Trumbull County Boys: Company H, 20th Ohio Volunteer Infantry
Preface: The Long Road South
We are introduced to the 20th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Company H, tracking their journey through the Civil War from the perspective of the common soldier .
The author grounds the narrative in his personal connection to Private Samuel Hughes, utilizing letters, pension affidavits, and service records to trace the unit's path through some of the war's most consequential campaigns.
Chapter 1: Answering the Call
Following the Union defeat at Bull Run in July 1861, President Lincoln issues a call for three-year volunteers.
Ohio's Western Reserve, a region steeped in New England heritage and staunch anti-slavery sentiment, answers the call with immense fervor.
Company H is formed in Trumbull and Mahoning counties, heavily populated by tightly knit groups of brothers, cousins, and neighbors.
Chapter 2: Camp King (October 1861 – February 1862)
The regiment stages at Camp Chase before deploying to Camp King to protect the strategic manufacturing and transportation hub of Cincinnati.
The recruits undergo a jarring transition to military life, enduring relentless drill and guard duty under the strict command of Colonel Charles Whittlesey.
The company forges its identity through shared hardships and legendary pranks
Disease strikes the camp during the harsh winter, claiming the life of a young soldier and introducing the men to the lethal reality of camp illness.
Chapter 3: Trial by Fire at Donelson (February – March 1862)
The 20th Ohio travels by steamboat up the Cumberland River to join General U.S. Grant's siege of Fort Donelson.
The untested troops endure freezing temperatures, snow, and artillery fire, holding their ground in reserve during a major Confederate breakout attempt.
Following the fort's surrender, the regiment is assigned the massive logistical burden of guarding and transporting thousands of Confederate prisoners
Chapter 4: The Bloody River (April – June 1862)
Stationed near Pittsburg Landing, the regiment narrowly avoids the Confederate surprise attack at Shiloh due to a delayed and confusing march under General Lew Wallace.
On the battle's second day, the 20th Ohio fights on the extreme right flank, replacing their outdated flintlock muskets with superior British Enfield rifles
The regiment participates in the grueling siege of Corinth, Mississippi, relying heavily on trench digging and defensive earthworks.
Camp diseases like typhoid, pneumonia, and dysentery prove far more deadly than combat, steadily depleting the company's ranks
Chapter 5: The Spy
Private Lorain "Bunker" Ruggles leverages his pre-war experience in the South to become a highly effective scout and spy.
Infiltrating enemy territory disguised in a Confederate uniform, Ruggles gathers critical intelligence about troop strengths and movements.
His daring exploits protect the Union outpost at Grand Junction from surprise attacks, cementing his reputation among high command as an invaluable intelligence asset.
Chapter 6: The Grind in Tennessee (Summer – Fall 1862)
The regiment performs monotonous, exhausting garrison and fatigue duty in Bolivar, Tennessee.
The brutal reality of irregular warfare hits home when company bugler William Ray is murdered by Confederate guerrillas while traveling unarmed on a riverboat.
At the Battle of Bolivar on August 30, the 20th Ohio repels a massive Confederate cavalry assault despite extreme heat and the collapse of several companies.
Ruggles and a squad of Company H men are unjustly imprisoned for 58 days in a local guardhouse on false plundering charges.
Chapter 7: The Fire in the Rear and the Water Ahead (December 1862 – May 1863)
The regiment suffers through the collapse of Grant's Central Mississippi Campaign and a bitter winter marked by reduced rations and rampant dysentery.
Angered by anti-war "Copperhead" politicians in Ohio, the men draft a fierce resolution condemning Northern traitors and affirming their absolute commitment to the Union.
The soldiers engage in grueling engineering work at Lake Providence to bypass Vicksburg, battling mud, floods, and relentless swarms of biting gnats.
Chapter 8: The Battle of Raymond (May 1863)
Crossing the Mississippi River at Bruinsburg, the regiment marches inland and collides with Confederate forces.
The 20th Ohio engages in a brutal, point-blank firefight in the mud of Fourteen Mile Creek, using the creek bank as a natural breastwork against charging Texans.
Despite taking severe casualties, the line holds after General John A. Logan personally rallies the faltering troops.
Following the victory, the exhausted, bloodied Union soldiers feast on a picnic supper that the citizens of Raymond had prepared for the Confederate army.
Chapter 9: The Road to Vicksburg (May 1863)
Operating completely cut off from traditional supply lines, the regiment rapidly marches to capture the Mississippi capital of Jackson.
The 20th Ohio plays a critical role at the Battle of Champion Hill, charging Confederate lines under severe fire and helping force Pemberton's army into a panicked retreat.
The regiment pursues the fleeing enemy, securing the vital bridgeheads at the Big Black River.
Chapter 10: The Grand Assaults (May 1863)
Arriving at the Vicksburg defenses, starving and exhausted, the men are confronted by massive, impregnable Confederate earthworks.
A rushed frontal assault on May 19 is a bloody, unmitigated failure.
A second grand assault on May 22 traps the 20th Ohio in a deeply enfiladed road cut, forcing them to hug the earth for hours under plunging fire before retreating.
The horrific casualties and the stench of the unburied dead lead to a surreal, temporary burial truce where Union and Confederate soldiers mingle and trade between the lines.
Chapter 11: The Spade and the Rifle (May – July 1863)
With frontal assaults abandoned, the Union army settles into a 47-day formal siege, forcing the men to dig deep approach trenches (saps) in the suffocating heat.
The trenches become a deadly sniper's war, where raising a head above the parapet means instant death, claiming the lives of Company H soldiers
Union engineers successfully detonate a massive mine under the Third Louisiana Redan, accelerating the Confederate collapse.
On July 4, 1863, the starving Confederate garrison surrenders, giving the Union total control of the Mississippi River.
Chapter 12: The Fire in the Rear and the Dust Ahead (July – November 1863)
Following the victory at Vicksburg, the regiment transitions to occupation duty, but disease continues to heavily attrit the company.
The men endure a blistering, dust-choked expedition to Monroe, Louisiana, suffering severe dehydration and heatstroke while combating guerrilla forces.
The political battle peaks during the 1863 Ohio gubernatorial election; the regiment overwhelmingly votes for the pro-Union candidate.
Chapter 13: Veteran Volunteers (December 1863 – January 1864)
The War Department offers bounties and a 30-day home furlough to soldiers willing to re-enlist for the duration of the war.
A vast majority of the 20th Ohio re-enlists, inspired by their deep fraternal bonds and an impassioned speech by Lorain Ruggles.
Chapter 14: The Meridian Campaign (February 1864)
Before returning home, the regiment participates in General Sherman's Meridian expedition, operating under a strict doctrine of rapid mobility and devastation.
Ruggles continues his intelligence work, experiencing several close calls and chaotic skirmishes behind enemy lines.
The regiment spends five grueling days systematically destroying Confederate railroad infrastructure around Meridian, Mississippi.
Chapter 15: Furlough (March – April 1864)
The "Veteran Volunteers" finally depart for their long-awaited 30-day furlough in Ohio, while non-veterans are left behind in Vicksburg.
The journey home is marked by the soldiers reasserting their civilian dignity against military bureaucracy, including Ruggles defying generals and steamboat clerks.
The community in the Western Reserve honors the returning soldiers with grand feasts and civic celebrations before the men are called back to the front.
Chapter 16: The Atlanta Campaign Begins (May – July 1864)
Returning from furlough, the regiment is issued brand-new Springfield rifles at Cairo and marches into the rugged, mountainous terrain of northern Georgia.
The campaign becomes a grueling slog of endless marching, rain, and relentless artillery duels at Kennesaw Mountain.
The psychological toll of the sniper's war is driven home when Captain Neal is shot and killed instantly while conversing in camp.
Chapter 17: The Battle of Atlanta (July 1864)
On July 21, the regiment captures the commanding heights of Bald Hill and frantically entrenches.
During the catastrophic Battle of Atlanta on July 22, the regiment is flanked from the rear by Hardee's corps, forcing the men to jump back and forth over their own breastworks in desperate hand-to-hand combat.
The regiment suffers devastating casualties, including the death of beloved comrades, the loss of General McPherson, and the horrific wounding of General Force.
Chapter 18: The Fall of Atlanta and the Great Departure (August – November 1864)
Sherman abandons the static siege and executes a flanking maneuver to Jonesboro, cutting Atlanta's final rail lines and forcing the Confederate evacuation of the city.
As original three-year enlistments expire, veterans muster out and return home, leaving the company heavily reliant on draftees and paid substitutes.
The regiment participates in the 1864 Presidential Election, casting their absentee ballots overwhelmingly for Abraham Lincoln
Chapter 19: March to the Sea (November – December 1864)
After burning Atlanta's military infrastructure and cutting their supply lines, Sherman's army plunges into the Georgia interior.
The 20th Ohio embraces the "bummer" lifestyle, ruthlessly foraging across the state to feed the army and destroy the South's capacity to wage war.
While the main army successfully captures Savannah by Christmas, a detachment of the regiment trapped in Nashville suffers terribly from winter exposure and disease.
Chapter 20: Andersonville
This chapter shifts focus to the tragic fate of Company H men captured during the Battle of Atlanta
The prisoners are thrown into the horrific Andersonville stockade, enduring unimaginable overcrowding, lack of shelter, and lethal violence.
Deprived of adequate food and clean water, the prisoners face rampant starvation and scurvy, leading to the agonizing deaths of several 20th Ohio boys.
Chapter 21: The Hell of the Carolinas (January – March 1865)
The regiment undertakes a seemingly impossible winter march through the flooded, freezing swamps of South Carolina.
The men labor ceaselessly in waist-deep, icy water to build corduroy roads and force hostile river crossings under Confederate artillery fire.
The campaign culminates in the Battle of Bentonville, the final major clash against Johnston's army, where the hardened veterans successfully repel Confederate assaults.
Epilogue: The Long Peace (July 1865 and Beyond)
The joy of the Confederate surrender is temporarily shattered by the profound grief of President Lincoln's assassination.
The 20th Ohio marches triumphantly in the Grand Review in Washington, D.C., showcasing their rugged, weathered appearance before finally mustering out of service.
The veterans return to civilian life carrying deep physical and psychological scars, but maintain their fraternal bonds through local reunions and the enduring legacy of their descendants.