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| 20th Ohio Infantry | |
|---|---|
| Unit name | 20th Ohio Infantry |
| Country | United States |
| Allegiance | Union |
| Branch | Union Army |
| Type | Infantry (military) |
| Dates | May 1861 – July 1865 |
| Size | Regiment |
| Notable commanders | William H. Gibson; Mahlon Black |
20th Ohio Infantry The 20th Ohio Infantry was an infantry regiment raised in Ohio for service in the American Civil War, serving in the Army of the Ohio and later in the Army of the Cumberland and Army of the Tennessee. The regiment saw action in western theaters including Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and the Carolinas Campaign, participating in major engagements of the War of the Rebellion. Officers and enlisted men included veterans from prewar militia organizations and veterans who later served in veterans' organizations and state politics.
The regiment was mustered at Zanesville, Ohio and other Ohio camps in May 1861 under the authority of President Abraham Lincoln and state authorities led by William Dennison. Early organization drew recruits from counties such as Muskingum County, Guernsey County, Morgan County, Athens County, and Washington County. Initial commanders included Colonel Mahlon Black and Lieutenant Colonel William H. Gibson, who had prior service in local militias and political ties to the Ohio General Assembly. Federal mustering followed guidelines from the United States War Department and coordination with the War Department.
The regiment was assigned to brigades and divisions within the Army of the Ohio, later transferring to corps of the Army of the Cumberland under commanders such as Don Carlos Buell and William Rosecrans. It performed garrison, reconnaissance, picket, and offensive duties during Camp Chase mobilizations and field campaigns. The 20th Ohio fought in campaigns directed by Ulysses S. Grant's contemporaries and received orders influenced by strategic directives from Henry Halleck and theater commands in the western theater. Elements of the regiment participated in movements during the Tullahoma Campaign and were present during the consolidation of Union control in Middle Tennessee.
Regimental actions included engagements at Shiloh, Stone River, the Chickamauga Campaign, the Chattanooga Campaign, the Atlanta Campaign, and the Franklin–Nashville Campaign. The unit was engaged at the Battle of Shiloh where western armies under Ulysses S. Grant and Don Carlos Buell faced Confederate forces led by Albert Sidney Johnston and Pierre G. T. Beauregard. During the Battle of Stones River (also called Battle of Murfreesboro), the regiment served in confrontations involving commanders William S. Rosecrans and Braxton Bragg. At Chickamauga, the regiment endured fighting linked to the maneuvers of George H. Thomas and losses during Confederate offensives by James Longstreet. At Chattanooga, the regiment participated in operations associated with William T. Sherman's and George H. Thomas's drives and actions near Missionary Ridge. In the Atlanta Campaign the regiment took part in sieges and assaults connected to John Bell Hood and maneuvers ordered by William T. Sherman. During the Carolinas Campaign the regiment operated in operations tied to Joseph E. Johnston's surrender negotiations with William T. Sherman and actions culminating in the surrender at Bennett Place.
The 20th Ohio was organized into ten companies, typically lettered A through K, with commissioned officers including colonel, lieutenant colonel, and major, and noncommissioned officers such as sergeants and corporals drawn from communities across Ohio. Company commanders included locally prominent figures who had served in municipal offices and state militia units prior to federal service; many men later appear in pension records and postwar rosters compiled by the Adjutant General of Ohio. The regiment's chaplains and surgeons were credentialed through networks connected to institutions like Ohio Medical College-era successors and denominational seminaries. Recruits were mustered into federal service under Enrollment Act-era practices and served in line companies during combined arms operations coordinated with Artillery units and Cavalry brigades.
Throughout its term the regiment sustained casualties from combat, disease, and accidents, reflected in returns submitted to the United States Army and summarized in state reports to the Governor of Ohio. Engagements at Shiloh, Stones River, Chickamauga, and Atlanta accounted for significant killed and wounded. Disease losses mirrored wider trends seen in Civil War regiments, including deaths from fevers and dysentery documented in hospital records tied to Nashville hospitals and depot hospitals in Chattanooga and Cincinnati. Survivors who were disabled or widowed filed claims processed by the Pension Bureau and later memorialized in veterans' compilations produced by the Ohio Historical Society.
After mustering out in 1865, veterans of the regiment participated in Grand Army of the Republic posts, Reconstruction politics in Ohio, and local commemorations including monument dedications at battlefields like Shiloh National Military Park and Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. Regimental histories and rosters were compiled by veteran associations and published in county histories and by the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society. Descendants and historical societies preserve letters, diaries, and artifacts in repositories such as the Ohio History Connection and university archives at institutions like Ohio University and Ohio State University. The regiment's service is commemorated in battlefield interpretive programs administered by the National Park Service and in civic memory through monuments, annual observances, and scholarly works on the western theater of the American Civil War.
Category:Units and formations of the Union Army from Ohio