wing XIV Army Corps , Army of the Cumberland . It stayed in Nashville until December 26 , when the regiment departed for a short campaign that culminated in the Battle of Stones River . For much of 1863 , the 1st Ohio was stationed in Tennessee and assigned to the 3rd Brigade , 2nd Division , XX Corps , Army of the Cumberland , until October when the IV Corps was formed from the remnants of the heavily depleted XX Corps and XXI Corps . Under the command of Maj . Joab A . Stafford , the regiment saw action at the Battle of Chickamauga , a stinging defeat for Rosecrans ' army . It marched to Knoxville as part of the army relieving the Confederate siege of Union forces at that city . Yet another reorganization of the army resulted in the 1st OVI being assigned to the 2nd Brigade , 3rd Division , 4th Army Corps , Army of the Cumberland , until September 1864 . It fought under Grant at Missionary Ridge , where the 1st OVI was the first regiment to plant its colors on the hilltop , and with Sherman in the Atlanta campaign . The regiment spent much of the rest of the fall on scouting duty in Tennessee . The 1st Ohio Volunteer Infantry mustered out of the Union army from September 24 to October 14 , 1864 , when the 3 - year term of enlistment expired . A number of recruits re - enlisted and transferred to the 18th Ohio Volunteer Infantry on October 31 , 1864 , and remained on duty through the end of the Civil War . The regiment lost during its service 5 officers and 116 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded in combat and 130 enlisted men by disease ( a total of 251 fatalities ) . It was engaged in 24 battles and skirmishes , lost 527 men in action , and marched 2 , 500 miles . Following the war , the veterans erected a monument on the Shiloh National Military Park . The regiment is also commemorated on the Soldiers ' and Sailors ' Monument in Public Square in downtown Cleveland . The tattered battle flags of both the three - months and three - years regiments ( as well as the guidon of Company B , the Lafayette Guards ) are preserved in the museum of the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus . Another " 1st Ohio Volunteer Infantry " ( unrelated to the Civil War regiment ) existed in the Mexican - American War . Still another regiment of the same name was organized April 26 , 1898 , for duty in the Spanish - American War .