Civil War

DEDICATED TO THOSE WHO EMBODIED SERVICE ABOVE SELF, GIVING THEIR LIVES SO THAT WE MAY REMAIN FREE.
DONATED BY THE ROTARY CLUB OF NORDONIA HILLS

(Above inscription on base)
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“. . .TO MARCH SLOWLY INTO DANGER AND SEE AND FEEL THAT EACH SECOND YOUR CHANCE FOR DEATH IS SURER THAN IT WAS THE SECOND BEFORE. THE DESIRE TO BREAK LOOSE; TO RUN, TO FIRE, TO DO SOMETHING, NO MATTER WHAT, RATHER THAN TO WALK, IS ALMOST IRRESISTABLE. . .”
UNION LT. JOHN MEAD GOULD AT THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM SEPTEMBER 17,
1862

UNION SOLIDERS TRIED TO EXPRESS IN THEIR LETTERS AND JOURNALS WHAT THEY HEARD, SAW, AND FELT.

UNION LT. JOHN MEAD GOULD AT THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM SEPTEMBER 17,

IN FOUR YEARS, THERE WERE OVER 10,000 SKIRMISHES AND BATTLES FOUGHT TO PRESERVE THE UNION AND FREE THE SLAVES. THEY WERE GENERALLY FOUGHT FROM DAWN TO DUSK AS NIGHTS WERE “BLACK AS PITCH”. BATTLES, SUCH AS ANTIETAM, GETTYSBURG, CHANCELLORSVILLE, CHICKAMAUGA, GAINES’ MILL, SHILOH, AND OTHERS, WERE HELL ON EARTH.

THE BLOODIEST SINGLE DAY IN THE CIVIL WAR WAS THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM. ON SEPTEMBER 17, 1862, 75,500 UNION SOLDIERS AND 38,000 REBELS CLASHED. ON THAT DAY THE UNION SUFFERED 12,401 CASUALTIES (KILLED, WOUNDED, AND CAPTURED OR MISSING); THE CONFEDERATE LOSSES WERE 10,300.

ON JULY 27-28, 1862, IN THE BATTLE OF GAINES’S MILL, THE UNION LOST 6,837 AND THE CONFEDERATES 7,993 IN APPROXIMATELY 16 HOURS OF FIGHTING.

ANOTHER WAS THE BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS. IN MAY 1864, OVER 100,000 UNION INFANTRY AND 61,000 REBELS FOUGHT. UNION PRIVATE R. E. MCBRIDE WROTE – “THE DEAD LAY IN HEAPS AND OTHERS TOOK PROTECTION BEHIND THEM. . .THE EARTH WAS LITERALLY DRENCHED IN BLOOD.” SPARKS FROM THE FIRING OF THOUSANDS OF RIFLES ADDED TO THE CARNAGE BY STARTING A FOREST FIRE. AS THE FIRE AND SMOKE SWEPT OVER THEM, THE SCREAMS AND PLEADINGS FROM THE WOUNDED AND DYING COULD BE HEARD THROUGHOUT THE BATTLE.

MORE INFANTRYMEN WOULD DIE NOT IN BATTLE, BUT FROM MALARIA, CHICKENPOX, SMALLPOX, DYSENTERY, AND CHOLERA DUE TO POOR CAMP SANITATION AND THE SHORTAGE OF MEDICAL PERSONNEL.

OUTSIDE OF COMBAT, NO PHYSICAL HARDSHIPS WERE MORE DIFFICULT THAN THE MARCHES. POORLY CLOTHED SOLDIERS FREQUENTLY MARCHED WITHOUT FOOD AND WATER. REGARDLESS OF THE WEATHER, THEY AVERAGED 8 TO 13 MILES PER DAY. WHEN MARCHING TO JOIN A BATTLE, THEY WOULD DO 20 MILES OR MORE. IT WAS NOT UNCOMMON FOR THE MEN TO BED DOWN AT NIGHT WITH NO SHELTER FROM THE ELEMENTS.

OHIO INFANTRYMAN W.A. KEESEY DESCRIBED ONE SUCH MARCH – “THE HEAT WAS SO INTENSE THAT THE DUST BURNED US. MANY OF THE MEN WERE FALLING OUT BY THE WAY-SIDE . . . IT WAS SAD TO SEE SO MANY MEN COLLAPSING UNDER THE BLASTING HEAT; . . . WITH ‘DEATH BY SUN-STROKE’ SOON TO BE WRITTEN AFTER THEIR NAMES UPON THE ROLL.”

ANOTHER BECAME KNOWN AS THE ‘MUD MARCH’. THE WEATHER WAS DRY WHEN THE UNION STARTED OUT ON JANUARY 20, 1863. THE NEXT DAY THE RAIN BEGAN. IT STARTED AS A DRIZZLE BUT TURNED INTO A TORRENTIAL RAIN THAT LASTED FOR DAYS. THE MUD SUCKED AT THEIR BOOTS. HUNDREDS OF DRAFT ANIMALS DIED TRYING TO PULL THE WAGONS AND ARTILLERY. THEY MOVED LESS THAN TWO MILES A DAY. ON THE 23RD, THEY WERE ORDERED TO RETURN TO WHERE THEY STARTED.

FOR FOUR DAYS IN APRIL 1865, THEY MARCHED OVER 30 MILES A DAY WITHOUT FOOD, WATER OR SLEEP IN THE HOPES OF FINISHING THE REBELS AND ENDING THE WAR.

UNITED STATES UNION CASUALTIES:
• 140,414 KILLED IN BATTLE
• 281,881WOUNDED
• 224,097 DIED OF DISEASE
• PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE UNITED STATES MILITARY, ASSASSINATED