Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/146

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��HISTORY OF OHIO.

��preserved. The white heat of patriotism and fe- alty to the flag that had been victorious in three wars, and had never met but temporary defeat then melted all parties, and dissolved all hesitation, and, April 18, 18G1, by a unanimous vote of ninety-nine Representatives in its favor, there was passed a bill appropriating $500,000 to carry into effect the requisition of the President, to protect the National Government, of which sum $450,000 were to purchase arms and equipments for the troops required by that requisition as the quota of Ohio, and $50,000 as an extraordinary contingent fund for the Governor. The commissioners of the State Sinking Fund were authorized, by the same bill, to borrow this money, on the 6 per cent bonds of the State, and to issue for the same certificates, freeing such bonds from taxation. Then followed other such legislation that declared the property of volunteers free from execution for debt during their term of service; that declared any resident of the State, who gave aid and comfort to the enemies of the Union, guilty of treason against the State, to be punished by imprisonment at hard labor for life; and, as it had become already evi- dent that thousands of militia, beyond Ohio's quota of the President's call, would volunteer, the Legislature, adopting the sagacious suggestion of Gov. Dennison, resolved that all excess of volunteers should be retained and paid for service, under direction of the Governor. Thereupon a bill was passed, authorizing the acceptance of volunteers to form ten regiments, and providing $500,000 for their arms and equipments, and $1,500,000 more to be disbursed for troops in case of an in- vasion of the State. Then other legislation was enacted, looking to and providing against the ship- ment from or through the State of arms or mu- nitions of war, to States either assuming to be neutral or in open rebellion; organizing the whole body of the State militia; providing suitable offi- cers for duty on the staff of the Governor ; re- quiring contracts for subsistence of volunteers to be let to the lowest bidder, and authorizing the appointment of additional general officers.

" Before the adjournment of that Legislature, the Speaker of the House had resigned to take command of one of the regiments then about to start for Washington City ; two leading Senators had been appointed Brigadier Generals, and many, in fact nearly all, of the other members of both houses had, in one capacity or another, entered the military service. It was the first war legislature ever elected in Ohio, and, under sudden pressure,

��nobly met the first shock, and enacted the first measures of law for war. Laboring under difficul- ties inseparable from a condition so unexpected, and in the performance of duties so novel, it may be historically stated that for patriotism, zeal and ability, the Ohio Legislature of 1861 was the equal of any of its successors ; while in that exu- berance of patriotism which obliterated party lines and united all in a common effort to meet the threatened integrity of the United States as a nation, it surpassed them both.

" The war was fought, the slave power forever destroyed, and under additional amendments to her organic law, the LTnited States wiped the stain of human slavery from her escutcheon, liberating over four million human beings, nineteen-twentieths of whom were native-born residents.

"When Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House, Ohio had two hundred regiments of all arms in the National service. In the course of the war, she had furnished two hundred and thirty regiments, besides twenty -six independent batteries of artillery, five independent companies of cavalry, several companies of sharpshooters, large parts of five regiments credited to the West Virginia con- tingent, two regiments credited to the Kentucky contingent, two transferred to the United States colored troops, and a large proportion of the rank and file of the Fifty-fourth and Sixty-fifth Massa- chusetts Regiments, also colored men. Of these or- ganizations, twenty-three were infantry regiments furnished on the first call of the President, an ex- cess of nearly one-half over the State's quota ; one hundred and ninety-one were infantry regiments, furnished on subsequent calls of the President — one hundred and seventeen for three years, twenty- seven for one year, two for six months, two for three months, and forty-two for one hundred days. Thirteen were cavalry, and three artillery for three years. Of these three-years troops, over twenty thousand re-enlisted, as veterans, at the end of their long term of service, to fight till the war would end."

As original members of these organizations, Ohio furnished to the National service the magnificent army of 310,654 actual soldiers, omitting from the above number all those who paid commuta- tion money, veteran enlistments, and citizens who enlisted as soldiers or sailors in other States. The count is made from the reports of the Provost Marshal General to the War Department. Penn- sylvania gave not quite 28,000 more, while Illinois fell 48,000 behind; Indiana, 116,000 less;

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