55th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment muster and descriptive roll

This muster roll is a muster and descriptive roll of a detachment of recruits, dated October 23, 1863, for the 55th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (O.V.I.) Regiment. The muster rolls for the 55th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment are part of State Archives Series 2440, Muster-in and muster-out rolls, 1861-1865, for Ohio soldiers serving the Union Army during the American Civil War. This collection consists of muster-in, muster, and muster-out rolls for officers, field and staff, and soldiers of Companies A-K, detachments, military correspondences, index books, and a handwritten list of recruits. The muster rolls may include each soldier’s name, rank, age, date and place of muster, date of last pay, distance traveled to point of rendezvous, distance traveled from place of discharge to place of residence, clothing account, bounty due, and comments about soldier’s service record. Muster-in rolls usually include each soldier’s birth place, occupation, a physical description, and notes if the soldier was killed, wounded, captured, discharged, or deserted. Musters are arranged by infantry, artillery, cavalry, or sharp-shooter regiment or battery. The soldiers of the 55th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment were organized and trained at Norwalk, Ohio, and came from Huron, Erie, Seneca, Wyandot, Sandusky, and Crawford Counties. Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiments were three year enlistment periods, including the 55th. Soldiers were mustered in from September 13, 1861 through December 31, 1861 at Camp McClellan in Norwalk, Ohio, in Huron County. In the winter of 1863, the 55th O.V.I. began a re-enlistment campaign where the regiment would be rewarded with the title Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry (O.V.V.I.) if most of the men re-enlisted. With high re-enlistment numbers, the 55th O.V.I. became the 55th O.V.V.I., and soldiers were finally mustered out and discharged on July 19, 1865