52nd OHIO INFANTRY

OHIO CIVIL WAR SOLDIERS

In the summer of 1862, Ohio Governor David Tod authorized the creation of the 52nd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry and recruited Daniel McCook Jr. to serve as the command’s first colonel. In the American Civil War, Ohio provided the Union Army with 260 regiments, of 330,000 Ohio men, including 5,092 African Americans, served in the Union military during the war. The majority of the men in the 52nd were from Jefferson, Belmont, and Hamilton Counties, but other counties were represented as well.

The 52nd OVI was attached to 36th Brigade, 11th Division, Army of the Ohio. Their first taste of combat was at the Battle of Perryville, Kentucky on October 8, 1862. In this engagement, the 52nd’s brigade attacked Confederate units on Peter’s Hill at 4:00 AM, driving the Southerners from this position. They spent the rest of the day in attacks and counterattacks in the cornfields and tangled forest, always holding their ground and performing well.