3rd Ohio Volunteer Cavalry Regiment correspondences

These are military correspondences concerning the 3rd Ohio Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, dating 1886-1888. These records for the 3rd Ohio Volunteer Cavalry (O.V.C.) 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-M, detachments, military correspondences, and index books. 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 3rd Ohio Volunteer Cavalry Regiment came from Huron, Erie, Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky, Richland (and neighboring counties), Lorain, Champaign, Seneca, Fulton, Williams, Crawford, and Wood Counties. The 3rd O.V.C. was organized for three years of service at Camp Worchester in Monroeville, Ohio, in Huron County, on September 4, 1861, under command of General Lewis Zahm. In January 1862, the regiment moved to Camp Dennison near Cincinnati, and from there moved throughout Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and Kentucky, chasing Confederate forces and attacking enemy camps. In September and October 1862, the 3rd O.V.C. pursued Confederate General Bragg’s Army into Louisville, and at Beardstown where they were reinforced by companies from the 3rd O.V.C. and the 3rd Kentucky Cavalry, engaged the Confederates but were not successful in their attack. A detachment of the 3rd O.V.C. encountered Confederate General John Hunt Morgan during the Battle of Perryville in 1862, waking up completely surrounded by Morgan’s men, and after refusing surrender, were captured and paroled and sent to Camp Chase, Ohio. Later, the second and third battalions forced Morgan to retreat to Cumberland, Tennessee, after attacking his camp. Later, a detachment chased rebel mules for twenty-six miles up the Cumberland River, and successfully seized 146 mules and raided supplies from rebel stores. Over the course of its service, the 3rd O.V.C. engaged in many skirmishes and battles, including attacks at Corinth, Perryville, Murfreesboro (Stones River), Etowah, Kenesaw Mountain (June 1864), Noonday Creek (June-July 1864), and the crossing of the Chattahoochee River (July 1864), as well as the Battles of Franklin (November 1864) and Nashville (December 1864). Some soldiers were mustered out in early 1864; the 3rd was furloughed, then with veterans and new recruits, was reorganized and reassembled at Monroeville and returned south and took part in the Atlanta Campaign (May-Sept. 1864). The 3rd O.V.C. was also involved in the pursuit and capture of Confederate President Jefferson Davis in 1865. The regiment was ordered to return its horses and arms at Macon, and then returned to Nashville to muster-out on August 4, 1865. The 3rd O.V.C. then returned to Camp Chase to receive payment for their service and were discharged on August 14, 1865