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During the American Civil War, the State of Ohio played a key role in providing troops, military officers, and supplies to the Union army. Due to its central location in the Northern United States and burgeoning population, Ohio was both politically and logistically important to the war effort. more...

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Despite the state boasting a number of very powerful Republican politicians, portions of Southern Ohio followed the Peace Democrats and openly opposed President Lincoln's policies. Ohio played an important part in the Underground Railroad prior to the war, and remained a haven for escaped and runaway slaves during the war years.

The state raised nearly 320,000 soldiers for the Union army, behind only New York and Pennsylvania in total manpower contributed to the military. A disproportionate number of leading generals hailed from Ohio, including Ulysses S. Grant, William T. Sherman, and Philip H. Sheridan. Five Ohio-born Civil War officers would later serve as the President of the United States, and the Fighting McCooks gained fame as the largest immediate family group ever to become officers in the U.S. Army.

The state was spared many of the horrors of war, although Morgan's Raid in the summer of 1863 spread terror among the populace. Only two relatively minor battles were fought within the state's borders. However, Ohio troops fought in nearly every major campaign during the war, and nearly 7,000 Buckeye soldiers were killed in action.

History

Ohio politics during the war

Although much of southern Ohio's economy depended upon trade with the South (due in part to the Ohio River, which bordered the slave states of Virginia and Kentucky) most of the state was solidly against secession and in favor of a strong central government. During the 1860 Presidential Election, Ohio voted in favor of Abraham Lincoln (231,709 votes or 52.3% of the ballots cast) over Stephen Douglas (187,421; 42.3%), John C. Breckinridge (11,406; 2.6%), and John Bell (12,194; 2.8%).

A number of men with Ohio ties would serve important roles in Lincoln's Cabinet and administration, including Steubenville's Edwin M. Stanton as Attorney General and then Secretary of War, and former Ohio U.S. Senator and Governor Salmon P. Chase as Secretary of the Treasury. Prominent Ohio politicians in Congress included Senators John Sherman and Benjamin F. Wade.

During the war, three men would serve as Governor of Ohio – William Dennison, David Tod and John Brough. Without being asked by the War Department, Dennison sent Ohio troops into western Virginia, where they guarded the Wheeling Convention, which eventually led to the admission of West Virginia as a free state. Tod became known as "the soldier's friend," for his determined efforts to help equip and sustain Ohio's troops, and was noted for his quick response in calling out the state militia to battle Confederate raiders. Brough strongly supported the Lincoln Administration's war efforts and was key to persuading other Midwestern governors to raise 100-day regiments such as the 131st Ohio Infantry in early 1864 to release more seasoned troops for duty in Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's spring campaign.

Read more at Wikipedia.org